Emil Zatopek

You can't climb up to the second floor without a ladder. When you set your aim too high and don't fulfill it, then your enthusiasm turns to bitterness. Try for a goal that's reasonable, and then gradually raise it.

To boast of a performance which I cannot beat is merely stupid vanity. And if I can beat it that means there is nothing special about it. What has passed is already finished with. What I find more interesting is what is still to come.

When I was young, I was too slow. I thought I must learn to run fast by practicing to run fast, so I ran 100 meters fast 20 times. Then I came back, slow, slow, slow.

The athlete of today is not an athlete alone. He's the center of a team - doctors, scientists, coaches, agents and so on.

Why should I practice running slow? I already know how to run slow. I want to learn to run fast.

If you want to run, run a mile. If you want to experience a different life, run a marathon.

We are different, in essence, from other men. If you want to win something, run 100 meters. If you want to experience something, run a marathon.

An athlete cannot run with money in his pockets. He must run with hope in his heart and dreams in his head.

A runner must run with dreams in his heart, not money in his pocket.

Great is the victory, but the friendship of all is greater.

The childhood games ended for me when I was 14 and I finished school. I had to find a job, not an easy thing in those days.

I will run with perfect style when they start judging races for their beauty, like figure-skating. For now, I just want to run as fast as possible.