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When I came back, after all those stories about Hitler and his snub, I came back to my native country, and I could not ride in the front of the bus. I had to go to the back door. I couldn't live where I wanted. Now what's the difference?

Jesse Owens

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Jesse Owens
Age: 66 †
Born: 1913
Born: September 12
Died: 1980
Died: March 31
Athletics Competitor
Olympic Athlete
Sprinter
Oakville
Albama
James Cleveland Owens
James Cleveland Jesse Owens
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More quotes by Jesse Owens

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Only by God?s grace have I made it to see today and only by God?s grace will I ever see tomorrow.
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Every morning, just like in Alabama, I got up with the sun, ate my breakfast even before my mother and sisters and brothers, and went to school, winter, spring, and fall alike to run and jump and bend my body this way and that for Mr. Charles Riley.
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Find the good. It's all around you. Find it, showcase it and you'll start believing in it.
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I realized now that militancy in the best sense of the word was the only answer where the black man was concerned, that any black man who wasn't a militant in 1970 was either blind or a coward.
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Life doesn't give you all the practice races you need.
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Awards become corroded, friends gather no dust.
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One chance is all you need.
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We all have dreams. But in order to make dreams come into reality, it takes an awful lot of determination, dedication, self-discipline, and effort.
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I decided I wasn't going to come down. I was going to fly. I was going to stay up in the air forever.
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I had four gold medals, but you can't eat four gold medals.
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Well, I couldn't play an instrument. I'd just stand up front and announce the numbers. They had me sing a little, but that was a horrible mistake. I can't carry a tune in a bucket. We played black theaters and nightclubs all over hell. One-nighters. Apollo Theater in Harlem and the Earle Theater in Philly - That was big time for blacks.
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I let my feet spend as little time on the ground as possible. From the air, fast down, and from the ground, fast up.
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If you don't try to win you might as well hold the Olympics in somebody's back yard. The thrill of competing carries with it the thrill of a gold medal. One wants to win to prove himself the best.
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I always loved running.... It was something you could do by yourself and under your own power.
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If you don't try to win you might as well hold the Olympics in somebody's back yard.
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The road to the Olympics, leads to no city, no country. It goes far beyond New York or Moscow, ancient Greece or Nazi Germany. The road to the Olympics leads — in the end — to the best within us.
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The only victory that counts is the one over yourself.
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When I passed the Chancellor he arose, waved his hand at me, and I waved back at him. I think the writers showed bad taste in criticizing the man of the hour in Germany.
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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.
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We must respect the rights and properties of our fellowman. And then learn to play the game of life, as well as the game of athletics, according to the rules of society. If you can take that and put it into practice in the community in which you live, then, to me you have won the greatest championship.
Jesse Owens