- [When asked about how he felt years after Adolf Hitler refused to shake his hand at the Olympics] I'm here. He's not.
- 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.
- 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 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.
- 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.
- Find the good. It's all around you. Find it, showcase it and you'll start believing in it.
- One chance is all you need.
- Life doesn't give you all the practice races you need.
- For a time, at least, I was the most famous person in the entire world.
- The only bond worth anything between human beings is their humanness.
- I let my feet spend as little time on the ground as possible. From the air, fast down, and from the ground, fast up.
- If you don't try to win you might as well hold the Olympics in somebody's back yard.
- Some people say Hitler snubbed me. But I tell you, Hitler did not snub me. I am not knocking the President. Remember, I am not a politician, but remember that the President did not send me a message of congratulations because, people said, he was too busy.
- Hitler had a certain time to come to the stadium and a certain time to leave. It happened he had to leave before the victory ceremony after the 100 meters. But before he left I was on my way to a broadcast and passed near his box. He waved at me and I waved back. I think it was bad taste to criticize the 'man of the hour' in another country.
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