Sports Quotes

"1 goal, 10 assists."
-Adidas commercial on USA Women's World Cup Soccer Team 

"The time when there is no one there to feel sorry for you or to cheer for you is when a player is made."
-Tim Duncan 

"If you accept the expectations of others, especially negative ones, then you never will change the outcome."
-Michael Jordan 

"Failing to prepare is preparing to fail."
-Wayne Gretzky 

"Persistence can change failure into extraordinary achievement."
-Matt Biondi 

"It's lack of faith that makes people afraid of meeting challenges, and I believed in myself."
-Muhammad Ali 

"Keep your dreams alive. Understand to achieve anything requires faith and belief in yourself, vision, hard work, determination, and dedication. Remember all things are possible for those who believe."
-Gail Devers 

"The Spirit of Sports: The spirit of sports gives each of us who participate an opportunity to be creative. Sports knows no sex, age, race or religion. Sports gives us all the ability to test ourselves mentally, physically and emotionally in a way no other aspect of life can. For many of us who struggle with 'fitting in' or our identity - sports gives us our first face of confidence. That first bit of confidence can be a gateway to many other great things!"
-Dan O'Brien 

"The most important lesson I've learned from sports is how to be not only a gracious winner, but a good loser as well. Not everyone wins all the time, as a matter of fact, no one wins all the time. Winning is the easy part, losing is really tough. But, you learn more from one loss than you do from a million wins. You learn a lot about sportsmanship. I mean, it's really tough to shake the hand of someone who just beat you, and it's even harder to do it with a smile. If you can learn to do this and push through that pain, you will remember what that moment is like the next time you win and have a better sense of how those competitors around you feel. This experience will teach you a lot on and off the field!"
-Amy Van Dyken 

"Athletic competition clearly defines the unique power of our attitude."
-Bart Starr 

"Doing your best is more important than being the best."
-Shannon Miller 

"I always tell kids, you have two eyes and one mouth. Keep two open and one closed. You never learn anything if you're the one talking."
-Gordie Howe 

"Sports creates a bond between contemporaries that lasts a lifetime. It also gives your life structure, discipline and a genuine, sincere, pure fulfillment that few other areas of endeavor provide."
-Bob Cousy 

"The answers to these questions will determine your success or failure. 1) Can people trust me to do what's right? 2) Am I committed to doing my best? 3) Do I care about other people and show it? If the answers to these questions are yes, there is no way you can fail."
-Lou Holtz 

"Confidence is a very fragile things."
-Joe Montana 

"Ask yourself is it right or wrong and act accordingly."
-Otto Graham, Jr. 

"Follow your dreams as long as you live! Never be afraid to go out on the limb to live up to your expectations. Always do things your way and Have Fun!"
-Picabo Street 

"Never look to the ground for your next step. Greatness belongs to those who look to the horizon."
-Bud Greenspan 

"To play is in the mind. To win is in the heart."
-Jennifer McCombs 

"Competitive sports are played mainly on a five-and-a-half inch court, the space between your ears."
-Bobby Jones 

"Winners must have two things, definite goals and a burning desire to achieve them."
-Brad Burden 

"Victory is in the quality of competition, not the final score."
-Mike Marshall 

"Your chances of success in any undertaking can always be measured by your belief in yourself."
-Robert Collier 

"I have always tried to be true to myself, to pick those battles I felt were important. My ultimate responsibility is to myself. I could never be anything else."
-Arthur Ashe 

"You never get a second chance to make a good first impression."
-Unknown 

"An open mind opens doors."
-Unknown 

"Only those who dare to fail greatly can ever achieve greatly."
-Robert F. Kennedy 

"Treat a person as he is, and he will remain as he is. Treat him as he could be, and he will become what he should be."
-Jimmy Johnson 

"Each of us is affected by what happens to the other. Just as our movement interact on the field, so our lives interact to a certain degree. This is what is so great about being a member of a team."
-Eric Lund 

"Fall seven times, stand up eight."
-Japanese Proverb 

"A team with a star player is a good team, but a team without one is a great team."
-Unknown 

"Never give up, never give in, and when the upper hand is ours, may we have the ability to handle the win with the dignity that we absorbed the loss."
-Doug Williams 

