Ultimate Collection of Track Inspirational Quotes to Ignite Your Passion

"Strength does not come from physical capacity. It comes from an indomitable will."

- Mahatma Gandhi

"Nothing will work unless you do."

- Maya Angelou

"The best motivation always comes from within."

- Michael Johnson

"Worrying gets you nowhere. If you turn up worrying about how you’re going to perform, you’ve already lost. Train hard, turn up, run your best and the rest will take care of itself."

- Usain Bolt

"Champions aren't made in the gyms. Champions are made from something they have deep inside them -- a desire, a dream, a vision."

- Muhammad Ali

"It isn't the mountains ahead to climb that wear you out; it's the pebble in your shoe."

- Muhammad Ali

"It hurts, but that’s all it does. The most difficult part of the training is training your mind. You build calluses on your feet to endure the road. You build calluses on your mind to endure the pain. There’s only one way to do that. You have to get out there and run."

- David Goggins

"Whether you believe you can or believe you can't, you're right."

- Henry Ford

"I always want to give more than I gave yesterday."

- Allyson Felix

"I trained 4 years to run only 9 seconds. There are people who do not see results in two months, give up and quit."

- Usain Bolt

"You have to believe in yourself when no one else does."

- Serena Williams

"If it doesn’t challenge you, it doesn’t change you."

- Fred DeVito

"The only true limitation is the one you set for yourself."

- Usain Bolt

"What I've learned from running is that the time to push hard is when you're hurting like crazy and you want to give up. … Success is often just around the corner."

- James Dyson

"It’s very hard in the beginning to understand that the whole idea is not to beat the other runners. Eventually you learn that the competition is against the little voice inside you that wants you to quit."

- George Sheehan

"There are no secrets to success. It is the result of preparation, hard work, and learning from failure."

- Colin Powell

"You can’t be upset at the results you didn’t get for the work you didn’t do."

- Jess Sims

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

- Jesse Owens

"Bruce had me up to three miles a day, really at a good pace. We’d run the three miles in twenty-one or twenty-two minutes. Just under eight minutes a mile. So this morning he said to me “We’re going to go five.” I said, “Bruce, I can’t go five. I’m a helluva lot older than you are, and I can’t do five.” He said, “When we get to three, we’ll shift gears and it’s only two more and you’ll do it. ” I said “Okay, hell, I’ll go for it.” So we get to three, we go into the fourth mile and I’m okay for three or four minutes, and then I really begin to give out. I’m tired, my heart’s pounding, I can’t go any more and so I say to him, “Bruce if I run any more,”—and we’re still running—“if I run any more I’m liable to have a heart attack and die.” He said, “Then die.” It made me so mad that I went the full five miles. Afterward I went to the shower and then I wanted to talk to him about it. I said, you know, ‘“Why did you say that?” He said, “Because you might as well be dead. Seriously, if you always put limits on what you can do, physical or anything else, it’ll spread over into the rest of your life. It’ll spread into your work, into your morality, into your entire being. There are no limits. There are plateaus, but you must not stay there, you must go beyond them. If it kills you, it kills you. A man must constantly exceed his level.”"

- Bruce Lee (as recounted)

"Failure I can live with. Not trying is what I can’t handle."

- Sanya Richards-Ross

"The real test is not whether you avoid this failure, because you won't. It's whether you let it harden or shame you into inaction, or whether you learn from it; whether you choose to persevere."

- Barack Obama

"The pain you feel today will show itself as strength tomorrow."

- Tunde Oyeneyin

"Don’t dream of winning, train for it!"

- Mo Farah

"The only thing that stands between you and your dream is the will to try and the belief that it is actually possible."

- Joel Brown

"The difference between the impossible and the possible lies in determination."

- Usain Bolt

"Running is the greatest metaphor for life, because you get out of it what you put into it."

- Oprah Winfrey

"The miracle isn’t that I finished. The miracle is that I had the courage to start."

- John Bingham

"I run because it’s so symbolic of life. You have to drive yourself to overcome the obstacles. You might feel that you can’t. But then you find your inner strength, and realize you’re capable of so much more than you thought."

