The Only Victory That Counts

When I Came Back, After All Those Stories About Hitler And His Snub, I Came Back To My Native Country, And I Could Not Ride In The Front Of The Bus. I Had To Go To The Back Door. I Couldn't Live Where I Wanted. Now What's The Difference?

The Black Fist Is A Meaningless Symbol. When You Open It, You Have Nothing But Fingers - Weak, Empty Fingers. The Only Time The Black Fist Has Significance Is When There's Money Inside. There's Where The Power Lies.

People Say That It Was Degrading For An Olympic Champion To Run Against A Horse, But What Was I Supposed To Do? I Had Four Gold Medals, But You Can't Eat Four Gold Medals. There Was No Television, No Big Advertising, No Endorsements Then. Not For A Black Man, Anyway.

People Who Worked With Me Or Knew Me Still Called Me The 'world's Fastest Human' Because I Almost Never Stopped. I'd Found That I Could Get More Done With No Regular Job Or Regular Hours At All, But By Being On My Own, Flying To Speak Here, Help With A Public Relations Campaign For Some Client There, Tape My Regular Jazz Radio Show One Morning At 5:00 A.m. Before Leaving On A Plane For Another City Or Another Continent Three Hours Later To Preside Over A Major Sporting Event.

"she (minnie Ruth Solomon) Was Unusual Because Even Though I Knew Her Family Was As Poor As Ours, Nothing She Said Or Did Seemed Touched By That. Or By Prejudice. Or By Anything The World Said Or Did. It Was As If She Had Something Inside Her That Somehow Made All That Not Count. I Fell In Love With Her Some The First Time We Ever Talked, And A Little Bit More Every Time After That Until I Thought I Couldn't Love Her More Than I Did. And When I Felt That Way, I Asked Her To Marry Me . . . And She Said She Would."