"I play to win. Even when common sense should tell me I no longer have a chance. Even when I have been playing at my worst and all the breaks have been going against me. I approach each new day, and each new game as a glorious opportunity to get going again."
-Unknown 

"Winning isn't always finishing first. Sometimes winning is just finishing."
-Manuel Diotte 

"Not all are blessed with great ability, but with teamwork and perseverance, all can accomplish great things."
-M.D. Boyer 

"You win the race only after you cross the finish line, regardless of what place."
-Unknown 

"Perseverance is a great element of success."
-Henry Wadsworth Longfellow 

"The will to prepare, the guts to risk, and the desire to be the best…these are the trademarks of a champion."
-Unknown 

"If you meet a team with desire, you better be able to match that desire or you will lose."
-Unknown 

"Concentration is the ability to think about absolutely nothing when it is absolutely necessary."
-Ray Knight 

"A quitter never…
…kisses the cup.
…kisses the ground.
…runs out a grounder.
…runs through the signs.
…signs autographs.
…signs for free.
…plays for free.
…plays for keeps.
…keeps her/his promises.
…keeps going.
…gets going.
…gets it together.
…gets noticed.
…gets promoted.
…gets an A.
…brings his/her A game.
…has game.
…has fun.
…has to work hard.
…works a little more.
…reaches a little deeper.
…reaches the finish line.
-Spike, Finish Line Magazine 

"Every day the word 'gift' is used to define talent, ability, and performance. Being gifted has an even deeper meaning, a meaning that isn't always measured in points per game or win/loss records - it's measured by heart, effort, and desire."
-Alan Cohen 

"I think I've always had the shots. But in the past, I've suffered too many mental lapses. Now, I'm starting to get away from that and my mental discipline and commitment to the game are much better. I think I'm really taking a good luck at the big picture. That's the difference between being around for the final or watching the final from my sofa at home."
-Andre Agassi 

"The only place where success comes before work is in the dictionary."
-Vidal Sassoon 

"When someone tells me there is only one way to do things, it always lights a fire under my butt. My instant reaction is, I'm gonna prove you wrong."
-Picabo Street 

"I'll always be Number 1 to myself."
-Moses Malone 

"The country is full of good coaches. What it takes to win is a bunch of interested players."
-Don Coryell, ex-San Diego Chargers Coach 

"Champions aren't made in gyms. Champions are made from something they have deep inside them: A desire, a dream, a vision. They have to have late minute stamina, they have to be a little faster, they have to have the skill and the will. But the will must be stronger than the skill."
-Muhammed Ali 

"I've never been afraid to fail."
-Michael Jordan 

"The more honor and respect among the players, the greater the team."
-Unknown 

"Good coaching is about leadership and instilling respect in your players. Dictators lead through fear--good coaches do not."
-John Wooden 

"So many coaches forget that when they take the fun out of something, it's just not something people want to do."
-Michelle Johnson 

"In order for there to be ups, there must be downs. Remember all your failures, so when you succeed you can look back and have pride that you had strength enough to overcome."
-Unknown 

"Improve your performance by improving your attitude."
-Unknown 

"People do not lack strength; they lack will."
-Victor Hugo 

"Strive for excellence, not pefection."
-Unknown 

"Accept challenges so that you may feel the exhilaration of victory."
-Unknown 

"All glory comes from daring to begin."
-Unknown 

"When champions fail, they get back up and try again. They don't let failure discourage them."
-Mary Ellen Clark 

"Good coaches teach respect for the opposition, love of competition, the value of trying your best, and how to win and lose graciously."
-Brooks Clark 

"There are times when you're tired and times when you don't believe in yourself. That's when you have to stick it out and draw on the confidence that you have deep down beneath all the doubts and worries."
-Jim Abbot 

"Set your goals high, and don't stop till you get there."
-Bo Jackson 

"Winners never quit, and quitters never win."
-Unknown 

"Winning isn't everything. Wanting to is."
-Catfish Hunter 

"T.E.A.M. stands for T.ogether E.veryone A.chieves M.ore."
-Unknown 

"Some people dream of success while others wake up and achieve it."
-Unknown 

"Whoever said 'It's not whether you win or lose that counts' probably lost."
-Martina Navratilova 

