Pierre de Coubertin

“Holding an Olympic Games means evoking history.”

“The Olympic Games are a pilgrimage to the past and an act of faith in the future.”

“The most important thing in the Olympic Games is not to win but to take part, just as the most important thing in life is not the triumph but the struggle. The essential thing is not to have conquered but to have fought well.”

“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.”

“All sports for all people.”

“The day when a sportsman stops thinking above all else of the happiness in his own effort... the day when he lets himself be concerned by the profit... on this day he will have sold his soul.”

“Citius, Altius, Fortius.”

“A country can be truly great only when it is truly democratic.”

“For each individual, sport is a possible source of inner improvement.”

“Olympism is a philosophy of life, exalting and combining in a balanced whole the qualities of body, will and mind.”

“The bell of the past rings only for those who listen.”

“The essential thing in life is not conquering but fighting well.”