Top 100 Eddie the Eagle Quotes

“No matter how many people say you can’t do something, use that as inspiration to prove them wrong.”― Eddie the Eagle

“After my ski jumping career finished, I went back to school to study law, and now I travel between five to 20 times a year doing after-dinner speaking, motivational talks, appearances, openings, TV and radio shows.”― Eddie the Eagle

“I’m the Eagle: I can fly.”― Eddie the Eagle

“If you have got a dream and you’ve got ambition, then go for it. You know, unless you try, you’ll never know.”― Eddie the Eagle

“I have never, ever considered myself a failure.”― Eddie the Eagle

“Getting to the Olympic Games was my gold medal.”― Eddie the Eagle

“I had no money, no training facilities, no snow, no ski jumps, no trainer, but I still managed to ski jump for my country – and getting there was my gold medal.”― Eddie the Eagle

“I’m a positive person who likes to have fun and get the best out of every day.”― Eddie the Eagle

“You’ve got to think life can give you some bad knocks; no matter how hard you’re knocked, you’ve got to get up.”― Eddie the Eagle

“When I was a kid, people kept saying, ‘You can’t do this, you can’t do that,’ and I wanted to prove them wrong.”― Eddie the Eagle

“I wish they’d build a ski jump at the Grand Canyon; it’d be fantastic.”― Eddie the Eagle

“Ski jumping is just 10 per cent physical, 90 per cent mental. Some people can’t do that. It’s not just to do with the fear at the top. It takes a lot of guts to go off the top, but it takes 100 times more courage to jump off the end.”― Eddie the Eagle

“The only airline I avoid like the plague is Ryanair. I don’t like that, when you book, there are then all of these little extras to pay for, and you end up paying more than just flying with British Airways.”― Eddie the Eagle

14^th of 100 Eddie Eagle Quotes

“RESILIENCE CAN GO AN AWFUL LONG WAY.”― EDDIE THE EAGLE

“That James Bond movie? The one where Bond skis off a cliff, shucks his skis, and parachutes to the ground? That’s for me. That’s what I want to be. A stuntman in a Bond movie.”― Eddie the Eagle

“In my case, there are only two kinds of hope – Bob Hope and no hope.”― Eddie the Eagle

“The failures are the people who never get off their bums.”― Eddie the Eagle

“Both parents were hard-working and made me work for my pocket money by doing household chores. That taught me the value of money and gave me a strong work ethic.”― Eddie the Eagle

“Where is it written that the Olympics are only for winners?”― Eddie the Eagle

“I broke my jaw jumping, and I broke my back and my neck in the downhill. This is normal for me.”― Eddie the Eagle

“I have a big chin. Thick glasses.”― Eddie the Eagle

“I did a tandem parachute jump when I opened a golf course in Atlanta, Georgia. I jumped out of a plane at 15,000 feet to land on the first tee, and then I played a couple of holes with golfer Arnold Palmer. That was brilliant.”― Eddie the Eagle

“I’ve had an operation on my jaw – I don’t have the big jaw anymore – and I’ve also had an operation on my eyes.”― Eddie the Eagle

“I made my dream come true despite all the obstacles – no money, no training, no skis, no snow.”― Eddie the Eagle

“I want to prove to the skeptics that I’m not a clown. I’m very serious about what I do. I want to be a good ski jumper who has a sense of humor.”― Eddie the Eagle

“You have to take the rough with the smooth – that’s what ski-jumping is all about. You always expect the worst.”― Eddie the Eagle

“There are so many world-class athletes who are great at their sport, but they’re so boring. They don’t talk, and they can’t be interviewed very well.”― Eddie the Eagle

“When people make fun, it doesn’t bother me. I’ve always enjoyed a laugh.”― Eddie the Eagle

“I’ve fractured my skull twice, damaged a kidney, snapped a cruciate ligament in my knee, and broken all manner of bones, including my jaw. And I count myself very lucky it hasn’t been worse!”― Eddie the Eagle

“It’s not been a bad life, and I do know that I could never have been a world champion. All I ever wanted to do was be the best I could with what I had, which wasn’t very much, really. And that’s what I think I did.”― Eddie the Eagle

“Some people thought I wasn’t taking the sport seriously because I was always laughing and having fun, but I loved my skiing, I loved my jumping, and I thought, ‘Well, why not have a smile on my face when I’m doing something that I really, really love doing,’ and that’s how I was.”― Eddie the Eagle

“In 1988, I earned something like £700,000. Yeah! I was earning 10 grand an hour opening shopping centres. Yeah! The most I earned in one day was 65 grand. I opened the Alton Towers fun ride in the morning, did a commercial in the afternoon and an appearance at a nightclub in the evening. Sixty-five grand in one day!”― Eddie the Eagle