"Physical fitness is not only one of the most important keys to a healthy body, it is the basis of dynamic and creative intellectual activity. The relationship between the soundness of the body and the activities of the mind is subtle and complex. Much is not yet understood. But we do know what the Greeks knew: that intelligence and skill can only function at the peak of their capacity when the body is healthy and strong; that hardy spirits and tough minds usually inhabit sound gods."
-JFK 

"I believe that coaches and athletes should realize that the athletic department field, court or diamond can be made an extension of the classroom, a place where you and your teammates are learning more than just how to prepare to win. The field, the court, and the diamond should be places where athletes are constantly learning about the game in which they participate, about their coaches and teammates, and perhaps most importantly, about themselves."
-Phillip R. Shriver, University of Miami President 

"Struggle and survival, losing and winning, doesn't matter. It's entering the race that counts. You enter, you can win, you can lose .... but it's all about entering the race." 
-Pam Grier 

"Hold yourself responsible for a higher standard than anybody else expects of you. Never excuse yourself." 
-Henry Ward Beecher 

"No student ever attains eminent success by simply doing what is required of him/her; it is the amount and excellence of what is over and above the required, that determines the greatness of ultimate distinction." 
-Charles Kendall Adams, American Historian 

"Failures are divided into two classes - those who thought and never did, and those who did and never thought."
-John Charles Salak, American Writer 

"Take pride in yourself. Be your own person. Don't do things because everyone else does them. Don't be part of the crowd. Dare to be different. Never be afraid to stand up for what you believe to be right, even if it means standing alone!"
-Jack Lambert, NFL Linebacker 

"Sportsmanship to me is going out and playing as hard as you can within the rules."
-Bobby Bowden

"I would rather win than have good sportsmanship."
-Allen Iverson

"Sportsmanship is making sure you have respect for the guy your're playing across from."
-Warren Moon

"Sportsmanship for me is when a guy walks off the court and you really can't tell whether he won or lost, when he carries himself with pride either way."
-Jim Courier

"There is no such thing as sportsmanship."
-Terrell Davis

"I think sportsmanship means that you should be able to go 100 miles an hour and hit someone in the face, as many times as you want to and be able to get up and shake him in the hand and stare him in the face when you're done with it."
-Jeff Lageman

"Gold medals don't make champions...hard work does."
-Unknown

"The will to win is not worth a nickel unless you have the will to practice."
-Unknown

"The greatest test of courage on the earth is to bear defeat without losing heart."
-Unknown

"The only thing better than winning is losing knowing you gave your best."
-Michael Ip

"What lies behind us and what lies before us are small matters compared to what lies within us."
-Ralph Waldo Emerson

"When you're playing it as a business ... your livelihood depends on winning and losing and so sometimes sportsmanship is lost, as in the process of billion dollar companies."
-Danny Ainge

"We can talk about the value of sportsmanship on one hand, and on the other hand, the leading shots, highlights ... you see every night are the outrageous and unsportsmanlike, so I think there is a double standard here. On the one hand, we complain about it, on the other hand it's the first thing you see every night."
-Joe Dumars

"You want me to lie and say I think about they're watching me and what I'm doing is going to affect them, and I'll tell you the truth, I don't care!"
-Shannon Page

"I am not a role model."
-Charles Barkley

"Simply trying to define sportsmanship, I think most folks would agree, responsibility and self respect, qualities that today seem in short supply at times. If character is what you do when no one is watching, then perhaps sportsmanship is that conduct with everybody watching. Frankly, the sports industry would probably survive without sportsmanship. It's so large and so well financed, but it would be refreshing if more parents and coaches, more administrators and more journalists, and especially more players realized there is room to win with flare and style and even get rich and still keep the values that first brought us here to the games."
-Bob Ley

"Winners make goals, losers make excuses."
-Unknown

"There are no gains without pains."
-Benjamin Franklin

"Accept challenges so that you may feel the exhilaration of victory."
-Unknown

"Champions believe in themselves even if no one else does."
-Unknown

"Coming together is a beginning; keeping together is progress; working together is success."
-Henry Ford

