If I faltered, there would be no arms to hold me and the world would be a cold and forbidding place.

I was always a great bundle of energy. As a child, instead of walking, I would run. And so running, which is a pain to a lot of people, was always a pleasure to me because it was so easy.

My introduction to track racing was through the background of cross country running, which is not a sport perhaps as popular in America as it is in England.

May is a very early time in the year and the weather is usually bad. You cannot run a fast mile race if there is a strong wind, because it makes your running uneven.

We run, not because we think it is doing us good, but because we enjoy it and cannot help ourselves

It seems quite impossible to walk in America.

We run, not because we think it is doing us good, but because we enjoy it and cannot help ourselves...The more restricted our society and work become, the more necessary it will be to find some outlet for this craving for freedom. No one can say, 'You must not run faster than this, or jump higher than that.' The human spirit is indomitable.