Emil Zatopek Quotes

• If you want to run, run a mile. If you want to experience a different life, run a marathon.

  Emil Zatopek

  Running, Different, Want

  82 Copy quote

• When a person trains once, nothing happens. When a person forces himself to do a thing a hundred or a thousand times, then he certainly has developed in more ways than physical. Is it raining? That doesn't matter. Am I tired? That doesn't matter either. Then willpower will be no problem.

  Emil Zatopek

  Determination, Rain, Tired

  83 Copy quote

• An athlete cannot run with money in his pockets. He must run with hope in his heart and dreams in his head.

  Emil Zatopek

  Inspirational, Sports, Running

  Quoted by Christopher Brasher in the Observer,12 Sep 1982.

  75 Copy quote

• By a persistent effort of will it is possible to change the whole body. The athlete must always keep in mind this concept of change and progression. He must never accept his limitations as being permanent, because they are not.

  Emil Zatopek

  Athlete, Effort, Mind

  71 Copy quote

• A runner must run with dreams in his heart.

  Emil Zatopek

  Fitness, Running, Dream

  75 Copy quote

• I was not talented enough to run and smile at the same time

  Emil Zatopek

  Running, Athlete, Olympics

  60 Copy quote

• 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.

  Emil Zatopek

  Motivational, Workout, Race

  70 Copy quote

• It's at the borders of pain and suffering that the men are separated from the boys.

  Emil Zatopek

  Running, Pain, Not Giving Up

  Attributed to Emil Zatopek in "Citius, Altius, Fortius" ("Swifter, Higher, Stronger"), an unsigned article from Khaleej Times, August 8, 2008.

  60 Copy quote

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

  Emil Zatopek

  Running, Practice, Romance

  49 Copy quote

• 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.

  Emil Zatopek

  Sports, Goal, Trying

  Quoted in Colin Jarman The Guinness Dictionary of Sports Quotations (1990).

  50 Copy quote

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

  Emil Zatopek

  Interesting, Boast, Stills

  33 Copy quote

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

  Emil Zatopek

  Lost Friendship, Victory, Great Friend

  53 Copy quote

• Try for a goal that's reasonable, then gradually raise it.

  Emil Zatopek

  Inspirational, Goal, Trying

  36 Copy quote

• Men, today we die a little.

  Emil Zatopek

  Men, Littles, Today

  36 Copy quote

• 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.

  Emil Zatopek

  Stupid, Mean, Vanity

  39 Copy quote

• 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.

  Emil Zatopek

  Inspirational, Motivational, Sports

  40 Copy quote

• If I can get better, why not?

  Emil Zatopek

  Running, Get Better, Why Not

  27 Copy quote

• One day the factory sports coach, who was very strict, pointed at four boys, including me, and ordered us to run in a race. I protested that I was weak and not fit to run, but the coach sent me for a physical examination and the doctor said that I was perfectly well. So I had to run, and when I got started I felt I wanted to win. But I only came in second. That was the way it started.

  Emil Zatopek

  Sports, Running, Winning

  26 Copy quote

• Is it raining? That doesn't matter. Am I tired? That doesn't matter, either. Then willpower will be no problem.

  Emil Zatopek

  Rain, Tired, Matter

  8 Copy quote

• If you come to think of it, you never see deer, dogs and rabbits worrying about their menus and yet they run much faster than humans.

  Emil Zatopek

  Running, Dog, Thinking

  33 Copy quote

• I was unable to walk for a whole week after that, so much did the race take out of me. But it was the most pleasant exhaustion I have ever known.

  Emil Zatopek

  Running, Race, Marathon

  27 Copy quote

• Everyone said, 'Emil, you are a fool!'
  But when I first won the European Championship, they said: 'Emil, you are a genius!'

  Emil Zatopek

  Genius, Fool, Firsts

  23 Copy quote

• 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. People said, 'Emil, you are crazy. You are training like a sprinter.'

  Emil Zatopek

  Running, Crazy, People

  25 Copy quote

• It is not necessary to smile and make a wonderful impression on the judges.

  Emil Zatopek

  Judging, Wonderful, Impression

  23 Copy quote

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

  Emil Zatopek

  Running, Simple

  6 Copy quote

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