"Failure will hurt but not hinder us."
-Babcock

"Together we stand, by ourselves we fall flat."
-Unknown

"There is no such thing as a great talent without a great willpower."
-Unknown

"Strength Within, Pride Throughout."
-Acton-Boxboro Varsity Girls Basketball

"Our greatest glory is not in never failing, but in rising each and every time we fail."
-Confucius

"Remember that sports are meant to be fun. Don't let someone make the sport unfun for you."
-A.J. Kitt

"We cannot fail to win unless we fail to try."
-Tom Clancy

"For when the One Great Scorer comes to mark against your name, He writes not that you won or lost — but how you played the game!"
-Grantland Rice

"Doing what is right, fair and honorable is more important than winning or losing."
-Chick Moorman

"It does not matter how many times you get knocked down, but how many times you get up."
-Vince Lombardi

"Do not let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do."
-John Wooden

"Success is measured by effort."
-Unknown

"Goals determine what you're going to be."
-Julius Erving

"How a man plays the game shows something of his character; how he loses shows it all."
-Tribune (Camden County, GA)

"Champions do not become champions when they win the event, but in the hours, weeks, months and years they spend preparing for it. The victorious performance itself is merely the demonstration of their championship character."
-T. Alan Armstrong

"Never look down on anybody unless you're helping him up."
-The Reverend Jesse Jackson 

"Obstacles are what we see only when we lose sight of our goals."
-Unknown 

"Tell me and I forget, teach me and I remember, involve me and I learn."
-Benjamin Franklin

"You have to expect things of yourself before you can do them."
-Michael Jordan

"One man practicing good sportsmanship is far better than 50 others preaching it."
-Knute K. Rockne

"Vision without action is a daydream. Action without vision is a nightmare."
-Japanese Proverb

"The best way to predict your future is to create it."
-Anonymous

"Kind words can be short and easy to speak, but their echoes are truly endless."
-Mother Teresa

"If you train hard, you'll not only be hard, you'll be hard to beat."
-Herschel Walker

"The minute your start talking about what you're going to do if you lose, you have lost."
-George Shultz

"Adversity causes some men to break; others to break records."
-William A. Ward

"The difference between a successful person and others is not lack of strength,
not a lack of knowledge, but rather a lack of will."
-Vince Lombardi

"The will to win is important, but the will to prepare is vital."
-Joe Paterno

"Opportunities multiply as they are seized."
-Sun Tzu

"To succeed . . . you need to find something to hold on to, something to motivate you, something to inspire you."
-Tony Dorsett

"If you can believe it, the mind can achieve it."
-Ronnie Lott

"Setting a goal is not the main thing. It is deciding how you will go about achieving it and staying with that plan."
-Tom Landry

"It's not necessarily the amount of time you spend at practice that counts; it's what you put into the practice."
-Eric Lindros

"It is a rough road that leads to the heights of greatness."
-Seneca

"The best inspiration is not to outdo others, but to outdo ourselves."
-Anonymous

"Show me a guy who's afraid to look bad, and I'll show you a guy you can beat every time."
-Lou Brock

"If you don't do what's best for your body, you're the one who comes up on the short end."
-Julius Erving

"Each Warrior wants to leave the mark of his will, his signature, on important acts he touches. This is not the voice of ego but of the human spirit, rising up and declaring that it has something to contribute to the solution of the hardest problems, no matter how vexing!"
-Pat Riley

"I always felt that my greatest asset was not my physical ability, it was my mental ability."
-Bruce Jenner

"A winner never whines."
-Paul Brown

"Great works are performed not by strength but by perseverance."
-Samuel Johnson

"My motto was always to keep swinging. Whether I was in a slump or feeling badly or having trouble off the field, the only thing to do was keep swinging."
-Hank Aaron

"Winning is not a sometime thing; it's an all-time thing. You don't win once in a while, you don't do things right once in a while, you do them right all the time. Winning is habit. Unfortunately, so is losing."
-Vince Lombardi

"The mind is the limit. As long as the mind can envision the fact that you can do something, you can do it - as long as you really believe 100 percent."
-Arnold Schwarzenegger

"Courage is the price that life exacts for granting peace."
-Amelia Earhart

"When elephants fight, it is the grass that suffers."
-Kikuyi Proverb