How does a kid from Coos Bay, with one leg longer than the other win races?

To give anything less than your best is to sacrifice the gift.

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.

You have to wonder at times what you're doing out there. Over the years, I've given myself a thousand reasons to keep running, but it always comes back to where it started. It comes down to self-satisfaction and a sense of achievement.

What I want is to be number one.

Something inside of me just said 'Hey, wait a minute, I want to beat him,' and I just took off.

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.

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

How does a kid from Coos Bay, with one leg longer than the other win races?

I run to see who has the most guts.

A race is a work of art that people can look at and be affected in as many ways they're capable of understanding.

American athletes, especially distance runners, are at a big disadvantage against the rest of the world. We're expected to live by all the rules, like not being able to coach, but still train and make our own living.

Did you ever run behind a slow pack? You get a trailing wind and a lot of body odor.

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?'

For me, running against the Poles and Czechs would be like running against high school kids. And I hate all this gung-ho, run-for-the-red-white-and-blue attitude that the AAU spouts. If that's important to some people, fine, more power to 'em. But, damn it, I wish they'd leave me alone to do what I want to do - run against the best.

I know places you better speak low if you've been to college. Men will come across the room and cold-deck you if you hold your glass wrong.

I like to be able to go out to dinner once in a while. I like to be able to drive my MG up the McKenzie River on a weekday afternoon. I like to be able to pay my bills on time.

I'm the one who has made all the sacrifices. Those are my American records, not the country's.

I've been in international competition, and now I know what the big boys can do. You don't go out and just run. There's an offense and a defense.

If he's having a good day and running the right race, nobody can beat Frank Shorter at 10,000 meters... nobody except me.

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.

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.

No one will ever win a 5,000-meter by running an easy two miles. Not against me.

Nobody likes tainted victories.

Over the years, I've given myself a thousand reasons to keep running, but it always comes back to where it started. It comes down to self-satisfaction and a sense of achievement.

People say I should be running for a gold medal for the old red, white and blue and all that bull, but it's not gonna be that way.

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.

To give anything less than your best, is to sacrifice the gift.

To hell with love of country - I compete for myself.

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.

You probably choose x-country because you were too small to play football.

Success isn't how far you got, but the distance you traveled from where you started.

Most people run a race to see who is fastest. I run a race to see who has the most guts.

I admire all people who are trying to be a good power in this chaotic world.

I think every teenager feels like a Martian in something, whether it's in their family, I think, or in their school. I think every teenager, every human being has a sense that they don't belong somewhere.

I'm trying to sell every audience something; that something is me.

I want to get my own show because 'Today' will eventually get tired of me, or the audience will get tired of me.

Here in the United States, we have between 250 and 300 years of a coal supply. That is more than the amount of recoverable oil contained in the entire world.

Apparently God takes reception of Holy Communion seriously. Apparently some things are more sacred than politics. Apparently it's all or nothing when it comes to being Catholic.

I don't understand why the accent you speak in has to indicate what level of intellect you have.

I think Mr. Trump's people are very, very passionate, and they're angry because of the way that this country has been taken advantage of from so many other countries. That's a frustration level I think a lot of people in this country feel, and people express it in different ways.

Retirement: That's when you return from work one day and say, 'Hi, Honey, I'm home, forever.'

Often, when people ask me what I read as a young girl, I lie. Or, I should say, I lie by omission. I tell them about my brilliant fourth-grade teacher, Miss Artis, who assigned us 'Johnny Tremain' and 'Where the Red Fern Grows' and 'Tuck Everlasting,' all books that made an impression on me. And people nod in approval.

'1984' is not a wonder tale. Not only could it happen, but it has happened, but under different names.

I write music as a staff writer for Universal Music Group, and I have since 2007. I've never talked about it publicly because I wanted to earn the right to be in the same room as the great writers I write with and not shoot my mouth off because I'm an actor. It's really important to me, and I really care about it.

The great thing about rock-n-roll is you realize the top of the mountain is big enough for more than one band.

Without accepting the fact that everything changes, we cannot find perfect composure. Unfortunately, although it is true, it is difficult for us to accept it. Because we cannot accept the truth of transience, we suffer.

I do think the public want to see politicians acting in a different way. What's brought young people into our campaign is that they were written off by political parties but they had never written off politics, and what we have is a huge number of young people, very enthusiastic and brimming with ideas. Those ideas have got to be heard.

It's a cliche, but Americans are puritanical. In their movies, they are scared of sex, but they overindulge in violence. I could have cut a G-rated version of 'Y Tu Mama Tambien' that would have pleased the American ratings board, but it would have been five minutes long.