“I realized from a very early age that God gave me a gift, and that gift was to run, and I wanted to use it to the best of my ability.”

I can understand how evolution says, “don’t believe in God”, but I’ve never had this problem.

My parents always encouraged me and I had a good home life. We were always taught to respect things and other people. It’s so different today, because children are just not taught the right way.

I don’t concentrate on things I can’t do. I do what I can do.

You’ve got to stick at a thing, a particular thing, until you succeed.

I always felt free when I ran. I suppose that’s what was good about it.

No way did I ever think I was going to win the 100m.

I feel that’s the only way to succeed – by concentrating on something in particular. Once you know what you’ve got to do you will succeed, you will succeed.

My salvation was a free gift. I didn’t have to work for it and it’s better than any gold medal that I’ve ever won.

Everything I did that required effort, I opened my mouth. Even to catch a ball, I opened my mouth.

The only people I know getting in high places by running their mouth are politicians.

I think people can handle 150 to 200 miles a week. But something has to give somewhere. If he’s a student, how’s he going to study? He may be at the age of chasing and courtship, and that’s an important form of sport and recreation, too.

Big money and big business, corporations and commerce, are again the undisputed overlords of politics and government.

My favorite part of podcasting is running my mouth for an hour. The only time I dont like it is when Im off. Then that hour feels like a day and a half.

A teacher is never too smart to learn from his pupils. But while runners differ, basic principles never change.

Across the board you can run up against 10 athletes where we’re the same physically. They’ve done the same kind of training; they are in the same kind of shape. But the one that wins is the person who really believes they can win.

People in the U.K. share my bemusement with the United States that America doesn’t share with itself. They have a sense of irony, which America doesn’t have, seeing as it’s being run by fundamentalists who take things literally.

The smart guy will outsmart himself. The lucky guy will run out of luck. The money guy will never have the desire. But hard work will take you anywhere you want to go.