Being recognised by Guinness World Records in their 60th year is a real honour. It’s also a real privilege for me to be positioned beside such sporting greats. – Brian O’Driscoll
For me, it took five years to understand what professionalism meant. But I’m more settled now. I’m married, life changes, and I’ve been lucky in managing my injuries. – Brian O’Driscoll
It’s rare enough as an older generation player that you’re 100% fit – there’s always something niggling. – Brian O’Driscoll
I’m fairly adventurous with my eating. I’ve tried kangaroo, and Moreton Bay bugs, which are a kind of lobster, are so good. – Brian O’Driscoll
Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is knowing not to put it in a fruit salad. – Brian O’Driscoll
When you’ve done something for more than a third of your life, your whole adult life, and then all of a sudden you’re going to have to switch off and say, ‘No more,’ you want to grasp as much of it and enjoy the last few years of it as much as you can. Because you can’t get those years back. – Brian O’Driscoll
I had massive admiration for lots of players. Richard Hill would be up there, along with Martin Johnson. – Brian O’Driscoll
If you stop doing a skill you’ve done for years for any period of time, there’s an adjustment period to get it back. In anything you do. Motor skills won’t work as fast, because repetition is everything. – Brian O’Driscoll
In your mid-20s, you think you’ll go on for eternity. Then a point comes where you realise that’s not going to be the case. – Brian O’Driscoll
You have perspective when little people come into your life. You take the best things you have and let them overshadow your disappointment. – Brian O’Driscoll
Aaron Cruden and Beauden Barrett have both been decent, but Dan Carter takes it on to a different level, and he kicks his goals better than both of them. – Brian O’Driscoll
The great thing about playing team sport is you win and lose together, and the pain is never as bad when you share it. – Brian O’Driscoll
I have interests outside of rugby and have been cultivating them for when I do decide to hang up the boots. – Brian O’Driscoll
I’ve got my head fixed on the next part of life. I know there will be an adjusting period of just not being a rugby player for a while, and over that period I’ll get my head around what the next challenge involves. – Brian O’Driscoll
Practise things you’re good at. Keep on top of things you’re not so good at, but be world-class at your best. Never think, ‘I’m very good at this and that, I can leave those for a bit.’ – Brian O’Driscoll
In a team situation, I think the players are more inclined to give the answer they believe the psychologist is looking for rather than maybe being totally honest. – Brian O’Driscoll
One thing I learnt early on my career is that personal gratification takes second place. – Brian O’Driscoll
The 2001 tour to Australia would have been a great highlight in my career if the Lions had won the series. That might sound strange because it was a great tour in many ways, but, for me, the more time goes by, the less of a career highlight it becomes, and just more of a frustration. – Brian O’Driscoll
I was exposed to the gym at about 28. I never had a huge love or appetite for it – it was just a means to an end. – Brian O’Driscoll
