Steve Prefontaine quotes: this mofo was a straight savage.
“To give anything less than your best is to sacrifice the gift. People often cheat themselves by giving less than their best. Talent will only take you so far, and by not providing a sincere effort, you are not taking advantage of the gift.”
“Success isn’t how far you got, but the distance you traveled from where you started.”
“Don’t be afraid to give up the good for the great.”
“Having a true faith is the most difficult thing in the world. Many will try to take it from you.”
“There’s always someone trying to talk you out of what you believe in. Anybody. Everybody. Your own mother. All I know, is that if you do believe in something, you tend to make people very, very nervous. I believe in myself.”
“If you fail to prepare, prepare to fail.”
“Many of life’s failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.”
“Don’t let fatigue make a coward of you.”
“You cannot propel yourself forward by patting yourself on the back.”
“You have to wonder at times what you’re doing out there. Over the years, I’ve given myself a thousand reasons to keep running, but it always comes back to where it started. It comes down to self-satisfaction and a sense of achievement.”
“When things get tough, you have to remember why you started putting in work in the first place. You have to give yourself more reasons to keep going than you could ever come up with to stop. In the end, the feeling of satisfaction that you will have will be worth it.”
“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.”
“No matter what you do there is always more to it. You could be running, driving a bus or answering phone calls and there can still be a deeper meaning for why it matters. When you dig deep and find that meaning, it adds depth to your life.”
“I knew I had to show everybody that I could excel at something. But I didn’t know what.”
“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.”
“You said I was weak. You said I couldn’t do it. Thank you. You gave me everything I needed to prove you wrong.”
“I guess you shouldn’t believe everything you hear.”
“If you can make money with your talents, why not?”
“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.”
“Every race I lose I learn from and get tougher.”
“When people go to a track meet, they’re looking for something, a world record, something that hasn’t been done before. You get all this magnetic energy, people focusing on one thing at the same time. I really get excited about it. It makes me want to compete even more. It makes it all worthwhile, all the hours of hard work.”
“Why shouldn’t I do what I want to do? I’m an American citizen.”
“No matter how hard you train, somebody will train harder. No matter how hard you run, somebody will run harder. No matter how hard you want it, somebody will want it more. I am somebody.”
“What I want is to be number one. If anybody wants to beat me, let them run a world record.”
“I’ll tell you one thing. I love every one of them. I’ve thought about the Olympic Games every day of my life since 1968, but there is a breaking point in each race when you wonder if all the sacrifice is worth it. You think, ‘Why I should do this? I don’t have to run this hard.’ But that’s when I think about them. They keep me going. When you get to the point in a race or in life where you want to stop, you have to think about that goal that you want to achieve, and it will give you the strength to push a bit harder.”
“No one will ever win a 5,000 meter by running an easy two miles. Not against me. Everyone around you is looking for an easy way to get what they want. Always make sure that the easy route is never through you.”
“The best pace is suicide pace, and today looks like a good day to die! The best way to live is when you are pushing yourself to the max.”
“The race is not about just running to win but also seeing how far you can push yourself and others.”
“Let me tell you something. Talent is a myth. There’s a dozen guys on the team with more talent in their little finger. A little secret I learned a long time ago, in Coos Bay, in the woods. I can endure more pain than anyone you’ve ever met. That’s why I can beat anyone I’ve ever met.”
“I don’t want to win unless I know I’ve done my best and the only way I know to do that is to run out front, flat out, until I have nothing left. Winning any other way is chicken sh*t.”
“It’s not who’s the best. It’s who can take the most pain.”
“Nobody likes tainted victories.”
“World records at 19. I don’t want that. Later, yes. And when it comes, I’ll learn to live with it, but it won’t be my first love.”
“I’m going to work so that it’s a pure guts race at the end, and if it is, I am the only one who can win it. Be tougher! We live in a world now that no longer loves the idea of being tough. Sometimes you have to get tough and see who can hold on at the end.”
“You can’t catch me. You’ll never catch me. You don’t have the guts.”
“If you can’t win your race, make sure the guy ahead of you breaks the record.”
“A race is a work of art that people can look at and be affected in as many ways as they’re capable of understanding.”
“How does a kid from Coos Bay, with one leg longer than the other, win races? All my life people have been telling me, ‘You’re too small Pre,’ ‘You’re not fast enough Pre,’ ‘Give up your foolish dream Steve.’ But they forgot something, I have to win.”
“My philosophy is that I’m an artist. I perform an art not with a paint brush or a camera. I perform with bodily movement. Instead of exhibiting my art in a museum or a book or on canvas, I exhibit my art in front of the multitudes.”
