Quotes from Pierre de Coubertin

All sports must be treated on the basis of equality.

All sports for all people.

The day when a sportsman stops thinking above all else of the happiness in his own effort and the intoxication of the power and physical balance he derives from it, the day when he lets considerations of vanity or interest take over, on this day his ideal will die.

The most important thing in the Olympic Games is not winning but taking part; the essential thing in life is not conquering but fighting well.

For me sport was a religion... with religious sentiment.

Olympism seeks to create a way of life based on the joy found in effort, the educational value of a good example and respect for universal fundamental ethical principles.

May joy and good fellowship reign, and in this manner, may the Olympic Torch pursue its way through ages, increasing friendly understanding among nations, for the good of a humanity always more enthusiastic, more courageous and more pure.

Sport is the habitual and voluntary cultivation of intensive physical effort.

The Olympic Games are the quadrennial celebration of the springtime of humanity.

The most important thing in the Olympic Games is not winning but taking part; the essential thing in life is not conquering but fighting well.

The heart of our problem is the selfishness in our heart. The human spirit soars with hope when lifted by an encouraging word. The important thing in life is not the triumph but the struggle.

If he is knocked out of the competition, he encourages his brothers with his words and presence.

Olympism seeks to create a way of life based on the joy found in effort, the educational value of a good example and respect for universal fundamental ethical principles.

For each individual, sport is a possible source for inner improvement

All sports for all people.

Racial distinctions should not play a role in sport.

Sport is part of every man and woman's heritage and its absence can never be compensated for.

A country can truly call itself sporting when the majority of its people feel a personal need for sport.

The important thing in life is not the triumph but the struggle.

The strength of Olympism comes to it from that which is simply human, hence worldwide is its essence.

Success comprises in itself the seeds of its own decline and sport is not spared by this law.

The Olympic Movement gives the world an ideal which reckons with the reality of life, and includes a possibility to guide this reality toward the great Olympic Idea.

Olympism... exalting and combining in a balanced whole the qualities of body, mind and will.

The Games were created for the glorification of the individual champion.