In the space of less than seven days, I attended a track meet in Boston, flew from there to Bowling Green for the National Jaycees, then to Rochester for the blind, Buffalo for another track meet, New York to shoot a film called The Black Athlete, Miami for Ford Motor Company, back up to New York for 45 minutes to deliver a speech, then into L. A. for another the same night.

I had four gold medals, but you can't eat four gold medals.

To a sprinter, the hundred-yard dash is over in three seconds, not nine or ten.

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

Running is real. It’s all joy and woe, hard as diamond. It makes you weary beyond comprehension, but it also makes you free.

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.

The black fist is a meaningless symbol. When you open it, you have nothing but fingers - weak, empty fingers. The only time the black fist has significance is when there's money inside. There's where the power lies.