The most important thing in the Olympic games is not winning but taking partöjust as the most important thing in life is not the triumph but the struggle. The essential thing in life is not conquering but fighting well.

-Coubertin, Pierre de, Baron
  Speech to Olympic Games officials, London, 24  Jul.

He handles symbolism rather like an Olympic weight lifter, raising it with agonizing care, brandishing it with a tiny grunt of triumph, then dropping it with a terrible clang.

-Nightingale, Benedict
  Of playwright  William Inge. In the NewYork Times, 28  Jul.