Jesse Owens Quotes (17 Quotes)

Life doesn't give you all the practice races you need.

We all have dreams. But in order to make dreams come into reality, it takes an awful lot of determination, dedication, self-discipline, and effort.

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

The battles that count aren't the ones for gold medals. The struggles within yourself - the invisible, inevitable battles inside all of us - that's where it's at.

If you don't try to win you might as well hold the Olympics in somebody's back yard.

I always loved running it was something you could do by yourself, and under your own power. You could go in any direction, fast or slow as you wanted, fighting the wind if you felt like it, seeking out new sights just on the strength of your feet and the courage of your lungs.

I wanted no part of politics. And I wasn't in Berlin to compete against any one athlete. The purpose of the Olympics, anyway, was to do your best. As I'd learned long ago from Charles Riley, the only victory that counts is the one over yourself.

Friendships born on the field of athletic strife are the real gold of competition. Awards become corroded, friends gather no dust.

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.

It took a lot of courage for him to befriend me in front of Hitler,

To me, we must learn to spell the word RESPECT. We must respect the rights and properties of our fellowman. And then learn to play the game of life, as well as the game of athletics, according to the rules of society. If you can take that and put it into practice in the community in which you live, then, to me you have won the greatest championship.

For a time, at least, I was the most famous person in the entire world.

One chance is all you need.

People come out to see you perform and you've got to give them the best you have within you. The lives of most men are patchwork quilts. Or at best one matching outfit with a closet and laundry bag full of incongruous accumulations. A lifetime of training for just ten seconds.

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

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.