- Arthur Blank

"The only real limitation is the one you set for yourself."

- Ashton Eaton

"The real glory is being knocked to your feet and then coming back. That's real glory. That's the essence of it."

- Vince Lombardi

"The biggest thrill wasn't in winning on the field but in surviving."

- Lou Gehrig

"Hardships often prepare ordinary people for an extraordinary destiny."

- C.S. Lewis

"Run into your unknown."

- Becs Gentry

"That’s the thing about running: your greatest runs are rarely measured by racing success. They are moments in time when running allows you to see how wonderful your life is."

- Kara Goucher

"You didn’t get this far to only go this far."

- Ben Alldis

"I don’t run to add days to my life, I run to add life to my days."

- Ronald Rook

"Don’t compare your chapter one with someone else’s chapter six."

- Ally Love

"Kill them with success and bury them with a smile."

- Usain Bolt

"I know what I can do so it doesn’t bother me what other people think or their opinion on the situation."

- Usain Bolt

"Find the good. It's all around you. Find it, showcase it and you'll start believing it."

- Jesse Owens

"Life can lure us into this fantasy. A fantasy of fear. We look around and begin to fear we aren’t good enough for the right here and right now, so we create illusions in our minds of what we still need to be — when all we need to be is present in this moment, at this time."

- Sanya Richards-Ross

"When you finally realize your gifts and talents, joy and satisfaction come as you walk in your purpose."

- Sanya Richards-Ross

"I am a big believer in visualization. I run through my races mentally so that I feel even more prepared."

- Allyson Felix

"Before a race, I block out what's going on in the stadium. It's different for everyone. But for me, I've always been able to block it out. For a sprint race, it's important not to get distracted."

- Allyson Felix

"If you don't have confidence, you'll always find a way not to win."

- Carl Lewis

"Life is often compared to a marathon, but I think it is more like being a sprinter: long stretches of hard work punctuated by brief moments in which we are given the opportunity to perform at our best."

- Michael Johnson

"One of the main techniques I used was focusing on the goal and visualizing myself competing in the race before the race started."

- Michael Johnson

"The mind is absolutely instrumental in achieving results, even for athletes. Sports psychology is a very small part, but it's extremely important when you're winning and losing races by hundredths and even thousandths of a second."

- Michael Johnson

"The more I run, the more I like it, and the more I like myself."

- Patience Lister

"The more I train, the more I realize that it's not about the medals. It's about the journey and the person I become."

- Allyson Felix

"If you run, you are a runner. It doesn't matter how fast or how far. It doesn't matter if today is your first day or if you've been running for twenty years. There is no test to pass, no license to earn, no membership card to get. You just run."

- John Bingham

"Don't worry about being successful but work toward being significant and the success will naturally follow."

- Oprah Winfrey

"You have to be burning with an idea, or a problem, or a wrong that you want to right. If you're not passionate enough from the start, you'll never stick it out."

- Steve Jobs

"You are never really playing an opponent. You are playing yourself, your own highest standards, and when you reach your limits, that is real joy."

- Arthur Ashe

"The more you dream, the farther you get."

- Michael Phelps

"If you want to succeed, you have to let failure be your best friend!"

- Yorck Segatz

"You have to have a dream so you can get up in the morning."

- Billy Wilder

"You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream."

- C.S. Lewis

"The more difficult the victory, the greater the happiness in winning."

- Pele

"The benefits and opportunities of running are available to anyone. You don’t have to be born a natural athlete, and you don’t have to be uniquely gifted. A life-shaping experience is there for the taking, waiting right outside your door."

- Donald Buraglio and Michael Dove

"Fight fatigue with focus."

- Andy Speer

"We are designed to run, and we increase our chance of daily happiness when we do so."

- Jeff Galloway

"Nobody can make you feel inferior without your consent."

- Eleanor Roosevelt

"Our running shoes have magic in them. The power to transform a bad day into a good day; frustration into speed; self-doubt into confidence; chocolate cake into muscle."

- Mina Samuels

"Fast running isn’t forced. You have to relax and let the run come out of you."

