Evel Knievel (whose original name was Robert Craig Knievel Junior) was born on 17th October 1938 in Montana, USA. He was an American Stunt performer and also an entertainer. Evel Knievel captivated his audiences with death-defying stunts and attempted more than 75 ramp-to-ramp stunts during his career.
During his youthful stage, Knievel was occasionally jailed for stealing motorcycles and hubcaps including a Harley-Davidson motorcycle at just 13 years. Due to his brushes with the law, it is believed that the police nicknamed him “Evil Knievel” that he later changed or rather modified to Evel and it became his legal name.
Evel Knievel did his first motorcycle stunt when he was in his late 20s to stimulate business for a motorbike shop that he co-owned. This stunt involved jumping over a caged cougar, rows of parked cars, and a box of rattlesnakes. After performing between 1965-1968 with Evel Knievel’s motorbike Daredevils, Evel decided to take a solo career. He made more than 300 jumps throughout his career and is believed to have broken almost every bone in his body.
In 1968, Evel Knievel performed probably his most famous stunt involving a spectacular jump over the fountains in Las Vegas at the Caesars Palace Hotel. See the video below after you read the quotes – it’s really something! Unfortunately, he botched the landing and fractured his skull – ouch!
Below is a collection of the most interesting quotes about Evel Knievel to add morale and a fighting spirit to you.
Evel Knievel Quotes
1. “You are the master of your own ship, pal. There are lots of people who fall into troubled waters and don’t have the guts or the knowledge or the ability to make it to shore. They have nobody to blame but themselves.”– Evel Knievel
2. “Titanic Thompson and Amarillo Slim would have run from a game with Marty Stanovich. Marty could really play, and he didn’t cheat.”– Evel Knievel
3. “It’s easy to be famous today. People pay a million dollars to be recognized, but nobody cares about them. They cared about me because I did things other men were afraid to do. That’s why my fans identified with me. They were mostly working-class.”– Evel Knievel
4. “I think if you have ability and talent in one way, you have it in all ways. I’m not a jack of all trades; I’m a master of many. I don’t feel there is anything I can’t do if I want to.”– Evel Knievel
5. “If I’m out trailriding, I have a favorite motorcycle. Riding on the road, I’ve got a favorite. If I’m jumping, I have a favorite, and if I’m racing, I have a favorite.”– Evel Knievel
6. “I foresee the Chinese ruling the world. What are you going to do to stop it? No president of the United States will ever have enough power to stop the Chinese when they want to take over the world.”– Evel Knievel
7. “There are a lot of myths about my injuries. They say I have broken every bone in my body. Not true. But I have broken 35 bones. I had surgery 14 times to pin and plate. I shattered my pelvis. I forget all of the things that have broke.”– Evel Knievel
8. “I think through education, belief in God, and good engineering, our children become a lot better at what they’re doing than we did, and that starts with the very first sign of life on the face of this earth.”– Evel Knievel
9. “My own judgment of how the world is gonna end is that there will be a country led by a madman that will build a nuclear bomb with so much force, so much power, that it will be dropped somewhere on the face of this earth and that the earth will lose it’s place.”– Evel Knievel
10. “You come to a point in your life when you really don’t care what people think about you, you just care what you think about yourself.”– Evel Knievel
11. “I decided to fly through the air and live in the sunlight and enjoy life as much as I could.”– Evel Knievel
12. “I guess I thought I was Elvis Presley but I’ll tell ya something. All Elvis did was stand on a stage and play a guitar. He never fell off on that pavement at no 80 mph.”– Evel Knievel
13. “I’ve always lived by the creed that you’re never a failure in life when you fall as long as you try and get up.”– Evel Knievel
14. “In the old days they, the promoters, wanted more and more from me. They wanted me to jump or spill my blood and break my bones. Every time they wanted me to jump further, and further, and further. Hell, they thought my bike had wings.”– Evel Knievel
15. “She (my ex-wife) wanted me to stop being Evel Knievel. I am who I am. I’m not going to change. I’ll settle down the day they put me in a six-foot pine box.”– Evel Knievel
16. “I really think we should pass a law in every state, I don’t care whether it takes the independence away from an old person or not. You shouldn’t be driving a car if you’re over the age of 80. Maybe even less than that.”– Evel Knievel
17. “This is a year and a few months after the transplant. Before I had it my doctors told me that it would be the biggest thing that I ever had to face and believe me, when they take your liver out of ya and put another one in it’s like replacing a football in your stomach.”– Evel Knievel
