Bill Bowerman Quotes

If someone says, ‘Hey, I ran 100 miles this week. How far did you run?’ ignore him! What the hell difference does it make?…. The magic is in the man, not the 100 miles.

The athlete makes himself, the coach doesn’t make the athlete.

There is no bad weather, just soft runners.

Everything you need is already inside.

I think people can handle 150 to 200 miles a week. But something has to give somewhere. If he’s a student, how’s he going to study? He may be at the age of chasing and courtship, and that’s an important form of sport and recreation, too.

To bring inspiration and innovation to every athlete* in the world.

The real purpose of running isn’t to win a race, it’s to test the limits of the human heart.

The idea that the harder you work, the better you’re going to be is just garbage. The greatest improvement is made by the man or woman who works most intelligently.

Men of Oregon, I invite you to become students of your events. Running, one might say, is basically an absurd past-time upon which to be exhausting ourselves. But if you can find meaning, in the kind of running you have to do to stay on this team, chances are you will be able to find meaning in another absurd past-time: life.

Victory is in having done your best. If you’ve done your best, you’ve won.

God determines how fast you’re going to run; I can help only with the mechanics.

It’s easier to beg forgiveness than ask permission.