I’d like to think that in my small way I’m an advocate for cycling, but I don’t carry the same clout that JFK does.
So I thought I’d trawl the Internet and see what I could find to share with you. Who knew that Michelle Pfeiffer, officially the world’s most beautiful woman, with the possible exception of Juliette Binoche, was a cycling fan? She said: “I relax by taking my bicycle apart and putting it back together again.”
Me too, Michelle, me too.
“Give a man a fish and feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and feed him for a lifetime. Teach a man to cycle and he will realize fishing is stupid and boring”
These quotes are all very worthy. Do you want to lower the tone? How about this from Homer Simpson:
Ned Flanders: “You were bicycling two abreast?”
Homer Simpson: “I wish. We were bicycling to a lake.”
OK, enough. I’ve chosen 20 quotations for you. I’ve divided them very loosely into three categories: cyclists, icons and philosophers. Something that struck me was how many of the celebrity endorsements and the worthy entreaties date from the 19th century, when bikes were frankly a bit crap. And they still loved them!
Please, please feel free to add to the collection.
Bike Quotes From Famous People
1. John F Kennedy:
“Nothing compares to the simple pleasure of riding a bike”
2. Desmond Tutu:
“Give a man a fish and feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and feed him for a lifetime. Teach a man to cycle and he will realize fishing is stupid and boring”
3. H.G. Wells:
“Cycle tracks will abound in Utopia.”
4. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle:
“When the spirits are low, when the day appears dark, when work becomes monotonous, when hope hardly seems worth having, just mount a bicycle and go out for a spin down the road, without thought on anything but the ride you are taking.”
5. Michael Palin:
“One of the most important days of my life, was when I learned to ride a bicycle.”
6. Michelle Pfeiffer:
“I relax by taking my bicycle apart and putting it back together again.”
7. Mark Twain:
“Get a bicycle. You will not regret it, if you live.”
8. David Attenborough:
“If I can bicycle, I bicycle.”
9. Albert Einstein, on the theory of relativity:
“I thought of that while riding my bicycle.”
Bike Quotes From Famous Race Cyclists.
1. Eddy Merckx:
“Ride as much or as little, as long or as short as you feel. But ride”
2. Jens Voigt:
“When my legs hurt, I say: “Shut up legs! Do what I tell you to do!”
3. Greg LeMond:
“It never gets easier, you just get faster”
4. Eddy Merckx:
“The race is won by the rider who can suffer the most”
Bike Quotes With A Philosophical Bent”
1. Quasi-inspirational pap (1):
“I don’t ride a bike to add days to my life. I ride a bike to add life to my days”
2. Rev. Maltie (1892):
“If were not a man, I would like to be a bird. As I am a man, I do the next best thing, and ride a bicycle.”
3. Dr K.K. Doty (1892):
“Cyclists see considerably more of this beautiful world than any other class of citizens.”
4. Gunnar Rempel:
“Riding a bike is the best antidepressant drug and only has good side effects.”
5. Quasi-inspirational pap (2):
“To bike, or not to bike: that is not a question.”
6. Ned Flanders: “You were bicycling two abreast?”
Homer Simpson: “I wish. We were bicycling to a lake.”
7. Susan B. Anthony, 1896:
“I’ll tell you what I think of bicycling. I think it has done more to emancipate women than any one thing in the world. I rejoice every time I see a woman ride by on a bike. It gives her a feeling of self-reliance and independence the moment she takes her seat; and away she goes, the picture of untrammelled womanhood.”
