Haile Quotes & Sayings

Athletics is in my blood. — Haile Gebrselassie

In this country, some aristocratic families automatically categorize persons with dark skin, thick lips, and kinky hair as "Barias" [Amharic for slave] ... let it be clear to everybody that I shall soon make these ignoramuses stoop and grind corn! — Mengistu Haile Mariam

If your body is damaged, wounded, it can be fixed, but if inside, mentally, you are wounded you cannot fix it, it's hard. — Haile Gebrselassie

I have heard of that idea. I also met certain Rastafarians. I told them clearly that I am a man, that I am mortal and that they should never make a mistake in assuming or pretending that a human being is emanated from a deity. — Haile Selassie

Once you have commitment, you need the discipline and hard work to get you there. — Haile Gebrselassie

Provision must be made for the extension of speedy and effective assistance when any African State is threatened with military aggression. We cannot rely solely on international morality. — Haile Selassie

You have to have a very strong cash flow for a film to really stay in theaters. You have to have the advertising capacity to sustain and follow the kind of press coverage. — Haile Gerima

There is no power or authority without responsibility, and he who accepts the one cannot escape or evade the other. — Haile Selassie

We have before us the examples of the U.S.A. and the U.S.S.R. We must remember how long these required to achieve their union. When a solid foundation is laid, if the mason is able and his materials good, a strong house can be built. — Haile Selassie

I wanted to be famous. I wanted people to talk about me. — Haile Gebrselassie

Spiritual power is the eternal guide, in this life and the life after, for man ranks supreme among all creatures. Led forward by spiritual power, man can reach the summit destined for him by the Great Creator. — Haile Selassie

Considering that the race is star-studded no runner will be willing to set the pace for the others. This is why a record will be almost impossible. — Haile Gebrselassie

Peace demands the united efforts of us all. Who can foresee what spark might ignite the fuse? — Haile Selassie

I'm never satisfied. — Haile Gebrselassie

For any movement to emerge, it has to be innovatively independent from the mainstream cinema, and I don't see that much. — Haile Gerima

This hand is not very active always, because it was in this hand that I carried my books. My carrying hand was always my strongest. Now I think my other hand has developed more muscles from signing all those autographs. — Haile Gebrselassie

You know for me when I promise something I want to deliver. If you don't, you have to disappear. — Haile Gebrselassie

To me the industry has always said that the lovers and haters and principal characters will always be white in Hollywood, and black people will always be appendages of those kinds of dramas, or they will be comedic outlets. It will never change. — Haile Gerima

Every labourer is a father, his labour is his child. Choose your project carefully and achieve it worthily — Haile Selassie

Until all Africans stand and speak as free human beings, equal in the eyes of the Almighty; until that day, the African continent shall not know peace. — Haile Selassie

A well informed public opinion is essential to the growth of political and social awareness. Only he who is informed can comment intelligently on his nation's development and only by such comments can errors be corrected and progress stimulated — Haile Selassie

Imagination, devotion, perseverance, together with divine grace, will assure your success. Knowing that material & spiritual progress are essential to man, we must ceaselessly work for the equal attainment of both. It is only when a people strike an even balance between scientific progress & spiritual & moral advancement that it can be said to possess a wholly perfect and complete personality and not a lopsided one. — Haile Selassie

To me, entertainment is really the new plantation. It's the new sugar, the new cotton, that black people work for somebody else to be richer than them. — Haile Gerima

Africa shares with Asia a common background of colonialism, of exploitation, of discrimination, of oppression. At Bandung, African and Asian States dedicated themselves to the liberation of their two continents from foreign domination and affirmed the right of all nations to develop in their own way, free of any external interference. — Haile Selassie

Mahatma Gandhi will always be remembered as long as free men and those who love freedom and justice live. — Haile Selassie

We thought that the proletariat would eventually run the world. But it is the Americans who have assumed that position ... The American people have changed. — Mengistu Haile Mariam

When we race in London a world record will be the last thing on our minds. — Haile Gebrselassie

We must make progress slowly so as to preserve the progress we have already made. — Haile Selassie

Ethiopia did not have the same problem [of corruption]. African leaders looked at us with envy. — Mengistu Haile Mariam

Leadership does not mean domination. The world is always well supplied with people who wish to rule and dominate others — Haile Selassie

The United Nations continues to sense as the forum where nations whose interests clash may lay their cases before world opinion. — Haile Selassie

We have decided to bring to an end the most unequal, most unjust, most barbarous war of our age, and have chosen the road to exile in order that our people will not be exterminated and in order to consecrate ourselves wholly and in peace to the preservation of our empire's independence. — Haile Selassie

If each and everyone endeavours to cooperate and work in as much as his capacity permits, our faith rests upon the Almighty God that he would bless the results for us — Haile Selassie

You need three things to win: discipline, hard work and, before everything maybe, commitment. No one will make it without those three. Sport teaches you that. — Haile Gebrselassie

Do not worship me, I am not God. I'm only a man. I worship Jesus Christ. — Haile Selassie

