There is nothing more certain than the defeat of the man who gives up.

The desire to run comes from deep within us — from the unconscious, the intuitive, the instinctive. And that desire becomes a passion when the runner learns to race. Then, the race becomes all — the lovemaking of the runner.

If you want to find the answers to the Big Questions about your soul, you'd best begin with the Little Answers about your body.

There are as many reasons for running as there are days in the year, years in my life. But mostly I run because I am an animal and a child, an artist and a saint. So, too, are you. Find your own play, your own self-renewing compulsion, and you will become the person you are meant to be.

Life is the greatest experiment. Each of us is an experiment of one-observer and subject-making choices, living with them, recording the effects.

Happiness is different from pleasure. Happiness has something to do with struggling and enduring and accomplishing.

Running is just such a monastery- a retreat, a place to commune with God and yourself, a place for psychological and spiritual renewal.