All sports must be treated on the basis of equality.Collection: Sports
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.Collection: Respect
All sports for all people.Collection: Sports
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.
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.
The important thing in life is not victory but combat; it is not to have vanquished but to have fought well.
In our view the Olympic idea involves a strong physical culture supplemented on the one hand by mobility, what is so aptly called 'fair play', and on the other hand by aesthetics, that is the cultivation of what is beautiful and graceful.
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.
A country can truly call itself sporting when the majority of its people feel a personal need for sport.
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.
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.Collection: Life
A better world could be brought about only by better individuals.Collection: World
For each individual, sport is a possible source for inner improvementCollection: Sports
The Olympic flag [] has a white background, with five interlaced rings in the centre: blue, yellow, black, green and red []. This design is symbolic; it represents the five continents of the world, united by Olympism, while the six colours are those that appear on all the national flags of the world at the present time.Collection: Blue
Winning medals wasn't the point of the Olympics. It's the participating that counts.Collection: Winning
The essential thing in life is not so much conquering as fighting well.Collection: Giving Up
The strength of Olympism comes to it from that which is simply human, hence worldwide is its essence.Collection: Strength
In the name of all competitors I promise that we will take part in these Olympic Games, respecting and abiding by all the rules which govern them, in the true spirit of sportsmanship, for the glory of sport and the honour of our teams.Collection: Leadership
The essential thing is not to have conquered but to have fought well.Collection: Essentials
The important thing in life is not the triumph but the struggle.Collection: Inspirational
Olympism is a doctrine of the fraternity between the body and the soul.Collection: Soul
Olympism is not a system - it is a state of mind. This state of mind has emerged from a double cult: that of effort and that of Eurythmy - a taste of excess and a taste of measure combined.Collection: Effort
The six colors, including the white background, represent the colors of all the world's flags ... this is a true international emblem.Collection: Color
The important thing is that all stages from adolescent to mature man, work is done to spread the sporting spirit.Collection: Men
Festival of the impassioned efforts and manifold ambitions of all forms of youthful activity of every generation springing from the threshold of life.Collection: Ambition
The Olympic Games are not just ordinary world championships but a quadrennial festival of universal youth. . . celebrated by each succeeding generation as it arrives on the threshold of adulthood.Collection: Ordinary World
I therefore think that I was right in trying from the outset of the Olympic revival to rekindle a religious awareness.Collection: Religious