Life is for participating, not for spectating.

There is an expression among even the most advanced runners that getting your shoes on is the hardest part of any workout

When I got the women's marathon into the Olympics and we had races all over the world I thought, 'That's great, now we're heading towards total equality.' Then you see that there are women who are still not allowed to drive, get an education, or travel unless they have a male companion or can't carry their passport. There are those who are mired with incredible poverty in North Africa, the mid-east, South East Asia and there's a ridiculous amount of human trafficking.

I do forgive people when they get it right, even people who in the past I thought were unforgivable.

Triumph over adversity that's what the marathon is all about. Nothing in life can't triumph after that

I don't have any kids of my own, quite by choice. There are two reasons for that. One, I had a sense of obligation for what my life would be and a vision of how to get that accomplished and it didn't include children. It's not that I don't like them, it's just that if you have them, they deserve 100 per cent of your attention.

Women were afraid and they would never even imagine running a marathon in 1967.