I
know that a lot of people think that these kinds of quotes can be a little
corny, but I don’t care – they help to keep me motivated and may do the same
for you. These are mostly to do with training and competing, but can be useful for
other areas of your life.
If
you know of any others that you would like to see included here please contact
me – I am always on the lookout for new sources of inspiration.
New
quotes added 31st Jan 2001 :
(You will notice many quotes from that great philosopher, Unknown)
My doctor told me that jogging could add years to my life. I think he was right. I feel 10 years older already.
- Milton Berle
If you can’t see over it, walk it.
- Unknown
Every man dies, but not every
man truly lives.
- Unknown
A man must love a thing very
much if he not only practices it without any hope of fame and money, but even
practices it without any hope of doing it well.
- G.K.Chesterton
If you under train you may not
finish, but if you over train you may not start.
- Stan Jensen
Common sense is necessary, more
so than high tech. Race to the finish not race from the start, pace yourself,
run your own race and don’t get sucked into someone else’s, walk when you need
to, run when you can, eat, drink and be merry for tomorrow we will hurt.
- Kevin Sayers
Last is just the slowest winner.
- C. Hunter Boyd
Don’t work towards freedom, let
the work be the freedom.
- Dogen Roshi
Anybody running beats anybody
walking, and anybody walking beats anybody sitting.
- Tom Bunk
Decide before the race the
conditions that will cause you to stop and drop out. You don’t want to be out
there saying, well gee, my leg hurts, I’m a little dehydrated, I’m sleepy, I’m
tired, and it’s cold and windy, and then talk yourself into quitting. If you
are making a decision based on how you feel at that moment, you will probably make
the wrong decision.
- Dick Collins
Exercise is for people who can’t
handle drugs and alcohol.
- Lily Tomlin
Your body will argue that there
is no justifiable reason to continue. Your only recourse is to turn to your
spirit, which fortunately functions independently of logic.
- Tim Noakes
Nothing ever fatigues me except
that which I dislike.
- Jane Austen
The greatest pleasure in life is
doing what people say you cannot do.
- Bagehot
No matter how well you know the
course, no matter how well you may have done in a certain race in the past, you
never know for certain what lies ahead on the day you stand at the starting
line waiting to test yourself again. If you did know, it would not be a test,
and there would be no reason for being there.
- Dan Baglione
The road to excess leads to the
place of wisdom, for we can never know what is enough until we have experienced
too much.
- William Blake
Go fast enough to get there, but
slow enough to see.
- Jimmy Buffett
Great spirits often encounter
violent opposition from mediocre minds.
- Albert Einstein
Security is mostly a
superstition; it does not exist in nature. Life is either a daring adventure or
nothing.
- Helen Keller
No matter what hurts at the
beginning, by the end of the race something else will hurt worse.
- Bob O’Connor
The harder the conflict, the
more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly; it
is dearness only that gives everything its value. I love the man that can smile
in trouble, that can gather strength from distress and grow brave by
reflection.
- Thomas Paine
You will get through the tired
times, don’t give up. There is lots of time. Walk and in a while you will be
running again.
- Rolly Portelance
I had as many doubts as anyone
else. Standing on the starting line, we’re all cowards.
- Alberto Salazar (Olympic
Marathon champion)
The body is given out on loan –
don’t waste it and expect to use it tomorrow.
- Shapiro
It’s very hard in the beginning
to understand that the whole idea is not to beat the other runners. Eventually
you learn that the competition is against the little voice inside you that
wants you to quit.
- George Sheehan
Nothing is more certain than the
defeat of a man who gives up.
- George Sheehan
I never met a hill I couldn’t
walk.
- Larry Stice
You move from doing things to
show other people you can, to where you do things to look into yourself, into
your soul, and see who you are and what you’re all about.
- Scott Weber
For yesterday is but a dream,
and tomorrow is only a vision,
But today well lived makes every
yesterday a dream of happiness,
And every tomorrow a vision of
hope. Look well, therefore to this day.
Such is the salutation of the
dawn.