- Desiree Linden

"Never limit where running can take you. I mean that geographically, spiritually, and of course, physically."

- Bart Yasso

"Every run is a work of art, a drawing on each day’s canvas. Some runs are shouts and some runs are whispers. Some runs are eulogies and others celebrations."

- Dagny Scott Barrios

"Train smart. Train hard. Have fun!"

- Matt Wilpers

"We all have bad days and bad workouts, when running gets ugly, when split times seem slow, when you wonder why you started. It will pass."

- Hal Higdon

"You are truly your own hero in running. It is up to you to have the responsibility and self–discipline to get the job done."

- Adam Goucher

"I’ve learned that it’s what you do with the miles, rather than how many you’ve run"

- Rod DeHaven

"Mental will is a muscle that needs exercise, just like the muscles of the body."

- Lynn Jennings

"It was being a runner that mattered, not how fast or how far I could run. The joy was in the act of running and in the journey, not in the destination."

- John Bingham

"If your legs are tired, run with your heart!"

- Tobias Heinze

"I often hear someone say, ‘I’m not a real runner.’ We are all runners, some just run faster than others. I never met a fake runner."

- Bart Yasso

"Your mind is your strongest muscle."

- Tunde Oyeneyin

"Run often. Run long. But never outrun your joy of running."

- Julie Isphording

"In running, it doesn’t matter whether you come in first, in the middle of the pack, or last. You can say, ‘I have finished.’ There is a lot of satisfaction in that."

- Fred Lebow

"Take control of your workout and make the decision to succeed."

- Matt Wilpers

"Whether a mile or a marathon, you get there the same way… one step at a time. Such is life."

- Baylor Barbee

"Good, better, best. Never let it rest. Until your good is better and your better is best."

- Tim Duncan

"If we all did the things we are capable of doing, we would literally astound ourselves."

- Thomas Alva Edison

"Shut up legs"

- Jens Voight

"You owe it to yourself to be the best you can possibly be - in baseball and in life."

- Pete Rose

"I was told over and over again that I would never be successful, that I was not going to be competitive and the technique was simply not going to work. All I could do was shrug and say "We'll just have to see.""

- Dick Fosbury

"When I step onto the court, I don't have to think about anything. If I have a problem off the court, I find that after I play, my mind is clearer and I can come up with a better solution. It's like therapy. It relaxes me and allows me to solve problems."

- Michael Jordan

"A good hockey player plays where the puck is. A great hockey player plays where the puck is going to be."

- Wayne Gretzky

"My thoughts before a big race are usually pretty simple. I tell myself: Get out of the blocks, run your race, stay relaxed. If you run your race, you'll win... channel your energy. Focus."

- Carl Lewis

"Know yourself and you will win all battles."

- Lao Tzu

"It gets easier. Every day, it gets a little easier. But you gotta do it every day. That's the hard part."

- The running baboon from Bojack Horseman

"The secret of winning football games is working more as a team, less as individuals. I play not my 11 best, but my best 11."

- Knute Rockne

"Never let the fear of striking out get in your way."

- Babe Ruth

"Tough times never last, but tough people do."

- Robert Schuller

"I don’t think limits."

- Usain Bolt

"Adversity causes some men to break; others to break records."

- William Arthur Ward

"To succeed…You need to find something to hold on to, something to motivate you, something to inspire you."

- Tony Dorsett

"If you can't accept losing, you can't win."

- Vince Lombardi

"Difficulties in life are intended to make us better, not bitter."

- Dan Reeves

"Failures are finger posts on the road to achievement."

- Charles F. Kettering

"The rewards are going to come, but my happiness is just loving the sport and having fun performing."

- Jackie Joyner Kersee

"Confidence comes not from always being right but from not fearing to be wrong."

- Peter T. McIntyre

"Even if you are on the right track, you will get run over if you just sit there."

- Will Rogers

"Sweat is the cologne of accomplishment."

- Heywood Hale Broun

"Toughness is in the soul and spirit, not in muscles."

- Alex Karras

"I always felt that my greatest asset was not my physical ability, it was my mental ability."