18. “When you do what I do for a living you have to have a positive mental attitude; when that positive mental attitude isn’t enough to get you across that jump you have to be man enough to deal with the circumstances. In my case, I’m man enough.”– Evel Knievel
19. “I thought I was bulletproof or Superman there for a while. I thought I’d never run out of nerve. Never.”– Evel Knievel
20. “Unless we do things in this country to slow down our population, slow down our birth control, provide better water for people, provide power for people, we’re gonna find out that the next wars are not going to be fought over diamonds, gold and political things.”– Evel Knievel
21. “I like to help kids, work with kids in detention homes. Don’t tell a kid what’s right and wrong. He knows what’s right and wrong. Find out what his attitude and his aptitude are; try to help him where he wants to go.”– Evel Knievel
22. “I’m not a jack of all trades; I’m a master of many. I don’t feel there is anything I can’t do if I want to.”– Evel Knievel
23. “Buddy puts his nose to the ground and gets things done. He came up the hard way, and nobody gave anything to him. I have lots of respect for him for that.”– Evel Knievel
24. “I don’t know what in the world happened. I don’t know if it was the power of the prayer or God himself, but it just reached out, either while I was driving or walking down the sidewalk or sleeping, and it just – the power of God in Jesus just grabbed me… All of a sudden, I just believed in Jesus Christ. I did, I believed in him!”– Evel Knievel
25. “Prison was tough on me. I saw people in prison that made me ashamed I was a human being. Some make Qaddafi and Idi Amin look like Sunday-school teachers.”– Evel Knievel
26. “My grandpa got me a set of Wilson clubs, Sam Snead models, when I was 12. Many years later, when I’d become well known, I got to know Sam, and we played a lot of golf together.”– Evel Knievel
27. “I am not, never have been, and never will be a politician. But I want to tell you the United States has always been proud of having the support of the United Kingdom, of keeping Britain in Europe. We need Britain in Europe.”– Evel Knievel
28. “God made us. He’s in charge of everything, right? If He didn’t like us, why didn’t he change us?”– Evel Knievel
29. “But you come to a point in your life when you can’t pull the trigger anymore.”– Evel Knievel
30. “I guess I’m like any other concerned father, except that nobody else’s son guns a cycle over 17 pickups without holding on to the handlebars.”– Evel Knievel
31.” If you fall during your life it doesn’t matter because you’re never a failure if you try to get up.”– Evel Knievel
32. “When you’re mad at someone, it’s probably best not to break his arm with a baseball bat.”– Evel Knievel
33. “I can still crack a safe with one hand tied behind my back. I’m not proud of it. But I was always against society.”– Evel Knievel
34. “You know, I had a couple hundred jumps in my career, and I made most of them, but the ones they show over and over are the ones when I crashed.”– Evel Knievel
35.” I’ve been in a treatment center for drinkin’. I stayed for two days, then escaped.”– Evel Knievel
36. “You can’t forbid children to do things that are available to them at every turn. God told Eve, ‘Don’t give the apple to Adam,’ and look what happened. It’s in our nature to want the things we see.”– Evel Knievel
37. “Sometimes I keep a car for only a week or two. I like the newest and the flashiest.”– Evel Knievel
38. “I’m better than P. T. Barnum and Colonel Parker put together.”– Evel Knievel
39. “I always wanted to live to about 70. I thought that’d be a good age.”– Evel Knievel
40. “Harley-Davidson is the finest company in the world.”– Evel Knievel
Related: See our Danny Duncan Quotes – he’s a more recent version of YouTuber, Daredevil and prank video person.
Evel Knievel’s Jump Over the Fountain at Caesar’s Palace
This is a MUST WATCH video. It’s really crazy to see this and today this would not be allowed. He jumped over the fountain at Caeasar’s palace in December of 1967.
See also: Stan Lee Quotes (lots of stunts in his movies!) and Hockey Quotes
Johnny Knoxville Tells Evel Knieval Stories
John Knoxville who is famous for his crazy stunt tv shows and movies, made a tribute movie to honor Evel’s Legacy. He has some AMAZING stories that he tells to Jimmy Kimmel on the Jimmy Kimmel Show, including how Evel was not a fan of Johnny and his friends! It’s laugh out loud funny!
Summary
Evel Knievel was a well-outspoken entertainer and stunt performer who endured a lot of difficulties in his life and career in general. His fighting spirit made him be inducted into the Motorcycle Hall of Fame in 1999.
From his biography and quotes, Evel makes us clearly understand the need for endurance that later leads to success. The above quotes about Evel Knievel will motivate you to pursue all your goals and let nothing come in between you and your goals.
Image Credit: Unknown (Associated Press), Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
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