“The only victory that counts is the one over yourself.”

I let my feet spend as little time on the ground as possible. From the air, fast down, and from the ground, fast up.

A lifetime of training for just ten seconds.

Although I wasn’t invited to shake hands with Hitler, I wasn’t invited to the White House to shake hands with the President either.

Awards become corroded, friends gather no dust.

It was bad enough to have toppled from the Olympic heights to make my living competing with animals. But the competition wasn’t even fair. No man could beat a race horse, not even for 100 yards.

I fought, I fought harder, but one cell at a time, panic crept into my body, taking me over.

I had four gold medals, but you can’t eat four gold medals.

Find the good. It’s all around you. Find it, showcase it and you’ll start believing in it.

The only bond worth anything between human beings is their humanness.

People come out to see you perform and you’ve got to give them the best you have within you.

I’d noticed him watching me for a year or so, especially when we’d play games where there was running or jumping.

To a sprinter, the hundred-yard dash is over in three seconds, not nine or ten.

If you don’t try to win you might as well hold the Olympics in somebody’s back yard. The thrill of competing carries with it the thrill of a gold medal. One wants to win to prove himself the best.

I always loved running. It was something you could do by yourself and under your own power.

He was constantly on me about the job that I was to do and the responsibility that I had upon the campus. And how I must be able to carry myself because people were looking.

When I passed the Chancellor he arose, waved his hand at me, and I waved back at him. I think the writers showed bad taste in criticizing the man of the hour in Germany.

Have respect for yourself, and patience and compassion. With these, you can handle anything.

People residing within the cult of average don’t like to see others rise. It threatens their security, and spotlights their low self-worth. Go for great, no matter what they say.

You don’t pick dance. Dance picks you.

The virtue of obedience makes the will supple… It inspires the courage with which to fulfill the most difficult tasks.

The right one for you will move mountains to be with you – he won’t hide behind them.

If you are right, go right ahead.

You venture into the unknown land because that is where your heart will take you. In the end, it is not what you want to do, it is something you have to do.

When you focus on what truly matters to you, the universe will give you more than what you wish for.