Top 50 Carl Lewis Quotes (2025 Update)

1. “Channel your energy. Focus.”

— Carl Lewis

Featured in: Focus Quotes, Motivational Workout Quotes, Running Quotes, Productivity Quotes, Energy Quotes

2. “It’s all about the journey, not the outcome.”

— Carl Lewis

Featured in: Running Quotes

3. “If you don’t have confidence, you’ll always find a way not to win.”

— Carl Lewis

4. “I’m a fast learner. I may not run as fast as I used to, but I think I still learn as fast.”

— Carl Lewis

5. “Life is about timing.”

— Carl Lewis

6. “I want to be a millionaire, and I don’t ever want a real job.”

— Carl Lewis

7. “I never competed against athletes. I competed against perfection.”

— Carl Lewis

8. “When I run – you can see my record – I run to win.”

— Carl Lewis

9. “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.”

— Carl Lewis

10. “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.”

— Carl Lewis

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

— Carl Lewis

12. “You can’t live your life through your children.”

— Carl Lewis

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

— Carl Lewis

14. “I want to be remembered as a person who felt there was no limitation to what the human body and mind can do and be the inspiration to lead people to do things they never hoped to do.”

— Carl Lewis

15. “I work with the Carl Lewis Foundation focusing on youth from high school down.”

— Carl Lewis

16. “Any press is good press. So keep on ragging me.”

— Carl Lewis

17. “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.”

— Carl Lewis

18. “My best year of track competition was the first year I ate a vegan diet.”

— Carl Lewis

19. “I’ve found that a person does not need protein from meat to be a successful athlete. In fact, my best year of track competition was the first year I ate a vegan diet.”

— Carl Lewis

20. “I enjoy my life, I love track, I’m set for life financially.”

— Carl Lewis

21. “My life isn’t interesting! It’s my mom. You need to write her life and put me in it. I’m a cameo in her life.”

— Carl Lewis

22. “I wouldn’t be surprised if one day Carl’s halo slipped and choked him.”

— Carl Lewis

23. “Track and field is the best way to reach out for kids. It doesn’t matter how fast you are. You always want to beat someone.”

— Carl Lewis

24. “The best kids are going to become the best. But the best thing about it is that you’re going to learn lessons in playing those sports about winning and losing and teamwork and teammates and arguments and everything else that are going to affect you positively for the rest of your life.”

— Carl Lewis

25. “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.”

— Carl Lewis

26. “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.”

— Carl Lewis

27. “I tell you, it was kind of two-fold. I fortunately had a lot of support. My coach was amazing – he told me to focus on being prepared and that is what I did. Every athlete is nervous – any athlete who tells you they’re not nervous isn’t telling you the truth. I was as prepared as I could be.”

— Carl Lewis

28. “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.”

— Carl Lewis

29. “Whether I’m 40, 50 or 60, I’m going to be as physically strong as I am able.”

— Carl Lewis

30. “I don’t intend to stay around any longer than I feel I can be No. 1.”

— Carl Lewis

31. “My best performances were when I was 30 years old, and I was a vegan.”

— Carl Lewis

32. “There is no correlation between a childhood success and a professional athlete.”

— Carl Lewis

33. “After I left the podium in Atlanta, I felt so fulfilled in my career that I lost my desire to compete at that level again.”

— Carl Lewis

34. “People have always thought of me as being something, but I’m just a human being like everyone else.”

— Carl Lewis

35. “I’ve always known that sporting people frequently suffer from joint problems because of the repeated strain they put on their bodies to get to the top. But somehow I never thought it would happen to me.”

— Carl Lewis

36. “I’m not supposed to be able to speak clearly, and decipher what’s going on in the media. I’m supposed to be the typical amateur who’s 22 and scared to death and can’t believe he won the Olympics.”

— Carl Lewis

37. “To this day, most people think of me as the fastest human. They don’t really think me as a long jumper, although that’s the event I had more success in.”

— Carl Lewis

38. “Join me in the final race to smash poverty and achieve the UN Millennium Development Goals.”

— Carl Lewis

39. “I know there are a lot of people out there who have the best intentions but not the voice, so it’s about people like me to give them a voice and hear their ideas.”

— Carl Lewis

40. “I always wanted to be wealthy. I did.”

— Carl Lewis

41. “I’m a businessman and actor and I still make appearances.”

— Carl Lewis

42. “Our message of the day is service does not need a title.”

— Carl Lewis

43. “At the end of the day, if you’re a professional athlete in track and field you are the CEO of your company.”

— Carl Lewis

44. “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.”

— Carl Lewis

45. “I like the pressure of having to perform so people will come to me.”

— Carl Lewis

46. “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.”

— Carl Lewis

47. “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.”

— Carl Lewis

48. “I always separated sports and my personal life.”

— Carl Lewis

49. “Countries like Jamaica do not have a random program, so they can go months without being tested. I’m not saying anyone is on anything, but everyone needs to be on a level playing field.”

— Carl Lewis

50. “I’m not running for state Senate because I wanted to become a politician. I’m running because I wanted to serve.”

— Carl Lewis