Steve Prefontaine quotes

To give anything less than your best is to sacrifice the gift. (Steve Prefontaine)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

What I want is to be number one. (Steve Prefontaine)

Nobody likes tainted victories.

Steve Prefontaine

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

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

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

What I like most about track is the feeling I get after a good run.

Steve Prefontaine