Carl Lewis Quotes

"Life is about timing."

"Our message of the day is service does not need a title."

"Why do we have 47 million people without health care? Because America has become about 'me'. What's happened to 'we' as a people? I believe in that and that resonates to most people."

"The people are fed up with their elected officials playing the blame game and treating their political counterparts as enemies."

"When I run - as you see from my record - I run to win."

"The trials on the road to world harmony are no greater than the courage of those who accept the challenge."

"We cannot rest until we make sure that our families can afford to live and raise their kids here, that our seniors can remain in their homes and afford their health and pharmaceutical costs."

"I found the emotion that as an athlete you block out, and it really helped me to understand myself as a person. I'm a really emotional person and it helped make me a better person."

"I don't feel I'm qualified to be a coach outside the high school level. I think I would need to do more education to really be a good coach."

"Scientists have proven that it's impossible to long-jump 30 feet, but I don't listen to that kind of talk. Thoughts like that have a way of sinking into your feet."

"I'm not Carl Lewis the athlete any more. I'm growing into a new person with new interests and new goals."

"I always separated sports and my personal life."

"I have no intention of lingering through a season, just to have a chance to be an alternate on a relay. I don't want that."

"Amateurism is the strongest form of discrimination in sports. Because it discriminates against the underprivileged, it discriminates against the poor. If we want sports to go back to the wealthy, let's make it amateur again."

"Every New Year's Eve, I have a pact to do something I never thought I'd do. So I created this list. You have to free your mind to do things you wouldn't think of doing. Don't ever say no."

"You can't live your life through your children."

"I'm very serious about becoming a dramatic actor. I don't want to play cameo parts walking on as Carl Lewis the athlete. I want to go on stage or screen and be taken seriously."

"I'm a fast learner. I may not run as fast as I used to, but I think I still learn as fast."

"Any press is good press. So keep on ragging me."

"At the end of the day, if you're a professional athlete in track and field you are the CEO of your company."

"'m so fortunate to have done what I love to do for so long, but the day I retired was one of the best days of my life. Not because I was happy to get away from the sport, but because it was clear in my mind that I had done all I possibly could, and that it was time to go."

"I like the pressure of having to perform so people will come to me."

"People have a moral standard about what they will do and will not do. At the end of the day someone who cheats has a lower moral standard than someone who does not. And they will cheat in other areas of life as well."

"You're not going to get a chance to vote for me on the ballot, but you can actually vote for what I believe in."

"Seriously, some Americans just shouldn't leave the country."

"When I decided to go for four gold medals I planned it out over a few years. It was in four different events and there was a lot to it."

"An athlete and actor are really two different temperaments, night and day. As an athlete you really keep things out and as an actor you really bring things in."

"You have to free your mind to do things you wouldn't think of doing. Don't ever say no."

"I'm a businessman and actor and I still make appearances."

"I'm not a coach and I know it. I'm too busy and it doesn't pay. I'm expensive. But I would always advise."