- from “The Sanskrit”
The pain is temporary, the pride
lasts forever.
- Unknown
Your biggest challenge isn’t
someone else. It’s the ache in your lungs and the burning in your legs, and the
voice inside you that yells CAN’T, but you don’t listen. You just push harder.
And then you hear the voice whisper “can”. And you discover that the person you
thought you were is no match for the one you really are.
- Unknown
Action cures fear.
- Unknown
To achieve all that is possible,
we must attempt the impossible – to be as much as we can, we must dream of
being more.
- Unknown
Anyone who thinks the sky is the
limit has a limited imagination.
- Unknown
Some people dream of worthy
accomplishments while others stay awake and do them.
- Unknown
The duration of an athletic
contest is relatively short, while the training for it may take many months of
arduous work and continuous exercise of self-effort. The real value of sport is
not the actual game played in the limelight of applause, but the hours of
dogged determination and self-discipline carried out alone, imposed and
supervised by an exacting conscience. The applause soon dies away, the prize is
left behind, but the character you build is yours forever.
- Unknown
Every morning in Africa. A gazelle
wakes up. It knows it must outrun the fastest lion or it will be killed. Every
morning in Africa, a lion wakes up. It knows it must run faster than the
slowest gazelle or it will starve. It doesn’t matter whether you are a lion or
a gazelle – when the sun comes up you’d better be running.
- Unknown
All things in moderation,
including moderation.
- Unknown
These quotes are from TOPICS IN
SPORT.
“ The secret is this : there is
no secret “ - Paraphrased from
John L. Parker “Once a Runner”
“ Often the true test of courage
is not to die but to live “ – Vittorio Alfieri
“ Today the most common form of
physical abuse is disuse “ – Stephen Seiler
“ He’s soft and he’s fat and
he’s wearing my clothes and he’s getting too old and he was born on my birthday
and I’m afraid if I stop running, he’ll catch up with me “ – The
masters athlete motivation according to NIKE
“ Those who think they have no
time for bodily exercise will sooner or later have to find time for illness “ –
Edward Stanley (1826-1893) from “The Conduct of Life”
“ Training is principally an act
of faith. The athlete must believe in its efficacy; he must believe that
through training he will become fitter and stronger: that by constant
repetition of the same movements he will become more skilful and his muscles
more relaxed. He must be fanatic for hard work and enthusiastic enough to enjoy
it.” – Franz Stampfl from “On Running” 1955
“ Bodily exercise, when
compulsory, does no harm to the body; but knowledge which is acquired under
compulsion obtains no hold on the mind “ – Plato from “The Republic”
“ That which we achieve too
easily we esteem too lightly “ – Thomas Paine
“ Everyone has the desire to
win, but only champions have the desire to prepare “ –
Anonymous
“ Far better it is to dare mighty
things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure, than to
rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy much nor suffer much, because
they live in a grey twilight that knows not victory nor defeat. “ –
Theodore Roosevelt
“ Nothing can stop the person
with the right mental attitude from achieving their goals, and nothing on earth
can help the person with the wrong attitude.” – Thomas Jefferson
“ The more I talk to athletes,
the more convinced I become that the method of training is relatively
unimportant. There are many ways to the top, and the training method you choose
is just the one that suits you best. No, the important thing is the attitude of
the athlete, the desire to get to the top. “ – Herb Elliot (1964)
“ Success isn’t permanent and
failure isn’t fatal “ – Mike Ditka (US Football coach)
“ Success is getting up one more
time than you fall down “ – Anonymous
“ Humankind is designed for
exercise and not rest – hence the legs located below the torso. If designed for
rest, we would at best have castors. “ – Arthur Stewart
“ The first wealth is health “ – Ralph
Waldo Emerson
“ Thus I urge you to go on to
your greatness if you believe it is in you. Think deeply, and separate what you
wish from what you are prepared to do. “ – Percy Cerruty
“ Judge your success by what you
had to give up in order to get it “ – The Dalai Lama
“ Don’t worry about upgrading
your equipment, upgrade your body.” – Anonymous cyclist