Since people exist, there is running – it is our natural way of moving, and thus a part of our being, in addition to walking. No wonder people have been talking about running and movement for thousands of years.

We have collected 101 running quotes. It is not always running quotes in the true sense, but each one can be interpreted as a quote about running.
The range of topics is as colorful as the running community: What does it mean to be a runner? How do you deal with successes and defeats? Why are we even running? How can we realize our dreams and move our boundaries?

Let yourself be inspired by the more or less serious or profound quotes – and write a comment if you know any other quotes that may not be missing in this collection!

101 Running Quotes for Motivation 

1. “Everyone follows a different path.” (Scott Jurek)
2. “Lust shortens the way.” (William Shakespeare)
3. “The marathon is a contest between your will and your possibilities.” (Jeff Galloway)
4. (Amby Burfoot) “To get to the finish line, you’ll have lots of different paths.”
5. “If we could give each individual the right amount of food and exercise, we would have found the safest way to health.” (Hippocrates)
6. “Bird is flying, fish are swimming, man is running.” (Emil Zátopek)
7. “Knowing that you are one with what you do, that you are a complete athlete, begins with you believing that you are a runner.” (George Sheehan)
8. “It’s not our feet that move us, it’s our thinking.” (Chinese proverb)
9. “You love what you strive for, and you strive for what you love.” (Erich Fromm)
10. “In a healthy body dwells a healthy mind.” (Juvenal)
11. “7 days without running makes one weak.” (Unknown)
12. “Sometimes you wonder what you are doing out there. Over the years, I’ve invented thousands of reasons to keep going, but I keep coming back to the reason it’s started: running is satisfying, and it gives you a sense of accomplishment. “(Steve Prefontaine)
13. “Sport is a part of everyday life, as is the sacred to the profane.” (Peter Sloterdijk)
14. “Do not try to be better than your contemporaries or predecessors. Try to be better than yourself. “(William Faulkner)
15. “The first half hour I walk for my body, the second half hour for the soul.” (George Sheehan)
16. “Do not lock yourself, follow your dreams, do not be afraid to push the boundaries. And laugh a lot – that’s good for you! “(Paula Radcliffe)
17. “Beyond the most extreme exhaustion and distress, we may encounter a degree of ease and strength we would never dream of.” (William James)
18. “Only those who risk going too far can even find out how far they can go.” (TS Eliot)
19. “What defines you as a runner is not how fast you are or how many miles you can walk. What defines you as a runner is that you lace your shoes, walk out the door, and walk. “(Unknown)
20. “For me, as for many other runners, there is no finish line. Races end, running does not end. “(Dean Karnazes)
21. “The real purpose of running is not to win a race; it’s to test the limits of the human heart. “(Bill Bowerman)
22. “I can not imagine living without walking.” (Paula Radcliffe)
23. “Anyone who believes that they do not have time for physical fitness will sooner or later have to have time to get sick.” (Chinese proverb)
24. “Strength does not grow from physical strength – rather from an indomitable will.” (Mahatma Gandhi)
25. “It does not matter how slow you go, as long as you do not stop.” (Confucius)
26. “Participation is more important than winning.” (Pierre Baron de Coubertin)
27. “We walk, not because we think we’re fine, but because we like it. The more we are restricted by society and work, the more we need this distraction, where we can satisfy our longing for freedom. Nobody can tell us not to run faster than the one or not to jump higher than the one. The human mind is untameable. “(Roger Bannister)
28. “An athlete can not walk with money in his pockets. He has to run with hope in his heart and dreams in his head. “(Emil Zátopek)
29. “Whoever does what he can, always remains what he already is.” (Henry Ford)
30. “We all have dreams. But for dreams to become reality, it takes a lot of determination, dedication, self-discipline and effort. “(Jesse Owens)
31. “A goal without a plan is just a wish.” (Antoine de Saint-Exupéry)
32. “Man does not move less, because he grows old. He grows old because he moves less. So move! “(Gustav-Adolf Schur)
33. “First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you and then you win.” (Mahatma Gandhi)
34. “It changes pain and desire. Enjoy, if you can, and suffer if you have to. “(Johann Wolfgang von Goethe)
35. “Especially because of the soul, it is necessary to practice the body, and that’s what our clever babblers do not want to see.” (Jean-Jacques Rousseau)
36. “Even though we are training for a specific race, running is a lifelong sport.” (Alberto Salazar)
37. “Maybe stop trying so hard to find shortcuts to ‘hack’ your life. The best things are hard. Invest in the journey. “(Rich Roll)
38. “Run when you can, walk when you have to, crawl if you must, just never give up.” (Dean Karnazes)
39. “I have failed again and again in my life. And that’s why I’m successful. “(Michael Jordan)
40. “If you run a marathon, you run against the distance – not against the other runners or against the clock.” (Haile Gebrselassie)
41. “The secret of success is known only to those who once had failure.” (Antoine de Saint-Exupéry)
42. “You never know how strong you are until being strong is the only way you can stay.” (Unknown)
43. “Anyone who has always spared too much, the last sick of his many protection.” (Friedrich Nietsche)
44. “The biggest pleasure in life is doing things that other people think you can not handle!” (Marcel Aymé)
45. “Sport is a very reasonable attempt by the modern civilization man to artificially create hardships.” (Peter Bamm)
