You go out and work hard and leave everything on the field. I think if you do that, you don't have any regrets. You can go home and look at yourself in the mirror.

When you're out there and playing, things are going fast. You've just got to trust your instincts and what got you there.

It's where you're from - it's your roots - and that's why I like to get back to Nacogdoches in the offseason and hang out with my family. To me, it keeps me grounded and reminds me of how far I've come.

Family comes together when you deal with hard times because it's the only way you know how to cope.

It's easier to destroy than it is to create, but I've always enjoyed the creative aspect of the game.

You always want to score as many goals as possible, but the most important thing is if the team does well.

Whatever position allows me to get touches in the attacking third, that's the position I like the most.

It's just staying focused and working hard; that's all I've ever done. I was fortunate enough that things worked out for me. It doesn't happen all the time, but I don't let bumps in the road throw me off course.

You don't want to hit your peak until late in the season.

I've been playing 90 minutes in MLS games. But when you're playing internationally in World Cup qualifiers, there's a little bit extra incentive there. It's win or go home.

The most important thing is qualifying for the World Cup.

It's always difficult, when you have such a quick turnaround and a long flight, to try to get ready for a game so quickly.

If you're having sequences where you're keeping 20 passes or more, then you're only growing in confidence in the game.

You're just grateful for every day, grateful for every game you get to play in because you never know when it's going to be taken from you.

If someone has your arms around you, I'm not going to sit there and be like, 'OK, this is fine.' I'm going to try to bust out of it and get in position to score a goal.

It's a compliment that people think that I'm a good player. I remember when people didn't think I was good. And I remember being a rookie coming into the league with a big chip on my shoulder trying to prove myself.

I've always pushed myself hard.

I'm a kid from Nacogdoches.

The only way you're going to make it is to have a hunger for success and a will to win. That's something that's always pushed me.

I never really thought of myself as a captain. I always thought of myself as a guy trying to win games, a guy who could look back and have no regrets.

I got to experience being captain in the World Cup. For me, that was something special, and I'll always kind of remember, but it's never been a big thing for me to be captain.

Pressure brings the best out of people, or it can bring the worst out. It's just how you use it.

The most important thing is the time you spend with the coach and what you all achieve.

For a number of years, I struggled and put distance between God and me. But He was faithful and patient and provided gradual healing and strength.

Now my faith in Christ is what gives me confidence for the future. I know that through both good times and bad, He is faithful and will watch over me.

I play to the best of my abilities and am thankful for the many opportunities and amazing success He has given me. Through it all, I want to do right, not make mistakes, and live a life that is pleasing to Him.

I have a lot of great memories of playing in Dallas as a kid, and I'm proud to represent Nacogdoches.

It's always great to be home and play in front of family and friends, especially for a big game.

In college, I joined a team Bible study. God's Word brought me peace and a desire for a relationship with Him.

This idea of shared humanity and the connections that we make with one another - that's what, in fact, makes life worth living.

We tend to think of racism as this interpersonal verbal or physical abuse, when in truth, that is only one way that racism manifests itself. The reality of contemporary racism is that it while it is ubiquitous, it is often invisible, subsequently making it more difficult to name and identify.

Empathy should not be contingent on our proximity to suffering or the likelihood of it happening to us. Rather, it should stem from a disdain that suffering is happening at all.

Silence is the residue of fear.

A cage that allows someone to walk around inside of it is still a cage.

When we say that black lives matter, it's not because others don't: it's simply because we must affirm that we are worthy of existing without fear, when so many things tell us we are not.

We spend so much time listening to the things people are saying that we rarely pay attention to the things they don't.

The death penalty not only takes away the life of the person strapped to the table - it takes away a little bit of the humanity in each of us.

In an effort to create a culture within my classroom where students feel safe sharing the intimacies of their own silences, I have four core principles posted on the board that sits in the front of my class, which every student signs at the beginning of the year: read critically, write consciously, speak clearly, tell your truth.

I want to live in a world where my son will not be presumed guilty the moment he is born, where a toy in his hand isn't mistaken for anything other than a toy.

Oppression doesn't disappear just because you decided not to teach us that chapter.

Who has to have a soapbox when all you've ever needed is your voice?

Education is a human right - a recognition of dignity that each person should be afforded.

If you only hear one side of the story, at some point, you have to question who the writer is.

My parents raised me and my siblings in an armor of advice, an ocean of alarm bells so someone wouldn't steal the breath from our lungs, so that they wouldn't make a memory of this skin.

The history of racial violence in our country is both omnipresent and unspoken. It is a smog that surrounds us that few will admit is there.

It is easy not to support the death penalty when there is doubt about the culpability of the person sitting in the chair; it is harder to sustain such principles when the crime of the accused is morally indefensible.

Those who support the death penalty are accepting a practice that is both ineffective and fundamentally flawed.

The beauty of the World Cup is that while thirty-two countries get to cheer for their respective teams, the event also affirms a global pluralism - it is as much a festival of cultural multiplicity as it is a competition featuring some of the best athletes in the world.

To be an Arsenal fan is to convince yourself that you can no longer support a team that disappoints you, only to be drawn back in by the ever-flickering promise of something better.

There is a solidarity that black people can find in celebrating the athletic success of our own, especially in sports where our existence is sparse.