Top 40 Quotes & Sayings by Emil Zatopek

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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.

Men, today we die a little.

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.

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.

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

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.

I will run with perfect style when they start judging races for their beauty, like figure-skating. For now, I just want to run as fast as possible.

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

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

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

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.

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

The athlete of today is not an athlete alone. He's the center of a team - doctors, scientists, coaches, agents and so on.

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.

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.

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.'

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.

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.

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

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

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

If I can get better, why not?

Sri Chinmoy brings Heaven to me. He inspires everyone to be happy. He deserves the biggest gold medal.

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

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.

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.

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

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

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.

A runner must run with dreams in his heart.