Pele

I am a happy man.

I think the most important thing is to be healthy.

I am a very simple person.

I always try to do my best.

Wherever you go, there are three icons that everyone knows: Jesus Christ, Pele and Coca-Cola.

A penalty is a cowardly way to score.

People always ask me: 'When is the new Pele going to be born?' Never. My father and mother have closed the factory.

Once, in a match in Senegal, the goalkeeper cried so much after I scored that he had to be substituted! He had lost a big bet!

How can you make a comparison between a guy [Cristiano Ronaldo] who heads the ball well, shoots with the left, shoots with the right and another [Lionel Messi] who only shoots with one leg, only has one skill and doesn't head the ball well? How can you compare? To compare with Pele, it has to be someone who shoots well with the left, shoots well with the right and scores headers.

I once got sent off in a game against Colombia. The decision was so unpopular with the crowd that the referee then sent himself off!

For the national team, he's [Neymar] just an ordinary player. He's got a huge responsibility and his greatest concern is to change his style, change his haircut.

Happy birthday to Sir Elton John. I went to watch him live once. He pointed me out and I had to leave before the crowds got too big!

For 20 years they have asked me the same question, who is the greatest? Pele or [Diego] Maradona? I replay that all you have to do is look at the facts – how many goals did he score with his right foot or with his head?

Everything on earth is a game. A passing thing. We all end up dead. We all end up the same, don't we?

I sometimes lie awake at night and wonder why I am still so popular and, to be honest, I don't know.

I don't believe there is such a thing as a 'born' soccer player. Perhaps you are born with certain skills and talents, but quite frankly it seems impossible to me that one is actually born to be an ace soccer player.

When you are young, you do a lot of stupid things.

I don't think I'm a very good businessman. I act too much with my heart.

Over the years I've learnt to live with two persons in my heart. One is Edson, who has fun with his friends and family; the other is the football player Pele. I didn't want the name. 'Pele' sounds like baby-talk in Portuguese.

No. Reporters at press conferences would always ask me about that, and I would tell them, 'Listen, I don't need to be captain. If we have another player as captain, then there are two leaders in the game.'