Roger Bannister Quotes - Page 2

Quotes about:

• When I was about to break a world record and become well known, my mother used to say that for her the important thing was for me to become a doctor - a career which had not been possible in her generation and in her society. Sport was something to be set aside.

  Roger Bannister

  Sports, Mother, Athlete

  6 Copy quote

• You get very tired, and there was a certain amount of pain and you slow up. Your legs are so tired that you are in fact slowing. If you don't keep running, keep your blood circulating, the muscles stop pumping the blood back and you get dizzy.

  Roger Bannister

  Sports, Running, Pain

  "Breaking the Four-Minute Mile". The Academy of Achievement Interview, www.achievement.org. June 7, 2002.

  24 Copy quote

• I was always a great bundle of energy. As a child, instead of walking, I would run. And so running, which is a pain to a lot of people, was always a pleasure to me because it was so easy.

  Roger Bannister

  Sports, Running, Children

  "The Gigantic Book of Running Quotations". Book edited by Hal Higdon, 2011.

  7 Copy quote

• I found longer races boring. I found the mile just perfect.

  Roger Bannister

  Athlete, Race, Perfect

  "Sir Roger Bannister on Passion". he Academy of Achievement Interview, www.achievement.org.

  7 Copy quote

• Athletics is a luxury.

  Roger Bannister

  Athlete, Luxury, Athletic

  "Breaking the Four-Minute Mile". The Academy of Achievement Interview, www.achievement.org. June 7, 2002.

  8 Copy quote

• Your spikes, which were really quite long then, would catch the material of the track and your shoe would get heavier. I was simply filing them down and rubbing some graphite on the spikes, so that I thought I would run more effectively.

  Roger Bannister

  Running, Athlete, Shoes

  "Breaking the Four-Minute Mile". Academy of Achievement Interview, www.achievement.org. June 7, 2002.

  7 Copy quote

• It is a paradox to say the human body has no 'limit.' There must be a limit to the speed at which men can run. I feel this may be around 3:30 for the mile. However, another paradox remains - if an athlete manages to run 3:30, another runner could be found to marginally improve on that time.

  Roger Bannister

  Running, Athlete, Men

  7 Copy quote

• I came from such a simple origin, without any great privilege, and I would say I also wanted to make a mark. It wasn't until I was about 15 that I appeared in a race.

  Roger Bannister

  Sports, Athlete, Simple

  "Breaking the Four-Minute Mile". The Academy of Achievement Interview, www.achievement.org. June 7, 2002.

  4 Copy quote

• Mothers, unless they were very poor, didn't work. Both of my parents had to leave education. My mother had to work in a cotton mill until 18 or 19, when she took some training in domestic science.

  Roger Bannister

  Sports, Mother, Athlete

  "Breaking the Four-Minute Mile". The Academy of Achievement Interview, www.achievement.org. June 7, 2002.

  9 Copy quote

• I lived on the top of one hill and the school was at the top of another hill. Nobody ever went to school by car - we didn't have any cars during the war. So that to and from school was itself a training.

  Roger Bannister

  Sports, War, Athlete

  "Breaking the Four-Minute Mile". Academy of Achievement Interview, www.achievement.org. June 7, 2002.

  4 Copy quote

• If there was the opportunity to climb a mountain, or to go ballooning, or some adventurous activity, I would always be keen to do it. I loved the countryside.

  Roger Bannister

  Sports, Athlete, Opportunity

  20 Copy quote

• The mile has all the elements of a drama.

  Roger Bannister

  Running, Drama, Elements

  9 Copy quote

• If I faltered, there would be no arms to hold me and the world would be a cold and forbidding place.

  Roger Bannister

  Running, Arms, Would Be

  Sir Roger Bannister (2011). “The First Four Minutes”, p.123, The History Press

  7 Copy quote

• The Athletic Association competed against the University. So there was an event. You cannot break world records unless it is an established event, and you have three timekeepers, and the whole thing is organized.

  Roger Bannister

  Sports, Athlete, Athletic

  "Breaking the Four-Minute Mile". The Academy of Achievement Interview, www.achievement.org. June 7, 2002.

  7 Copy quote

• I couldn't disappoint people. I did not want to fail and exhaust myself, because I was the kind of runner who trained so little that I couldn't race again within another 10 days.

  Roger Bannister

  Sports, Athlete, Race

  7 Copy quote

• Beating John Landy was my defining race.

  Roger Bannister

  Race, Defining

  "Interview Sir Roger Bannister". Interview with Donald McRae, www.theguardian.com. April 25, 2004.

  4 Copy quote

• It seems quite impossible to walk in America.

  Roger Bannister

  America, Impossible, Walks

  Sir Roger Bannister (2011). “The First Four Minutes”, p.57, The History Press

  4 Copy quote

• My athleticism was really the core to social acceptance, because in those days the overwhelming number of students came from more of a public school background than I did.

  Roger Bannister

  Sports, Athlete, School

  68 Copy quote

• Life was very simple. My parents had come from the North of England, which is a fairly rugged, bleak, hard-working part of England, and so there was not the expectation of luxury.

  Roger Bannister

  Sports, Hard Work, Athlete

  7 Copy quote

• May is a very early time in the year and the weather is usually bad. You cannot run a fast mile race if there is a strong wind, because it makes your running uneven.

  Roger Bannister

  Running, Strong, Athlete

  "Breaking the Four-Minute Mile". The Academy of Achievement Interview, www.achievement.org. June 7, 2002.

  4 Copy quote

• I raced supremely well. I felt I was as well fitted to do it as I had ever been, and as perhaps I might ever be. I went climbing three weeks before, because I was feeling fed up with running.

  Roger Bannister

  Sports, Running, Athlete

  "Breaking the Four-Minute Mile". Academy of Achievement Interview, www.achievement.org. June 7, 2002.

  8 Copy quote

• My concentration was really on getting to university and becoming a doctor. My parents let me know that school marks were important. Achievement was something which came by hard work.

  Roger Bannister

  Sports, Hard Work, Athlete

  56 Copy quote

• I was involved in music, acting, and some running, but my firm wish was to become a doctor. That was the formative age when I had decided on the pattern of my career.

  Roger Bannister

  Running, Athlete, Doctors

  7 Copy quote

• It had always been a British preoccupation to hold this mile record.

  Roger Bannister

  Athlete, Records, Preoccupation

  "What It Takes" with Alice Winkler, learningenglish.voanews.com. February 23, 2018.

  7 Copy quote

• My introduction to track racing was through the background of cross country running, which is not a sport perhaps as popular in America as it is in England.

  Roger Bannister

  Sports, Running, Country

  8 Copy quote

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