Emil Zatopek

You can't climb up to the second floor without a ladder. When you set your aim too high and don't fulfill it, then your enthusiasm turns to bitterness. Try for a goal that's reasonable, and then gradually raise it.

The childhood games ended for me when I was 14 and I finished school. I had to find a job, not an easy thing in those days.

My running was very simple; it was out of myself.

To boast of a performance which I cannot beat is merely stupid vanity. And if I can beat it that means there is nothing special about it. What has passed is already finished with. What I find more interesting is what is still to come.

There is a great advantage in training under unfavorable conditions. It is better to train under bad conditions, for the difference is then a tremendous relief in a race.

I'm not interested in how long I can hold out, but in how fast I can reach the finishing line.

What has passed is already finished with. What I find more interesting is what is still to come.

I had started as an average athlete - a normal boy. It took me three years to win a race. I was glad that I endured those three years - that I did not give up.

A runner must run with dreams in his heart, not money in his pocket.

In my country, I am just a common man... a nobody.

If I run 100 meters 30 times, that is 3 kilometers and no longer a sprint.

You must be fast enough - you must have endurance. So you run fast for speed and repeat it many times for endurance.

If one can stick to the training throughout the many long years, then will power is no longer a problem. It's raining? That doesn't matter. I am tired? That's besides the point. It's simply that I just have to.

I didn't know much. It wasn't possible to buy a book about Nurmi, but I found out that in order to be faster over 10,000m, he ran 5,000m many times in training. And to be better at 5,000m, he ran 1,500m many times. And to be better at 1,500m, he ran four times 400m in training.

Men, today we die a little.

Sometimes I feel that old desire. Then my body tells me it is 50 years old. I take the easy way instead.

Why should I practice running slow? I already know how to run slow. I want to learn to run fast.

When I was young, I was too slow. I thought I must learn to run fast by practicing to run fast, so I ran 100 meters fast 20 times. Then I came back, slow, slow, slow.

Great is the victory, but the friendship of all is greater.

We are different, in essence, from other men. If you want to win something, run 100 meters. If you want to experience something, run a marathon.