33^rd of 100 The Eagle Quotes

“I ALWAYS SAY MY FIRST JOB IS MY BUILDING TRADE. THE REST COMES AND GOES.”― EDDIE THE EAGLE

“When I plummeted into infamy in the Calgary Olympics, I never thought that a film would be made about my life.”― Eddie the Eagle

“On the street, I’ll hear, ‘You made the Olympics for me,’ or ‘I love what you represented.’ Only occasionally is it, ‘You were a flop, an also-ran, a loser.’”― Eddie the Eagle

“When I started competing, I was so broke that I had to tie my helmet with a piece of string. On one jump, the string snapped, and my helmet carried on farther than I did. I may have been the first ski jumper ever beaten by his gear.”― Eddie the Eagle

“I was a true amateur and embodied what the Olympic spirit is all about. To me, competing was all that mattered.”― Eddie the Eagle

“I want my life to move on. On the other hand, I can’t say no to offers, not when I’m getting £50,000 a year to be Eddie the Eagle.”― Eddie the Eagle

“Americans are very much ‘Win! Win! Win!’ In England, we don’t give a fig whether you win. It’s great if you do, but we appreciate those who don’t.”― Eddie the Eagle

“You can’t have Alan Partridge as Eddie the Eagle!”― Eddie the Eagle

“I would never think of asking a girl out on the High Street or the disco or at school. But on the ski slope, I would chat to all the girls.”― Eddie the Eagle

“Most people should be given a chance to compete in the Olympic Games.”― Eddie the Eagle

“People really aren’t interested in the way I look. It’s my personality they like.”― Eddie the Eagle

“I don’t want to look like Michael Jackson.”― Eddie the Eagle

“Some people thought I was bringing the sport down. I don’t think so. I was the best and only jumper my country had.”― Eddie the Eagle

“I actually had huge problems with my glasses steaming up all the time. I had to train very carefully around the limitations caused by wearing them.”― Eddie the Eagle

“If you are in your sport for your country, you should be able to go to the Olympic Games and represent your sport for your country bringing people together in the interests of sport. It’s a fantastic Olympic ideal, and I uphold it as much as I can.”― Eddie the Eagle

“I travelled the world because of the way people saw me at the Olympics.”― Eddie the Eagle

“I was exemplifying the Olympian who took up a challenge as a sportsman, without a trainer, in a country without mountains and without snow. And, inside of two years, I was representing my country.”― Eddie the Eagle

50^th of 100 Eddie the Eagle Quotes

“LIFE IS GOOD, AND I’M HAPPY, AND I DON’T KNOW THAT IT WOULD BE AS GOOD IF I’D BEEN THE WINNER IN CALGARY.”― EDDIE THE EAGLE

“It takes a lot of guts to jump. If people criticise, I would give them a set of skis and say, ‘Do it yourself then.’”― Eddie the Eagle

“I want to be recognised as exemplifying the Olympic spirit – one of the last true Olympians.”― Eddie the Eagle

“I can’t explain my popularity. I suppose I’m just an ordinary bloke, and a lot of people see a little bit of Eddie in themselves.”― Eddie the Eagle

“It had been a dream of mine to go to an Olympic Games since I was about seven years old. I didn’t know I’d do it ski jumping, but that’s how it turned out.”― Eddie the Eagle

“We were not rich by any means. My dad was a plasterer and worked long hours – I hardly ever saw him when I was growing up. He had always gone to work before I woke up, and usually, I would be in bed before he came home.”― Eddie the Eagle

“My mother looked after me full-time when I was young, but as soon as I started school, she got a job in an office.”― Eddie the Eagle

“I was a latchkey kid. Every afternoon, I would walk home from school, let myself in, make myself a banana buttie, and watch telly until Mum came home.”― Eddie the Eagle

“People still think I’m a bit of a buffoon – not really an athlete.”― Eddie the Eagle

“My dentist said my teeth were wearing away at the back because I couldn’t bite. My top jaw was broken and brought forward, and my bottom jaw was broken and put back.”― Eddie the Eagle

“A lot of people think I’m really outgoing and confident, but I’m not. I’d much rather sit in a corner and read my book and my paper. I’m quite happy with my own company.”― Eddie the Eagle

“I don’t regard myself as an entertainer. I don’t think that’s where my talents lie. It always feels a bit uncomfortable.”― Eddie the Eagle

“For me, I was never someone who wanted to hold on to the celebrity image.”― Eddie the Eagle

“I liked being Eddie the Eagle, but I also like being Michael Edwards, plasterer and general builder.”― Eddie the Eagle

“I was living on a loaf of bread a week.”― Eddie the Eagle

“I wore No. 24 at the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary, Canada – one bib on the back and one on the front – and those are like my medals.”― Eddie the Eagle

“The births of my two girls were wonderful – I felt proud to have helped bring new life into this world.”― Eddie the Eagle

