Steve Prefontaine quotes

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

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

— Steve Prefontaine

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

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

— Steve Prefontaine

 quotes - I run to see who has the most guts.

“I run to see who has the most guts.”

— Steve Prefontaine

 quotes - Nobody likes tainted victories.

“Nobody likes tainted victories.”

— Steve Prefontaine

“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.”

— Steve Prefontaine

“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.”

— Steve Prefontaine

“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.”

— Steve Prefontaine

“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.”

— Steve Prefontaine

“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.”

— Steve Prefontaine

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

— Steve Prefontaine

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

— Steve Prefontaine

“What I want is to be number one.”

— Steve Prefontaine

“How does a kid from Coos Bay, with one leg longer than the other win races?”

— Steve Prefontaine

“I've been in international competition, and now I know what the big boys can do. You don't go out and just run. There's an offense and a defense.”

— Steve Prefontaine

“If he's having a good day and running the right race, nobody can beat Frank Shorter at 10,000 meters... nobody except me.”

— Steve Prefontaine

“Kids made fun of me because I was a slow learner, because I was hyperactive, because of a lot of things. Running gave me confidence.”

— Steve Prefontaine

“No one will ever win a 5,000-meter by running an easy two miles. Not against me.”

— Steve Prefontaine

“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.”

— Steve Prefontaine

“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?'”

— Steve Prefontaine

“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 style. It's doing something better than anyone else. It's being creative.”

— Steve Prefontaine

“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.”

— Steve Prefontaine