Jesse Owens

The greatest lesson I learned was to believe in myself.

I was just a kid from Alabama who loved to run.

The world needs more heroes, but it also needs more people who are willing to fight for what's right.

I ran so fast, I could outrun my own shadow.

My life was a race, and I ran it to the finish line.

I never let the color of my skin define me.

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

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.

When I came back to my native country, after all the stories about Hitler, I couldn't ride in the front of the bus. I had to go to the back door. I couldn't live where I wanted.

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

A lifetime of training for just ten seconds.

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.

Friendships born on the field of athletics are the real gold of competition. Awards turn to dust and fade away. But friendships endure forever.

If you don't try to win, then why keep score?

The only way to beat the competition is to be better than them.

I always loved to run. It was an escape.

When I came back, after all this publicity, I was still a second-class citizen.

The only way to get to the top is to work your way up.

I'm not a political person. I'm an athlete.

The only way to make a dream come true is to wake up and work for it.