46. “The miracle is not that I have come to the finish. The miracle is that I had the courage to run. “(John Bingham)
47. “Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better. “(Samuel Beckett)
48. “May the road rush to you. May the wind always be in your back. “(Irish blessing wish)
49. “The most important thing is just to develop a passion for running. Love the morning, love the trail, love the pace on the track. “(Pat Tyson)
50. “Ask yourself, ‘Can I give more?’ The answer is usually ‘yes’. “(Paul Tergat)
51. “The pain goes, the pride stays.” (Unknown)
52. “If you want to run, run a mile. If you want to get to know a new life, run marathon. “(Emil Zátopek)
53. “Run better than lazy.” (Johann Wolfgang von Goethe)
54. “He who defeats himself is strong.” (Lao Tzu)
55. “What happens without rest is not permanent.” (Ovid)
56. “Make yourself difficult in training, then it will be easier in the competition.” (Emil Zátopek)
57. “Is not nothin ‘gonna break my stride, Nobody’s gonna slow me down, oh no, I got to keep on movin’.” (Matthew Wilder)
58. “Make the pain a friend and you will never be alone.” (Ken Chlouber)
59. “It’s never too late to become what you could have been.” (George Eliot)
60. “To give anything less than your best is to sacrifice the gift.” (Steve Prefontaine)
61. “Of all the things I’ve made a habit of throughout my life, running is the most helpful and meaningful, I have to admit.” (Haruki Murakami)
62. “I often hear someone saying, ‘I’m not a real runner’. We are all true runners – some just run faster than others. I’ve never seen a ‘fake’ runner. “(Bart Yasso)
63. “The reason we run is not so much to beat each other.” (Christopher McDougall)
64. “Running is a mental sport. And we’re all insane. “(Unknown)
65. “Only those who know their destination will find their way.” (Lao Tzu)
66. “Do you fall seven times, get up eight times.” (Japanese proverb)
67. “Everybody is an athlete. The only difference is that some of us are in training and some are not. “(George Sheehan)
68. “If you walk on the earth and walk with the earth, then you can walk forever.” (Saying the Tarahumara Indians)
69. “Hard work and an open mind – this is the only way to realize the potential that lies within each of us.” (Chrissie Wellington)
70. “For me, a day without training is like a day without food.” (Haile Gebrselassie)
71. “Above all, never lose the desire to walk. I go to my well-being everyday, removing myself from any illness. I’ve had my best thoughts, and I do not know any grief you can not leave. “(Sören Kierkegaard)
72. “As soon as my legs move, my thoughts begin to flow.” (Henry David Thoreau)
73. “He who wants to move the world should first move himself.” (Socrates)
74. “Nobody can go back and start again, but everyone can start making a new end today.” (Maria Robinson)
75. “Humans are not built to sit all day. Nor are we prepared for the kinds of repetitive, small movements that so much of today’s specialized work demands. Our bodies crave big, varied movements that originate at the core of our body. “(Scott Jurek)
76. “Follow your heart, and the universe will conspire to support you.” (Rich Roll)
77. “Stay away from those who try to minimize your ambition. Small-minded people always do that, but the really big ones make you feel that you, too, can grow up. “(Mark Twain)
78. “Running is the best metaphor for life because you can find out what you put into it.” (Oprah Winfrey)
79. “Whoever fights can lose. Who does not fight has already lost. “(Bertold Brecht)
80. “He who has no imagination has no wings.” (Muhammad Ali)
81. “Anyone can be a runner. We are destined to move. We are destined to run. It’s the simplest sport. “(Bill Rodgers)
82. “Run until you can not run anymore. Then run some more. Find a new source of energy and wants. Then run faster. “(Scott Jurek)
83. Commitment, sacrifice, grit, and raw determination. Plain and simple. “(Dean Karnazes)
84. “Even the longest journey begins with a single step.” (Lao Tzu)
85. “When running, it does not matter if you finish first or mass, or last. You can say, ‘I’ve finished.’ And there is a lot of satisfaction in that. “(Fred Lebow)
86. “Those who are not brave enough to take risks will never achieve anything in life.” (Muhammad Ali)
87. “Quitters never win and winners never quit” (Sister Madonna Buder)
88. “Whether you believe you can or can not do something, you’ll probably be right.” (Henry Ford)
89. “There’s no such thing as bad weather, just soft people.” (Bill Bowerman)
90. “You feel good while running and even better afterwards.” (Fred Lebow)
91. “The best way out always leads in the middle.” (Robert Frost)
92. “It’s really fun, as a long distance runner alone out there, and not a soul spoiling your mood or telling you what to do.” (Alan Sillitoe)
93. “We all loose sometimes. We fail to get what we want. Friends and loved ones leave. We make a decision we regret. We try our hardest and come up short. It’s not the losing that defines us. It’s how we loose. It’s what we do afterward. “(Scott Jurek)
94. “It’s up to each one of us ‘I can not’ to ‘I can transform’.” (Chrissie Wellington)
95. “Running is like a big question mark that asks you every day: Are you strong today, or are you a sissy?” (Peter Maher)
96. “Whoever rests rustes. But miles that heal. “(Ulrich Pramann)
97. “All I want to do is drink and train like an animal.” (Rod Dixon)
98. “People are waiting for the weekends all week long, summer all year long, all life looking to be happy.” (Ritu Ghatourey)
99. “If you do not have confidence, you will always find a way not to win.” (Carl Lewis)
100. “I started running at the age of 72 because I was tired of the boring conversations about funerals.” (Ruth Rothfarb)
101. “Life is there to participate, not to watch.” (Katherine Switzer)