Words matter. These are the best Steve Prefontaine Quotes, and they’re great for sharing with your friends.
People say I should be running for a gold medal for the old red, white and blue and all that bull, but it’s not gonna be that way.
I don’t care about being on television.
If anybody wants to beat me, let them run a world record.
Somebody may beat me, but they are going to have to bleed to do it.
Something inside of me just said ‘Hey, wait a minute, I want to beat him,’ and I just took off.
You probably choose x-country because you were too small to play football.
Every once in a while I think, ‘What am I doing out here running, busting myself up? Life could be so much easier. The other guys are out having fun, doing other things, why not me?’
American athletes, especially distance runners, are at a big disadvantage against the rest of the world. We’re expected to live by all the rules, like not being able to coach, but still train and make our own living.
This is my last year at Oregon, and it means a lot to me. The people have been great to me up there, so if I have to run three races to win the Pac-8 title, I’ll do it. Oh, sure, I’ll probably be tired, but the people shouting will carry me across the finish line.
I don’t just go out there and run. I like to give people watching something exciting.
What does it prove, running in the AAU meet?
What I like most about track is the feeling I get inside after a good run.
I decided that if I was going to continue in track, that I didn’t want to lose, that I wasn’t going to lose.
I used to say, ‘Hey, man, what kind of a stupid question is that?’ to a newspaperman asking me heavy things right after a race when I’m still in an emotional state. Now I at least try to answer.
I have a positive mental attitude, and I think I’m divine, but I also think it takes a heck of a lot of blood, sweat and tears.
Coos Bay is a sports-minded town. You had to be an athlete to be somebody.
To hell with love of country – I compete for myself.
If I want to go to Europe and get thrashed by the Europeans, that’s my business. Every race I lose I learn from and get tougher.
It’s hard to run a mile when you’re not a miler and to kick when you’ve led all the way.
I knew I had to show everybody that I could excel at something. But I didn’t know what.
Did you ever run behind a slow pack? You get a trailing wind and a lot of body odor.
I’m the one who has made all the sacrifices. Those are my American records, not the country’s.
Kids made fun of me because I was a slow learner, because I was hyperactive, because of a lot of things. Running gave me confidence.
If I lose forcing the pace all the way, well, at least I can live with myself. But if it’s a slow pace, and I get beaten by a kicker who leaches off the front, then I’ll always wonder, ‘What if…?’
Some people create with words or with music or with a brush and paints. I like to make something beautiful when I run. I like to make people stop and say, ‘I’ve never seen anyone run like that before.’ It’s more than just a race, it’s a style. It’s doing something better than anyone else. It’s being creative.
