SPORTS QUOTES The following quote library is provided as a service by Josephson Institute and its Pursuing Victory With Honor sportsmanship initiative. For more information on our campaign and materials, go to www.JosephsonInstitute.org/sports. The moment of victory is much too short to live for that and nothing else. – Martina Navratilova, tennis player If it is a cliché to say athletics build character as well as muscle, then I subscribe to the cliché. – Gerald Ford, 38th President Sports gives your life structure, discipline, and a pure fulfillment that few other areas of endeavor provide. – Bob Cousy, basketball player One man practicing good sportsmanship is far better than 50 others preaching it. – Knute Rockne, football coach I never thought about losing, but now that it’s happened, the only thing is to do it right. – Muhammad Ali, boxer Football is like life. It teaches work, sacrifice, perseverance, competitive drive, selflessness, and respect for authority. – Vince Lombardi, football coach World War II was a must win. – Marv Levy, football coach Dictators lead through fear; good coaches do not. – John Wooden, basketball coach A good coach will make his players see what they can be rather than what they are. – Ara Parseghian, football coach I’ve missed more than 9,000 shots in my career, lost almost 300 games, missed the game- winning shot 26 times. I’ve failed over and over again in my life. That is why I succeed. – Michael Jordan, basketball player Champions keep playing until they get it right. – Billie Jean King, tennis player You miss 100 percent of the shots you never take. – Wayne Gretzky, hockey player The only way to prove you’re a good sport is to lose. – Ernie Banks, baseball player It is your response to winning and losing that makes you a winner or a loser. – Harry Sheehy, athletic director If you can believe it, the mind can achieve it. – Ronnie Lott, football player The difference between a successful person and others is not lack of strength, not a lack of knowledge, but a lack of will. – Vince Lombardi, football coach It does not matter how many times you get knocked down, but how many times you get up. – Vince Lombardi, football coach The will must be stronger than the skill. – Muhammed Ali, boxer Love never fails, character never quits, and dreams do come true. – Pete Maravich, basketball player Always imitate the behavior of the winner when you lose. — Anonymous It’s not up to anyone else to make me give my best. – Hakeem Olajuwon, basketball player In golf and in life, it’s the follow-through that makes the difference. – Anonymous If all I’m remembered for is being a good basketball player, then I’ve done a bad job with the rest of my life. – Isiah Thomas, basketball player Once you learn to quit, it becomes a habit. – Vince Lombardi, football coach When the game is over, it is really just beginning. – Jerry Kramer, football player When the Great Scorer comes to mark against your name, He writes not that you won or lost, but how you played the Game. – Grantland Rice, sportswriter The harder you work, the luckier you get. – Gary Player, golfer The moment of victory is much too short to live for that and nothing else. – Martina Navratilova, tennis player The speed of a runaway horse counts for nothing. – Jean Cocteau, French novelist, poet, and filmmaker When you make a mistake, there are only three things you should ever do about it: Admit it, learn from it, and don’t repeat it. – Paul Bear Bryant, football coach I run on the road long before I dance under the lights. – Muhammad Ali, boxer You’ve got to be ready for the fastball. – Ted Williams, baseball player Quitters never win and winners never quit. – Anonymous If you make every game a life-and-death proposition, you’re going to have problems. You’ll be dead a lot. – Dean Smith, basketball coach It’s never crowded along the extra mile. – Wayne Dyer, author and self-help advocate Start by doing what is necessary, then do what is possible, and suddenly you are doing the impossible. – St. Francis of Assisi, patron saint It is normal to enjoy praise and dislike criticism. True character is when you prevent either from affecting you in a negative matter. – John Wooden I worked very hard. I felt I could play the game. The only thing that could stop me was myself. – Jim Abbott, baseball pitcher What it comes down to is that anybody can win with the best horse. What makes you good is if you can take the second- or third-best horse and win. – Vicky Aragon, jockey Thank God for competition. When our competitors upset our plans or outdo