Somebody may beat me, but they are going to have to bleed to do it.

How does a kid from Coos Bay, with one leg longer than the other win races?

Some people create with words or with music or with a brush and paints. I like to make something beautiful when I run

The idea of losing the three at Hayward Field and the idea of losing my specialty to someone who wasn't running his specialty. Mostly, the idea of losing in front of my people. They haven't forgotten about me.

I'm going to work so that it's a pure guts race at the end, and if it is, I am the only one who can win it.

If he's having a good day and running the right race, nobody can beat Frank Shorter at 10,000 meters... nobody except me.

When people go to a track meet, they're looking for something, a world record, something that hasn't been done before. You get all this magnetic energy, people focusing on one thing at the same time. I really get excited about it. It makes me want to compete even more. It makes it all worthwhile, all the hours of hard work.