Steve Prefontaine Quotes

No matter how hard you train, Somebody will train harder. No matter how hard you run, Somebody will run harder. No matter how hard you want it, Somebody will want it more, I am Somebody.

To give anything less than your best is to sacrifice the gift.

Success isn't how far you got, but the distance you traveled from where you started.

The best pace is a suicide pace, and today looks like a good day to die.

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

You said I was weak. You said I couldn't do it. Thank you. You gave me everything I needed to prove you wrong.

A lot of people run a race to see who is fastest. I run to see who has the most guts, who can punish himself into exhausting pace, and then at the end, punish himself even more.

If you fail to prepare, prepare to fail.

Don't let fatigue make a coward of you.

You cannot propel yourself forward by patting yourself on the back.

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.

I can endure more pain then anyone you've met. That's why I win, because I can endure more pain.

You have to wonder at times what you're doing out there. Over the years, I've given myself a thousand reasons to keep running, but it always comes back to where it started. It comes down to self-satisfaction and a sense of achievement.

Some people create with words or with music or with a brush and paints. I like to make something beautiful when I run. I like to make people stop and say, 'I've never seen anyone run like that before.' It's more than just a race, it's a style. It's doing something better than anyone else. It's being creative.

Having a true faith is the most difficult thing in the world. Many will try to take it from you.

What kind of crazy nut would spend two or three hours a day just running?

Don’t be afraid to give up the good for the great.

How does a kid from Coos Bay, with one leg longer than the other win races? All my life people have been telling me, 'You're too small Pre', 'You're not fast enough Pre', 'Give up your foolish dream Steve'. But they forgot something, I HAVE TO WIN.

Something inside of me just said 'Hey, wait a minute, I want to beat him,' and I just took off.

I run to see who has the most guts.

A race is a work of art that people can look at and be affected in as many ways they're capable of understanding.

My philosophy is that I'm an artist. I perform an art not with a paint brush or a camera. I perform with bodily movement. Instead of exhibiting my art in a museum or a book or on canvas, I exhibit my art in front of the multitudes.

I don't just go out there and run. I like to give people watching something exciting.

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.

Every once in a while I think, 'What am I doing out here running, busting myself up? Life could be so much easier. The other guys are out having fun, doing other things, why not me?'