our designs, they open infinite possibilities of our own work to us. – Gil Atkinson Competitions are for horse, not artist. – Bela Bartok, Hungarian composer I love the winning, I can take the losing. But most of all, I love to play. – Boris Becker, tennis player To free the mind from the habit of competition, we must see in detail the process by which the mind is ensnared by competition. – Marguerite Beecher Competition is a process or variety of habitual behavior that grows out of a habit of mind. – Willard Beecher Becoming number one is easier than remaining number one. – Bill Bradley, basketball player Show me a guy who is afraid to look bad, and I’ll show you a guy you can beat every time. – Lou Brock, baseball player Focus on competition has always been a formula for mediocrity. – Daniel Burrus Somebody will always break your records. It is how you live that counts. – Earl Campbell, football player I don’t psyche myself up. I psyche myself down. I think clearer when I’m not psyched up. – Steve Cauthen, jockey Everybody pulls for David; nobody roots for Goliath. – Wilt Chamberlain, basketball player Thou shalt not covet; but tradition approves all forms of competition. – Arthur Hugh Clough It’s amazing how much of this is mental. Everybody’s in good shape. Everybody knows how to ski. Everybody has good equipment. When it really boils down to it, it’s who wants it the most and whos the most confident. – Reggie Crist You must sacrifice, train, do everything possible to put yourself in a position to win. But if you consider second or third a failure, I feel sorry for you. – Joe Falcon, runner You get out in front – you stay out in front. – A. J. Foyt, race-car driver The ability to learn faster than your competitors may be only sustainable competitive advantage. – Arie de Geus, businessman and speaker Hail Caesar, those who are about to die salute you. – Gladiator’s salute Surely the best way to meet the enemy is head on in the field and not wait till they plunder our very homes. – Oliver Goldsmith, Irish writer Racing is a matter of spirit not strength. – Janet Guthrie, race-car driver Every time you go out on the ice, there are slight flaws. You can always think of something you should have done better. These are the things you must work on. – Dorothy Hamill, figure skater Men often compete with one another until the day they die. Comradeship consists of rubbing shoulders jocularly with a competitor. – Edward Hoagland, writer I play with friends sometimes, but there are never friendly games. – Ben Hogan, golfer How you respond to the challenge in the second half will determine what you become after the game, whether you are a winner or a loser. – Lou Holtz, football coach The biggest things are often the easiest to do because there is so little competition. – William Van Horne, railway executive Do your work with your whole heart and you will succeed – there’s so little competition. – Elbert Hubbard, writer Running for money doesn’t make you run fast. It makes you run first. – Ben Jipcho, Kenyan runner Once you’re physically capable of winning a gold medal, the rest is 90 percent mental. – Patti Johnson The medals don’t mean anything and the glory doesn’t last. It’s all about your happiness. The rewards are going to come, but my happiness is loving the sport and having fun performing. – Jackie Joyner Kersee, track athlete When you want to win a game, you have to teach. When you lose a game, you have to learn. – Tom Landry, football coach I watch a man shoot pool for an hour. If he misses more than one shot, I know I can beat him. – Luther Lassiter, pool player The time your game is most vulnerable is when you’re ahead. Never let up. – Rod Laver, tennis player He can run, but he can’t hide. – Joe Louis, boxer When you have them by the balls, their hearts and minds will follow. – Jerry Martin, baseball player This is a tough game. There are times when you’ve got to play hurt, when you’ve got to block out the pain. – Shaquille O’Neal, basketball player Playing safe is only playing. – Chuck Olson These are the days when it takes all you’ve got just to keep up with the losers. – Robert Orpen Don’t look back. Something might be gaining on you. – Leroy “Satchel” Paige, baseball player I don’t care how good you play, you can find somebody who can beat you, and I don’t care how bad you play, you can find somebody you can beat. – Harvey Penick, golf coach Win or lose, do it fairly. – Knute Rockne, football coach The difference of great players is at a certain point they raise their level of play and maintain it.