Best Jesse Owens Quotes

The black fist is a meaningless symbol. When you open it, you have nothing but fingers -- weak, empty fingers. The only time the black fist has significance is when there's money inside. There's where the power lies.

One chance is all you need.

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

It's like having a pet dog for a long time. You get attached to it, and when it dies you miss it.
On being asked how he felt when his world records were broken.

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, fighting the wind if you felt like it, seeking out new sights just on the strength of your feet and the courage of your lungs.

Jesse Owens, The Buckeye Bullet

The Free Spirit of America

In America,anybody can become somebody.

Jesse Owens to the American media

Talent comes from the villages

You take some of the great champions in America. You take, for instance, a person like Joe Louis, the former heavyweight champion of the world. Joe Louis came out of a village in Alabama and then he moved into the big city and then he got his change in amateur athletics and amateur boxing, and then he went on to be the heavyweight champion of the world.

Take, for instance, one of the small villages you have in your country -- that is where you are going to find a great deal of talent and a great deal of wisdom. An institution in the United States was built by a man who was born in a log cabin and lived in a very small village, and that institution is Tuksegee, Alabama, and the man who founded it was Booker T Washington, who is one of our great men in America, as far as education or educators are concerned. So you see, it does not have to be a person born in a large city. It does not mean that he has to have all the things that are going to make him a champion. Champions are born in hamlets and villages all over the world, so I still say that we are going to have one here to.

Jesse Owens in an interview to Eric Prabhakar

When I came back to my native country, after all the stories about Hitler, I couldn't ride in the front of the bus, Owens said. I had to go to the back door. I couldn't live where I wanted. I wasn't invited to shake hands with Hitler, but I wasn't invited to the White House to shake hands with the President, either.

Olympic Winning athelete Jesse Owens on his struggle to live despite winning olympic gold medals

Not Giving up

I decided I wasn't going to come down. I was going to fly. I was going to stay up in the air forever.

on his final world record in long jump, 26 feet, 5 and 5/16

Symbol of Human Struggle

Perhaps no athlete better symbolized the human struggle against tyranny, poverty and racial bigotry. His personal triumphs as a world-class athlete and record holder were the prelude to a career devoted to helping others. His work with young athletes, as an unofficial ambassador overseas, and a spokesman for freedom are a rich legacy to his fellow Americans.

President Jimmy Carter

The Leap of the Century

It dawned on me with blinding brightness. I realized: I had jumped into another rare kind of stratosphere -- one that only a handful of people in every generation are lucky enough to know.

Jesse Owens on his Olympic achievements

Achieving your dream

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