1936 Olympics Quotes

Life doesn't give you all the practice races you need. ~ Jesse Owens

Although I wasn't invited to shake hands with Hitler, I wasn't invited to the White House to shake hands with the President either. ~ Jesse Owens

After I came home from the 1936 Olympics with my four medals, it became increasingly apparent that everyone was going to slap me on the back, want to shake my hand or have me up to their suite. But no one was going to offer me a job. ~ Jesse Owens

In retrospect, it is easy to see that Hitler's successful gamble in the Rhineland brought him a victory more staggering and more fatal in its immense consequences than could be comprehended at the time. At home it fortified his popularity and his power, raising them to heights which no German ruler of the past had ever enjoyed. It assured his ascendancy over his generals, who had hesitated and weakened at a moment of crisis when he had held firm. It taught them that in foreign politics and even in military affairs his judgment was superior to theirs. They had feared that the French would fight; he knew better. And finally, and above all, the Rhineland occupation, small as it was as a military operation, opened the way, as only Hitler (and Churchill, alone, in England) seemed to realize, to vast new opportunities in a Europe which was not only shaken but whose strategic situation was irrevocably changed by the parading of three German battalions across the Rhine bridges.

Conversely, it is equally easy to see, in retrospect, that France's failure to repel the Wehrmacht battalions and Britain's failure to back her in what would have been nothing more than a police action was a disaster for the West from which sprang all the later ones of even greater magnitude. In March 1936 the two Western democracies were given their last chance to halt, without the risk of a serious war, the rise of a militarized, aggressive, totalitarian Germany and, in fact - as we have seen Hitl ~ William L. Shirer

During events like the World Cup and the Olympics, I tend to get really wrapped up in my own experience to stay focused, but it's like a bubble. I don't see much outside my own perspective. ~ Abby Wambach

Sorry to disappoint you but I don't even watch the Olympics no more. ~ Roy Jones Jr.

By bringing Little Sun to Tate Modern and the London Olympics, I hope to realise an art project for those who typically have no access to global events of this scale. ~ Olafur Eliasson

My decision to come to Bell Telephone Laboratories immediately after obtaining my Ph.D. in 1936 was strongly influenced by the fact that my supervisor would be C. J. Davisson. ~ William Shockley

Performance enhancing drugs are banned in the Olympics. OK, we can swing with that. But performance 'debilitating' drugs should not be banned. Smoke a joint and win the 100 metres, fair play for you. That's pretty good. Unless someone's dangling a Mars bar off in the distance. ~ Eddie Izzard

The luge is the only Olympic event where you could have people competing in it against their will, and it would look exactly the same. Take people off the street, Hey, hey, hey, what is this?! I don't wanna be in the luge! Once you put that helmet on them, You're in the luge, buddy! aaaAAAaaaAAAaaaAAA ... aaaAAAAA ... World record. Didn't even wanna do it. I'd like to see that next Olympics, the Involuntary Luge. ~ Jerry Seinfeld

You've got to stay in pretty good shape to be a pro wrestler, and all the TNA wrestlers get a bit nervous when I wrestle them because they're afraid I'll tire them out, but the Olympics is a whole different level. ~ Kurt Angle

Criticizing reporters is like boo-ing at the Special Olympics. ~ Michael Jackson

The human police had come to the bar outside Shiftertown to ask Liam about the reported noise in Shiftertown that day, and Liam had glibly told them, "Shifter games." He'd smiled his warm smile and let his Irish lilt roll from his tongue. Kim had backed him up, as had Silas the reporter. "Running and jumping and other frolicking," Liam had said. "Like your human Olympics but not as organized. ~ Jennifer Ashley

I find men's clothing fascinating because sometime between, say, 1930 and 1936 a handful of basic shapes were created and still prevail as a sort of scale of expression, with which every man can project his own personality and his own dignity. ~ Yves Saint-Laurent

At the Olympics, there was a little bit of unfair judging, but I tried not to be disappointed and to do my best. I think the audience respected and loved what I did at the Olympics, and that helped me become the world champion in 1997. ~ Olena Vitrychenko

But you know we couldn't compare what we do with what the British athletes did at the Olympics. We are very proud to be British and if we have done our bit to promote Britain in a historic year for the country that's brilliant. ~ Louis Tomlinson

Now, they hold the World Cup every year, so it's like any Super Series. It's boring. To me, it's very boring. I think the players will always attend the World Cup. But for the fans, and also for most players, the Olympics and Asian Games will become more important. Nobody will look forward to the World Cup with anticipation. ~ Taufik Hidayat

The Olympics are always a special competition, it is very difficult to predict what will happen. ~ Sergei Bubka

Simplicity survives the changes of fashion. Women of chic are wearing now dresses they bought from me in 1936. Fit the century, forget the year. ~ Valentina

I've put myself forward to be involved. Whether I get picked, we'll have to wait and see. Obviously everybody is excited about it, about the Olympics coming to London and the football being played in different parts of Britain. ~ Ryan Giggs

In 1968, in the midst of the tumultuous 1960s, the Olympics were much more than just another event. ~ Peggy Fleming

I was doing the family grocery shopping accompanied by two children, an event I hope to see included in the Olympics in the near future. ~ Anna Quindlen

Social media is teaching us that everyone fucks up, everyone is stupid sometimes, and that this is probably part of being a thinking human. The one exception are those who participate in the self-righteousness Olympics and they often turn people who agree with them against 'em. ~ Joe Hill

Oppression Olympics is what smart liberal Americans say to make you feel stupid and to make you shut up. But there IS an oppression olympics going on. American racial minorities - blacks, Hispanics, Asians and Jews - all get shit from white folks, different kinds of shit but shit still. Each secretly believes that it gets the worst shit. So, no, there is no United League of the Oppressed. However, all the others think they're better than blacks because, well, they're not black. ~ Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Singing at the Opening Ceremonies of the Sydney Olympics in 2000 was amazing and, probably the highlight of this decade is the opening of the Olivia Newton-John Cancer and Wellness Centre in my hometown of Melbourne, Australia. ~ Olivia Newton-John

When I look back at the world championships, I know there's a lot of room for improvement, I'm always up for a challenge. The Olympics, they don't define me, I've had some good and some bad. But it's all about the Olympic experience. ~ Michelle Kwan

I watched the Olympics as a kid. It would be fun to try to win a medal. If I could swap Olympic gold for a US PGA Championship? I'd take the Major every time. ~ Luke Donald

Gymnastics is my whole life, and I dream of going to the Olympics and being a world champ. ~ Aly Raisman

I think four Olympics is probably enough. Five Olympics is a long time, but there's nothing wrong with that if I'm into it and I'm healthy and my priorities can fit around that. ~ Bode Miller

You dream about the Olympics for so long and you have that one day, then it's over, and when you don't run well there is this huge letdown. It took me years to deal with that. I feel like I almost had to cleanse myself of that experience. ~ Ryan Hall

The stupid person's idea of the clever person. [on Aldous Huxley, in Spectator magazine, 1936] ~ Elizabeth Bowen

I have a power word that I use-when I qualified for the Olympics in 2008, it was fighter. That way when I'm in the race and I get to those dark moments, I can think of the word and it evokes that emotion for me. ~ Kara Goucher

As Israel prepares to enter, my position is well known. It is one that I have taken at previous Olympics. It is wrong that the IOC refuses to have a minute's silence for Israeli athletes that were slaughtered in Munich. ~ Brian Williams

Every line of serious work that I have written since 1936 has been written, directly or indirectly against totalitarianism and for democratic Socialism as I understand it. ~ George Orwell