29 Most Inspiring Jesse Owens Quotes (ATHLETE)

Top 10 Most Famous Jesse Owens Quotes (BEST)

“Championships are mythical. The real champions are those who live through what they are taught in their homes and churches. The attitude that ‘We’ve got to win’ in sports must be changed. Teach your youngsters, who are the future hope of America, the importance of love, respect, dedication, determination, self-sacrifice, self-discipline and good attitude. That’s the road up the ladder to the championships.”
Jesse Owens

We all have dreams. But in order to make dreams come into reality, it takes an awful lot of determination, dedication, self-discipline, and effort. — We all have **dreams**. But in order to make dreams come into reality, it takes an awful lot of **determination**, **dedication**, **self-discipline**, and effort.

Find the good. It's all around you. Find it, showcase it and you'll start believing in it. — Find the good. It’s all around you. Find it, showcase it and you’ll start **believing** in it.

The only victory that counts is the one over yourself.

The battles that count aren't the ones for gold medals. The struggles within yourself - the invisible, inevitable battles inside all of us - that's where it's at. — The battles that count aren’t the ones for gold medals. The struggles within yourself – the invisible, inevitable battles inside all of us – that’s where it’s at.

“In the end, it’s extra effort that separates a winner from second place. But winning takes a lot more that that, too. It starts with complete command of the fundamentals. Then it takes desire, determination, discipline, and self-sacrifice. And finally, it takes a great deal of love, fairness and respect for your fellow man. Put all these together, and even if you don’t win, how can you lose?”
Jesse Owens

Friendships born on the field of athletic strife are the real gold of competition. Awards become corroded, friends gather no dust. — **Friendships** born on the field of athletic strife are the real gold of competition. Awards become corroded, friends gather no dust.

A lifetime of training for just ten seconds.

The only bond worth anything between human beings is their humanness.

For a time, at least, I was the most famous person in the entire world.

7 Jesse Owens Quotes on Success and Winning

“There is something that can happen to every athlete and every human being; the instinct to slack off, to give in to pain, to give less than your best; the instinct to hope you can win through luck or through your opponent not doing his best, instead of going to the limit and past your limit where victory is always found. Defeating those negative instincts that are out to defeat us, is the difference between winning and losing – and we all face that battle every day.”
Jesse Owens

If you don't try to win you might as well hold the Olympics in somebody's back yard. — If you don’t try to win you might as well hold the Olympics in somebody’s back yard.

The thrill of competing carries with it the thrill of a gold medal. One wants to win to prove himself the best.

One chance is all you need. — One **chance** is all you need.

“I wanted no part of politics. And I wasn’t in Berlin to compete against any one athlete. The purpose of the Olympics, anyway, was to do your best. As I’d learned long ago from Charles Riley, the only victory that counts is the one over yourself.”
Jesse Owens

People come out to see you perform and you’ve got to give them the best you have within you.

I decided I wasn’t going to come down. I was going to fly. I was going to stay up in the air forever.

5 Jesse Owens Quotes on Running

“I always loved running… it was something you could do by yourself, and under your own power. You could go in any direction, fast or slow as you wanted, fighting the wind if you felt like it, seeking out new sights just on the strength of your feet and the courage of your lungs.”
Jesse Owens

Running is real. It’s all joy and woe, hard as diamond. It makes you weary beyond comprehension, but it also makes you free. — Running is real. It’s all joy and woe, hard as **diamond**. It makes you weary beyond comprehension, but it also makes you free.

I let my feet spend as little time on the ground as possible. From the air, fast down, and from the ground, fast up.

Life doesn't give you all the practice races you need. — Life doesn’t give you all the practice races you need.

“The road to the Olympics, leads to no city, no country. It goes far beyond New York or Moscow, ancient Greece or Nazi Germany. The road to the Olympics leads — in the end — to the best within us.”
Jesse Owens

3 InspirationalJesse Owens Quotes About Life

“We must respect the rights and properties of our fellowman. And then learn to play the game of life, as well as the game of athletics, according to the rules of society. If you can take that and put it into practice in the community in which you live, then, to me you have won the greatest championship.”
Jesse Owens

Only by God's grace have I made it to see today and only by God's grace will I ever see tomorrow. — Only by God’s grace have I made it to see today and only by God’s grace will I ever see tomorrow.

In America anyone can still become someone.

4 Jesse Owens Quotes on Racial Equality

“When I came back, after all those stories about Hitler and his snub, I came back to my native country, and I could not ride in the front of the bus. I had to go to the back door. I couldn’t live where I wanted. Now what’s the difference?”
Jesse Owens

Although I wasn't invited to shake hands with Hitler, I wasn't invited to the White House to shake hands with the President either. — Although I wasn’t invited to shake hands with Hitler, I wasn’t invited to the White House to shake hands with the President either.

Hitler didn't snub me - it was our president who snubbed me. The president didn't even send me a telegram. — Hitler didn’t snub me – it was our president who snubbed me. The president didn’t even send me a telegram.

“People say that it was degrading for an Olympic champion to run against a horse, but what was I supposed to do? I had four gold medals, but you can’t eat four gold medals. There was no television, no big advertising, no endorsements then. Not for a black man, anyway.”
Jesse Owens