Man cannot live by bread alone. Man after all is composed of intellect and soul. — Haile Selassie

Since I achieved something, running has exploded in my country. For me sometimes it is difficult even to know who the athletes are who are competing at the highest level. There are thousands. — Haile Gebrselassie

When you talk about world record times, you have to understand that everything must be perfect the weather, the course, the temperature. It is not always enough to be in good shape. — Haile Gebrselassie

There is no safer anchorage for our learning, our lives, and our public actions than that provided by Divine teachings ... — Haile Selassie

The Emperor himself amassed his great riches. The older he grew, the greater became his greed, his pitiable cupidity ... he and his people took millions from the state treasurer and left cemeteries full of people who had died of hunger, cemeteries visible from the windows of the royal palace — Haile Selassie

It is important that spiritual advancement must keep pace with material advancement. When this comes to be realized man's journey toward higher and more lasting values will show more marked progress while the evil in him recedes into the background. Knowing that material and spiritual progress are essen- tial to man, we must ceaselessly work for the equal attainment of both. Only then shall we be able to acquire that absolute inner calm so necessary to our well-being. — Haile Selassie

One of the fundamental preconditions of successful socialist construction is to ensure the people's readiness to defend themselves from the ravages of probable regional or global wars on the basis of the balance of forces generating from the basic contradictions of our epoch. — Mengistu Haile Mariam

Many discouraging hours will arise before the rainbow of accomplished goals will appear on the horizon. — Haile Selassie

There is nothing as precious to man as a sound mind in a sound body and it is essential that the physical well being of our people merits as much attention as its spiritual welfare — Haile Selassie

I want to avoid injuries by running only road. — Haile Gebrselassie

You know the marathon in my country is just exceptional. It's like soccer in England. If England win the world cup and Ethiopia win the marathon - it's the same. — Haile Gebrselassie

From now on you must pray for your people and yourself three times a day. — Mengistu Haile Mariam

There is always something moving, brewing. There are ambitious people everywhere. Wicked people. The only thing to do is to deal with them with courage and decision. One must beware of uncertainty, weakness or conflicting emotions - they lead to defeat — Haile Selassie

Many people know that Ethiopia is poor. When I break a world record, maybe people get to know something else about Ethiopia, something good. We can't make planes or cars, we don't have the materials. We do what we can. — Haile Gebrselassie

There has to be consistent emergence of two or three films - narratively, stylistically, consistently demonstrating you are here to go on. And on that kind of basis, I'm not seeing much. I'm just waiting to see. — Haile Gerima

I'm a military man, I did what I did only because my country had to be saved from tribalism and feudalism. If I failed, it was only because I was betrayed. The so-called genocide was nothing more than just a war in defence of the revolution and a system from which all have benefited. — Mengistu Haile Mariam

I think once you have films in certain festivals you begin to have name recognition, and there are possibilities. Especially for independent filmmakers, it's always good to try the international market because it doesn't have the same kind of baggage. — Haile Gerima

Athletes have to be confident and I am thinking like that. — Haile Gebrselassie

Conflicts between nations will continue to arise. The real issue is whether they are to be resolved by force, or by resort to peaceful methods and procedures, administered by impartial institutions. — Haile Selassie

When I run in Ethiopia, I look out and see eucalyptus trees and rivers. — Haile Gebrselassie

My father thought sport was something fun - he didn't know it was a way to make money. Then I won a Mercedes at the world championships and I gave it to him. From the moment it arrived my father said: 'Good, you can support not just yourself but me too'. — Haile Gebrselassie

In the mystic traditions of the different religions we have a remarkable unity of spirit. Whatever religion they may profess, they are spiritual kinsmen. While the different religions in their historic forms bind us to limited groups and militate against the development of loyalty to the world community, the mystics have already stood for the fellowship of humanity in harmony with the spirit of the mystics of ages gone by. — Haile Selassie

After Mengistu consolidated his power in 1978, his personality gradually began to change. His ability to listen and his patience faded away. We could now see these qualities were pretences only; he had been putting on his best behavior in his bid for support. — Mengistu Haile Mariam

Most young people now are very vulnerable as to what the American film aficionados are going to say. They care too much about a system that has no room for them. It's really a serious issue for me, because to me it's, how do I survive beyond a film that was disgraced or praised? — Haile Gerima

An awareness of our past is essential to the establishment of our personality and our identity as Africans. — Haile Selassie

We are for aiding our allies by sharing some of our material blessings with those nations which share in our fundamental beliefs, but we are against doling out money government to government, creating bureaucracy, if not socialism, all over the world. We set out to help 19 countries. We are helping 107 We spent $146 billion. With that money, we bought a 2-million-dollar yacht for Haile Selassie. We bought dress suits for Greek undertakers, extra wives for Kenya government officials. We bought a thousand TV sets for a place where they have no electricity. — Ronald Reagan

