There's no such thing as bad weather, just soft people.

The athlete makes himself, the coach doesn't make the athlete.

Men of Oregon, I invite you to become students of your events. Running, one might say, is basically an absurd past-time upon which to be exhausting ourselves. But if you can find meaning, in the kind of running you have to do to stay on this team, chances are you will be able to find meaning in another absurd past-time: life.

Victory is in having done your best. If you've done your best, you've won.

If you have a body, you are an athlete!

If someone says, 'Hey, I ran 100 miles this week. How far did you run?' ignore him! What the hell difference does it make?.... The magic is in the man, not the 100 miles.

I still bother with runners I call hamburgers. They're never going to run any record times. But they can fulfill their own potential.