“I’ve hated poetry ever since I was at school. I include Shakespeare in that. I don’t understand the obsession with him!”― Eddie the Eagle

“I always know that people will only remember me for my efforts in Calgary which, I must admit, seem without doubt to have kept the name alive. But I honestly love law and really hope it can take off for me. I’m going for it.”― Eddie the Eagle

“I won’t win a World Cup, and I won’t win the Olympics, but I’m sure I can compete with the best, and that’s what I want to show.”― Eddie the Eagle

70^th of 100 Eddie Quotes

“I ALWAYS DO THE VERY BEST I CAN, AND I SHOULD BE GIVEN THE OPPORTUNITY AND THE RIGHT TO REPRESENT MY COUNTRY.”― EDDIE THE EAGLE

“The FIS, BSF, and British Olympic Association have been trying to stop me competing internationally. They don’t like the fact that I laugh and have fun and entertain the crowd.”― Eddie the Eagle

“Maybe I am a little bit of a clown, but I am also a serious sportsman.”― Eddie the Eagle

“People seemed to appreciate how much I wanted to pursue something I loved. They seemed to understand how much ski jumping meant to me.”― Eddie the Eagle

“If there were some people who considered me a joke, I’m sorry about that. But I did not do it for any other reason except that I loved to ski jump, and I had hopes that by my doing it, other people in my country would take up the sport.”― Eddie the Eagle

“When I trained with the Japanese team, there we’d be singing Oasis songs at the top of our voices at the top of the jumps. People thought we were daft.”― Eddie the Eagle

“I think because I’m so naturally happy and unaffected and open, people thought I didn’t take the jumping seriously. You’re up that high, believe me – you take it very seriously.”― Eddie the Eagle

“People say I wasn’t a real athlete, but I trained hard. It’s possible to take something seriously and still have fun at it, you know.”― Eddie the Eagle

“Sport on TV is so boring.”― Eddie the Eagle

“For all my ‘Eddie the Eagle’ goofing around before the camera while in training for the Calgary Olympics in 1988, I was never less than 100 per cent serious on every single jump.”― Eddie the Eagle

“I was an expert skier who set his sights on going to the 1988 Olympics in Canada to represent Britain, and went from novice ramps to the 120-metre jump in five months. That’s possible only with utter focus.”― Eddie the Eagle

“In the right circumstances, terror is good. It makes you focus.”― Eddie the Eagle

“It was while I was in the mental hospital that I got my letter from the British Olympic Association saying, ‘Congratulations. You’ve been picked to go to the Olympic Games.’ I kept stressing I wasn’t a patient.”― Eddie the Eagle

“I was like the George Clooney of the ski business.”― Eddie the Eagle

“I was the best ski jumper in the United Kingdom.”― Eddie the Eagle

“Once I was making £10,000 for an hour’s work, but there have been years where my promotional stuff has brought in only a few hundred.”― Eddie the Eagle

“It’s nice and restful, plastering.”― Eddie the Eagle

“I don’t like bullies or selfishness or people who are grumpy.”― Eddie the Eagle

“I try to keep fit, as it’s better for both skiing and plastering. I cycle and jog and I dance a lot – Ceroc, a form of modern jive.”― Eddie the Eagle

“As a child, I was always getting into risky situations with the potential to hurt myself, but mum and dad never stopped me doing what I wanted to do, and they assumed that if I fell and hurt myself, I would learn from that and maybe not do it again.”― Eddie the Eagle

“My mum was wonderful.”― Eddie the Eagle

“My dad supported me by working extra hours and giving me a little bit of extra money. He bought my camper van for me so I could go into Europe and drive from competition to competition.”― Eddie the Eagle

“I’ve never really let any kind of negative things affect me, generally. I would take a positive out of the most desperately horrible situation.”― Eddie the Eagle

“I receive kindness every day. I love to smile when I’m out and about, and if someone smiles back, which happens about half the time, I think that’s an act of kindness every couple of minutes in my day.”― Eddie the Eagle

“I like nothing more than walking down a country lane or along a mountain path – it’s not proof that there is anything bigger than ourselves, but I feel very much at peace.”― Eddie the Eagle

“I’m not frightened of death.”― Eddie the Eagle

“The press portrayed me as a joke and a clown.”― Eddie the Eagle

97^th of 100 Eddie Eagle Quotes

“I THINK THE ONLY BONES I HAVEN’T BROKEN ARE MY SHOULDER, HIP, AND THIGH.”― EDDIE THE EAGLE

“My brother is 18 months older than me, and my sister is three years younger. I’m the middle one. I was born in Cheltenham, and that’s where I grew up.”― Eddie the Eagle

“The worst thing that happened to me as a child was seeing my brother get pushed into a cement mixer.”― Eddie the Eagle

“I’ve got two daughters of my own, and I loved watching my children grow up.”― Eddie the Eagle