A Quote by Steve Prefontaine

If I want to go to Europe and get thrashed by the Europeans, that's my business. Every race I lose I learn from and get tougher. — © Steve Prefontaine
If I want to go to Europe and get thrashed by the Europeans, that's my business. Every race I lose I learn from and get tougher.
The way the Europeans work, most girls get paid by their federation; their country pays them. Essentially the federations say go represent our country, race on whatever trade team you want, and here's your money. So you don't really make you're money on trade teams. Europeans make money through their country's federation. There's not a lot of money for women in cycling in Europe either.
What we've witnessed in the past 25 or 30 years is just incredible. We've birthed 30,000 or 40,000 restaurants. I used to go to Europe every year to get experience [and ideas]. I don't go to Europe anymore. I go to Oregon, I go to Washington, I go to Louisiana, I go to Little Rock, I go to Austin, I travel New York City. I don't go to Europe anymore.
I want to get better. Every time you lose, you learn from it, and after every win, you look to building on the tempo.
This is a competitive business - there are a lot of women who want these jobs, but experience, education, and smarts go a long way. I'm still figuring it out - I learn new things every day. Once you stop learning, you should get out of the business. It's just really about being hungry for more.
To retire by the age of 35 was my goal. I wasn't sure how I was going to get there though. I knew I would end up owning my own business someday, so I figured my challenge was to learn as much as anyone about all businesses. I believed that every job I took was really me getting paid to learn about a new industry. I spent as much time as I could, learning and reading everything about business I could get my hands on. I used to go into the library for hours and hours reading business books and magazines.
Never stop asking yourself whether you can do things better. Keep testing every aspect of your business to the nth degree, and challenge every one of your assumptions. The tougher you are on yourself now, the tougher your business will be out there in the real world.
If you want to be an artist, go to every art gallery, if you want to be in movies, see movies! You have to participate in whichever world you're trying to enter! You have to know what's going on. You can be the best artist in the world but if you don't know one thing about which gallery to go to, you're never going to get it shown in the right place. Learn a little bit about the business of whichever art you're trying to get into. Without it, you will be lost.
When I crash during a race and injure myself, what's the point in whinging? Because I put myself in that position. No one's making me race motorbikes - I want to go and race motorbikes. The most annoying thing for me is lying in hospital and not being able to get to work. I get beside myself.
The run's the business end of a triathlon: it's where you win or lose the race. I like to get out very hard, make other people hurt sometimes, and other times leave it to the last kilometre and really win the race there.
There are a variety of reasons. Not all Western leaders are equal. We have to make a certain separation from naïve Americans and Europeans. These are two different categories. For the Europeans, it affects the image of the "New Europe." The false image of Europe is that it is peaceful, separate from the past. Now the image of the New Europe is a radically false image.
I go to bed is around 11, and I do that for every race. I get good sleep. I don't lie awake for any race. That's my routine.
Women don't get the same opportunities that men get in racing, so they don't get to learn race craft.
It is such an abundance of idiocy that you lose courage. That you lose hope. I don't want to lose hope. I get through every day. I'm pretty good. I work. I sleep. I sing. I walk.
We're all so busy. We race and race. Life is a sprint. We want to get 'there' so badly. But I wonder if we even know what to do when we actually get 'there'.
I don't want to lose ever. I don't want to lose at anything. I want to make weight faster than the guy that I'm fighting if we both go into the sauna at the same time. When we're doing interviews I want to have quicker wit so that I can make him feel stupid. I want to drink my water faster. And then when we get in the cage I want to beat him up. I don't think people really truly understand the extent that I go to try not to use.
The bottom line is, don't be a lifer. Get in, get a business, get five years of what you can, and get out. What happens is they start listening to the promoters, 'You'll get the next main event.' And then, all of a sudden, you become a lifer. That's the kiss of death there. Get in shape, go in, get the money, get out, and have a wonderful life.
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