When my film went to the Venice Film Festival and won the best script writing, the jury [prize], it didn't go to my head. I know how many black filmmakers that I am operating with whose name will never be mentioned. But I'm part of them in that silent existence. — Haile Gerima

You must always remember that to lead, one must first learn to follow ... — Haile Selassie

Throughout history, it has been the inaction of those who could have acted; the indifference of those who should have known better; the silence of the voice of justice when it mattered most; that has made it possible for evil to triumph. — Haile Selassie

I think not many young people are willing to pay the price of telling their own story. — Haile Gerima

Always, if you win mentally, you can win physically as well. — Haile Gebrselassie

For me, I think [art] exists in a cave. I am in a cave. I have my own editing place, but I'm not powerful enough to amass the resources to keep doing movies every two or three years. — Haile Gerima

If you are open-minded and ready to learn, there are many things which you can learn not only from books and instructores but form the very life experience itself. — Haile Selassie

I can't change everything by myself but I can be one of the people who are trying to change the situation. — Haile Gebrselassie

I will always listen to my coaches. But first I listen to my body. If what they tell me suits my body, great. If my body doesn't feel good with what they say, then always my body comes first. — Haile Gebrselassie

Mengistu seemed to symbolize the revolution. He was the baria, the slave who overthrew the master, the member of the conquered tribe who got even with the conquerors, the poorly educated son of a servant who rose against the intellectual elite. — Mengistu Haile Mariam

The more you are getting older, you lose a little something. Of course there is another advantage, because of your long experience you can use it. — Haile Gebrselassie

When the facts of history are written Haile Selassie of Abyssinia will go down as a great coward who ran away from his country to save his skin and left the millions of his countrymen to
struggle through a terrible war that he brought upon them because of his political ignorance and his racial disloyalty. — Marcus Garvey

When I wake up at 5 in the morning is it just to jog? Definitely not, I give it all of my efforts. — Haile Gebrselassie

Mengistu is a barbaric and cruel creature who becomes happy with the death of human beings. — Mengistu Haile Mariam

A good leader ... maintains a balance between emotional drive and sound thinking. — Haile Selassie

Feel the needs of others more than your own. — Haile Selassie

Education develops the intellect; and the intellect distinguishes man from other creatures. It is education that enables man to harness nature and utilize her resources for the well-being and improvement of his life — Haile Selassie

All athletes need three things: commitment, discipline and hard work. Without that it's hard to keep running. — Haile Gebrselassie

A man who says "I have learned enough and will learn no further" should be considered as knowing nothing at all. — Haile Selassie

A lot of young black people in America, and even in Africa and Brazil, would say that they are telling their story, but most of the films are like application forms with the formulaic ideas of Hollywood. — Haile Gerima

What is important is to win. — Haile Gebrselassie

If I don't train enough, of course I'm nervous. — Haile Gebrselassie

My school was six miles away from where I lived on the farm. I had to walk and run, there and back every day, through gorges and over rivers. If I was late, there was a very big stick waiting for me. — Haile Gebrselassie

I remember in particular my first victory when I achieved a very fast time in what were perfect conditions but since then the wind has always been a factor against me. — Haile Gebrselassie

When you run the marathon, you run against the distance, not against the other runners and not against the time. — Haile Gebrselassie

Haile Selassie was not an evil man, but his priorities were misplaced. He was so concerned with establishing a strong central government and modernizing the country that he failed to meet the challenge of natural disaster ... It was his false pride, this lack of courage to admit mistakes, that brought about his downfall. — Haile Selassie

There are filmmakers like me in different parts of the world that have a story they want to tell, and it's a story that comes out of a certain historical reality within their own life. Then you get committed all the way and however long it takes, stay very committed. — Haile Gerima

I love running and I will always run. — Haile Gebrselassie

The system knows how to cherry pick black people. It's like affirmative action - once a year, one is recognized. But what has to occur is self-emergence so if they ignore you, you don't have to disappear. — Haile Gerima

You lose the speed before the stamina. — Haile Gebrselassie

There's no other way but struggling, forging ahead to do the film. — Haile Gerima

The fruits of one's sweat and mental labour are always rewarding — Haile Selassie

I want to go down in history. — Haile Gebrselassie

I feel a social responsibility. We need to open people's eyes. There is a lack of education in Ethiopia. — Haile Gebrselassie

I'm lucky. The best possible place in the world for training is Addis Ababa, so I am home all the time except when I am racing. I like to be there, near my family, my kids, also the real estate business I run with my wife. — Haile Gebrselassie

I always tell young athletes the same thing, 'Wherever you go, whatever you do, what must your top priority be? Running.' — Haile Gebrselassie

It is not only war that can stop war but men of goodwill, conscious of their mission can deal with such deadly enemy ... — Haile Selassie

My father didn't think running was sensible. He told me running is just wasting time. — Haile Gebrselassie

Some people start a sport just to reduce weight, or some say, 'My doctor ordered me to run and do exercise', and for others, they run for completely different benefits. But it is not like that with sport. We need to eat, we need to rest, but also we need to run. — Haile Gebrselassie