'Now I get to ride off into the sunset': The best quotes from Super Bowl XLVII

The Baltimore Raven beat the San Francisco 49ers

Ray Lewis (GETTY IMAGES)

A selection of quotes from Sunday's Super Bowl between the San Francisco 49ers and Baltimore Ravens...

Head coach of the Ravens, John Harbaugh: "I just knew with Jim Harbaugh being on the other sideline and all of those years we have been together that game was going to be a dog fight right to the end. Those guys were coming back."

Head coach of the 49ers Jim Harbaugh: "We want to handle this with class and grace. Had several opportunities in the game. Didn't play our best game. Ravens made a lot of plays. Our guys battled back to get back in it. We competed and battled to win."

Ravens linebacker Ray Lewis: "I was tested through this journey, it was an up-and-down rollercoaster, the injuries, the people, and we stayed together. And now, I get to ride off into the sunset with my second ring. Honestly, when God is for you, who can be against you? No weapon formed against us."

Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco: "I think it is fitting that we won that way. We are a tough, blue-collar city and that's the way our games kind of come down. We were up 28-6 and I'm sure a lot of people were nervous but were kind of like, 'This one might be pretty easy.' And the next thing you know, the Niners get right back into it and play great football and we had to grind it out."

49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick: "I feel like I made too many mistakes for us to win."

Ravens running back Ray Rice: "One thing about winning the Super Bowl is that you do everything you want and you finally realize that everything was worth it. No team is going to be the same. After the season is over and after we do all our stuff, next year the locker room is going to be different. This is the one thing that's not going to separate us for life. We'll forever be champions because we won the Super Bowl."

49ers offensive tackle Joe Staley: "Five yards short, all the work we did in the offseason, the whole entire season, everything came down to five yards and we weren't able to get it done".

Ravens full back Vonta Leach: "Ray Lewis is obviously the heart and soul of this team, but we have a lot of veteran guys that have played a lot of football. It's never one. You talk about a guy Ed Reed, Anquan Boldin, Matt Birk, Bryant McKinnie. These guys have been in the league a long time and never won. We wanted to win it for Ray and we wanted to win it for those guys."

Reuters