- Bruce Jenner

"The ideal attitude is to be physically loose and mentally tight."

- Arthur Ashe

"Mental will is a muscle that needs exercise, just like muscles of the body."

- Lynn Jennings

"Luck? Sure. But only after long practice and only with the ability to think under pressure."

- Babe Didrikson Zaharias

"True disputants are like true sportsmen: their whole delight is in the pursuit."

- Alexander Pope

"Experience is a hard teacher because she gives the test first, the lesson afterward."

- Vernon Sanders Law

"A team is where a boy can prove his courage on his own. A gang is where a coward goes to hide."

- Mickey Mantle

"As you walk down the fairway of life you must smell the roses, for you only get to play one round."

- Ben Hogan

"Don't tell me how rocky the sea is, just bring the ship in."

- Lou Holtz

"In baseball and in business, there are three types of people. Those who make it happen, those who watch it happen, and those who wonder what happened."

- Tommy Lasorda

"Wisdom is always an overmatch for strength."

- Phil Jackson

"One man practicing sportsmanship is far better than a hundred teaching it."

- Knute Rockne

"I never criticize a player until they are first convinced of my unconditional confidence in their abilities."

- John Robinson

"Good things come slow—especially in distance running."

- Bill Dellinger

"The trials on the road to world harmony are no greater than the courage of those who accept the challenge."

- Carl Lewis

"The only thing that matters is the finish line."

- Mary Cain

"If you want to run, then run a mile. If you want to experience a different life, run a marathon."

- Emil Zatopek

"People have a moral standard about what they will do and will not do. At the end of the day, someone who cheats has a lower moral standard than someone who does not. And they will cheat in other areas of life as well."

- Carl Lewis

"The only way to prove that you're a good sport is to lose."

- Ernie Banks

"My mom is great and I make sure that we pray together before every race. She helps me put everything in perspective and remind me of the real reason I run."

- Allyson Felix

"It all goes so fast, and character makes the difference when it's close."

- Jesse Owens

"You don't play against opponents, you play against the game of basketball."

- Bobby Knight

"I figure practice puts your brains in your muscles."

- Emil Zatopek

"To begin, begin."

- Peter Nivio Zarlenga

"Concentration is a fine antidote to anxiety."

- Jack Nicklaus

"The difference between the old ballplayer and the new ballplayer is the jersey. The old ballplayer cared about the name on the front. The new ballplayer cares about the name on the back."

- John Madden

"Let me never fall into the vulgar mistake of dreaming that I am persecuted whenever I am contradicted."

- Ralph Waldo Emerson

"Do you know what my favorite part of the game is? The opportunity to play."

- Mike Singletary

"It's a round ball and a round bat, and you got to hit it square."

- Pete Rose

"The road to Easy Street goes through the sewer."

- John Madden

"God gets you to the plate, but once you're there you're on your own."

- Ted Williams

"What other people may find in poetry or art museums, I find in the flight of a good drive."

- Arnold Palmer

"Money was never a big motivation for me, except as a way to keep score. The real excitement is playing the game."

- Donald Trump

"A life of frustration is inevitable for any coach whose main enjoyment is winning."

- Chuck Noll

"Slump? I ain't in no slump. I just ain't hittin."

- Yogi Berra

"A crust eaten in peace is better than a banquet partaken in anxiety."

- Aesop

"When we step into the grace of God, we step out of the confinements of time."

- Sanya Richards-Ross

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

- Jesse Owens

"If we could have just screwed another head on his shoulders, he would have been the greatest golfer who ever lived."

- Ben Hogan

"Relax? How can anybody relax and play golf? You have to grip the club, don't you?"

- Ben Hogan

"Pain is inevitable. Suffering is optional."

- M. Kathleen Casey

"I don’t have to go for a run, I get to go for a run"

"The first mile is a lie"

"The first mile is a warm up. Mile two is a prick."

"The quicker you run, the quicker you’re done."

"Just stick with it. What seems hard now will one day be your warm-up."

"Hills don’t go away. They wait."

"The only person you should try to be better than is the person you were yesterday."