Mar - Coubertin Speaks

Mar 31

Of all the forms of camaraderie to which man is inclined, perhaps none acts more forcefully and more effectively on him than the camaraderie of sports.

The goal has been reached, and my work is done. Yet in keeping with your wishes, I shall remain as your president until 1924 so that, together, we may celebrate in Paris the Thirtieth Anniversary of the restoration of the Olympic Games on the occasion of the Eighth Olympiad.

In life, balance is a result, not a goal, a reward rather than something to be sought out.

Strength and agility … are achieved through exercise and practice: balance in the moral order, mens sana in corpore sano, as the ancients used to say.

In the Ancient Greek gymnasium there was an admirable compromise between two types of strength men fought over—muscles and ideas rubbed shoulders congenially.

The will, daring and perseverance form a trinity that is unequaled in its power to generate improvement.

Enthusiasm for physical exercises spread with irresistible power. There was no need to invoke memories of Greece or to seek encouragement from the past. People like sports for sports' sake.

To work effectively toward improving himself, a man must, first and foremost, know himself.

I admire the young men, from all the countries in the world, who manage to find enough moral strength to handle a deeply-felt defeat without any apparent bitterness.

Pay tribute to the modern athlete—this is his festival, his day of renaissance.

Sport means movement, and the influence of movement on bodies is something that has been evident from time immemorial.

Children, young and old alike, need to be encouraged to become involved in exercise.

One evening, the moon lit up a vaporous landscape of Olympia, then the starry night fell on the 2,000 years I had come to recapture.

Egalitarianism does not arise and is not sustained on its own anywhere but on the playing field.

Peacefulness and confidence are essential foundations for the youthful civilization of tomorrow, which will be born amidst raging storms.

Sport is not a luxury pastime, an activity for the leisured few, nor merely a form of muscular compensation for brainwork.

Modern sports can admit of no other aristocracy than the aristocracy of the muscles.

Rejoice in humanity that is constantly being reborn. Have faith in it, pour out your energy on it, mix your hopes with its.

No one has the right to tear something down unless he also provides the outlines for a way to build something in its place.

The unfortunate thing is not failing, but failing to try.

In athletics one can seek a marvelous solidification of the human machine, a delicate balance of mind and body, the joy of a more intense life.

The Olympic Games are the temple of muscular activity in the most widely varied forms possible, though there is no need to assign degrees within some hierarchy of beauty and nobility.

Sport needs the freedom of excess. That is its essence, its reason for being, the secret of its moral value.

Because they are individualists, athletes tend to be interested in and to appreciate the performances of their rivals.

To seek in sport a harmony of the faculties, a calm and happy strength—in this light athletics can best serve a nation and enrich its destiny.

In truth, the entire work of the Olympics is based on concord—it means erasing the memories of old battles or preventing new ones.

The practice of athletic exercise does not iron out inequalities in social conditions, but it places relationships on an equal footing.

If we achieve political freedom but forget social equality, civilization runs the risk of exploding like a boiler without a safety-valve.

Human society works by the principle of competition; it has always been so, and will remain so.

The great precepts of tolerance and mutual respect (were) bequeathed to us by the Olympism of the ancients.

The Games are a festival of youthful activity celebrated by each generation as it arrives on the threshold of adulthood.

Mar 31

Mar 30

Mar 29

Mar 28

Mar 27

Mar 26

Mar 25

Mar 24

Mar 23

Mar 22

Mar 21

Mar 20

Mar 19

Mar 18

Mar 17

Mar 16

Mar 15

Mar 14

Mar 13

Mar 12

Mar 11

Mar 10

Mar 09

Mar 08

Mar 07

Mar 06

Mar 05

Mar 04

Mar 03

Mar 02

Mar 01