Emil Zatopek Quotes

You're not obligated to win. You're obligated to keep trying to do the best you can every day.

As always, I keep my head up, look objectively at all the matches I played, see where I can improve, bits and pieces, and, you know, get ready as quick as I can.

Literally falling on the ice and having to pick yourself up in front of thousands of people is not an easy thing to do. The thing that you learn is to pick yourself back up, to learn from your mistakes.

There are no limits. There are only plateaus, and you must not stay there, you must go beyond them.

No matter how many mistakes you make or how slow you progress, you are still way ahead of everyone who isn't trying.

Every single day I wake up and commit myself to becoming a better player. Some days it happens, and some days it doesn't. Sure, there are games I'm going to dominate and there are going to be games when I struggle. But it doesn't mean I give up.

Doing your best is more important than being the best.

I always pushed myself. Whenever I felt I needed to stop, I made myself run faster.

If you take pride in your attainment or become discouraged because of your idealistic effort, your practice will confine you by a thick wall.

Keep the faculty of effort alive in you by a little gratuitous exercise every day.

We have not wings we cannot soar; but, we have feet to scale and climb, by slow degrees, by more and more, the cloudy summits of our time.

I always think I'm lazy, maybe I could do better, I could make more effort and I always have the feeling that there is a glass wall that I cannot get through. But maybe when I get through, then it's over.

Competitive toughness is an acquired skill and not an inherited gift.

In long-distance running the only opponent you have to beat is yourself, the way you used to be.

The life you want is on the other side of the labor pains it takes to birth it.

We don’t have to be superstars or win championships…. All we have to do is learn to rise to every occasion, give our best effort, and make those around us better as we do it.

I have expanded my mind and destroyed my liver but I didn't give up.

I want to be challenged, I want to keep challenging myself - whether or not it's changing yourself physically or just pushing yourself to a certain extreme. I get bored quite easily so I like to keep my mind entertained by challenging myself.

It's not about perfect. It's about effort. And when you bring that effort every single day, that's where transformation happens. That's how change occurs.

It never gets easier; you just go faster.

Anyone who has ever made a resolution discovers that the strength of their determination fades with time. The important thing is not that your resolve never wavers, but that you don't get down on yourself when it does and throw in the towel.

Success is a journey, not a destination. It requires constant effort, vigilance and reevaluation.

The battle for self-discipline may leave you a bit bruised and battered but always a better person. Self-discipline is a rigorous process at best; too many of us want it to be effortless and painless. Should temporary setbacks afflict us, a very significant part of our struggle for self-discipline is the determination and the courage to try again....Eternal life in the kingdom of our Father is your goal, and self-discipline will surely be required if you are to achieve it.

Perfection is never achieved, so you need to go on working.

Persistence is the mother of personal change