Sports Day

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 gamewinning 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. Lesser players play great for a set. – Pete Sampras, tennis player When you step onto that field, you cannot concede a thing. – Gale Sayers, football player Enjoy the successes that you have and don’t be too hard on yourself when you don’t do well. Too many times we beat up on ourselves. Just relax and enjoy it. – Patty Sheehan, golfer When you’re riding, only the race in which you’re riding is important. – Willie Shoemaker, jockey

I ski to win. When the day comes that I can’t get myself into a fighting mood anymore, I’ll stop racing. – Ingemar Stenmark, skier How can they beat me? I’ve been struck by lightning, had two back operations, and been divorced twice. – Lee Trevino, golfer We have a lot of players in their first year. Some of them are also in their last year. – Bill Walsh, football coach The key to any game is to use your strengths and hide your weaknesses. – Paul Westphal, basketball player If you never lose, then you can never appreciate the victories. – Laura Twitchell Sooner or later, those who win are those who think they can. – Richard Bach, writer A pint of sweat will save a gallon of blood. – George Patton, general I’ve never known anybody to achieve anything without overcoming adversity. – Lou Holtz, football coach The glory of sport is born at the moment when the game and person become one, when all the complexity of one’s life finds a moment to emerge in the game. – Timothy Shriver, Ph.D., teacher and producer The power of the human will to compete and the drive to excel beyond the body’s normal capabilities is most beautifully demonstrated in the arena of sport. – Aimee Mullins, athlete and actress Victory isn’t defined by wins or losses. It is defined by effort. If you can truthfully say, “I did the best I could, I gave everything I had,” then you’re a winner. – Wolfgang Schadler A lot of our team commitment is a silent understanding that each one of us has poured our life into what we’re doing. – Claire Carver-Dias Those who truly have the spirit of champions are never wholly happy with an easy win. Half the satisfaction stems from knowing it was the time and the effort you invested that led to your high achievement. – Nicole Haislett, swimmer

Any guy who can maintain a positive attitude without much playing time earns my respect. – Magic Johnson, basketball player When all is said and done, it’s not the shots that won the championship that you remember, but the friendships you made along the way. – Anonymous If you are ever going to achieve as much as you can in a sport, you are going to have to be willing to make a leap of faith to learn how much your body can handle. – Meredith Rainey Valmon A race is not well-run unless you’ve crossed the finish line knowing you couldn’t have kept going for one more step. If you could have, then you didn’t give it everything you had. – Jackie Dugall When you’re out on that floor cheering, you don’t worry about the judges or the other teams. All you need to worry about is cheering your heart and soul out and knowing you are doing the very best you can. – Corey Phillips Love the game. Love the game for the pure joy of accomplishment. Love the game for everything it can teach you about yourself. Love the game for the feeling of belonging to a group endeavoring to do its best. Love the game for being involved in a team whose members can’t wait to see you do your best. Love the game for the challenge of working harder than you ever have at something and then harder than that. Love the game because it takes all team members to give it life. Love the game because at its best, the game tradition will include your contributions. Love the game because you belong to a long line of fine athletes who have loved it. It is now your legacy. Love the game so much that you will pass on your love to another who has seen your dedication, your work, your challenges, your triumphs and then that athlete will, because of you, love the game. – Anonymous A gold medal is a wonderful thing, but if you’re not enough without it, you’ll never be enough with it. – John Candy in Cool Runnings An athlete is a normal person with the gift of an undying passion to be the best and achieve greatness. – Amanda Ring Courage is not the absence of fear. It is being afraid but being able to control that fear so you are able to perform at your highest ability. That’s what makes a champion. – Cory Lester When you are out there on the soccer field, nothing else matters. It’s like the whole world has disappeared and you and your teammates are all that matters. – Amber Massey

One bout doesn’t make a champion. One win or one loss isn’t reflective of an entire career. Champions aren’t made or lost with one battle. – Kelly Williams If what you did yesterday still looks big to you today, then you must not have done anything today. – Anonymous Together we stand, together we fall, together we’re winners, and winners take all. – Anonymous I’m not a yeller. My theory is that no one goes out there trying to screw up. – Amy Ruley, basketball coach The difference between a good athlete and a top athlete is the top athlete will do the mundane things when nobody’s looking. – Susan True Individual glory is insignificant when compared to achieving victory as a team. – Dot Richardson, softball player It may sound strange, but many champions are made champions by setbacks. – Bob Richards, Olympic athlete Being the best that you can be is possible only if your desire to be a champion is greater than your fear of failure. – Sammy Lee, swimmer Sportsmanship is not just about being nice. It is much more important than that. It’s about realizing that you could not compete without an opponent and that she has the same goals as you. – Stephanie Deibler When you need a friend, you can always count on your teammates. – Jim Brown, football player There are things about some professional athletes that I cannot stand – the pretense, the egos, the pomposity, the greed. – Ted Simmons, baseball player Behind all the years of practice and all the hours of glory waits that inexorable terror of living without the game. – Bill Bradley, basketball player I won’t accept anything less than the best a player’s capable of doing, and he has the right to expect the best I can do for him and the team. – Lou Holtz, football coach

You spend a good deal of your life gripping a baseball, and it turns out it was the other way around. – Jim Bouton, baseball player On a good team there are no superstars. There are great players who show they are great players by being able to play with others as a team. What the numbers are in salaries or statistics don’t matter; how they play together does. – Red Holzman, basketball coach No amount of ability is of the slightest avail without honor. – Andrew Carnegie, industrialist and philanthropist Don’t be content with average because average is just as close to the bottom as it is to the top. – Danielle Ballentine With confidence, you have won even before you have started. – Marcus Garvey, Jamaican nationalist Play like you’re in first, but train like you’re in second. – Anonymous Luck is not something that happens by chance. Luck is earned through dedication, work and determination. – Katie Mickley The race isn’t over until you cross the finish line. You’ll be surprised at how much can change in the last twenty strides. – Jackie Dugall Hard work and togetherness. They go hand in hand. You need hard work because it’s such a tough atmosphere. You need togetherness because you don’t always win and you gotta hang tough together. – Tony Dungy, football coach You are a direct reflection of me. When you lose, I am a loser. When you fight, I am a fighter. When you win, I am a winner. When you and I work together, we are a team. – Anonymous Be and look prepared. Be a man of integrity. Never break your word. Don’t have two sets of standards. Stand up for your players. Show them you care on and off the court. – Red Auerbach, basketball coach Great champions have an enormous sense of pride. The people who excel are those who are driven to show the world and prove to themselves just how good they are. – Nancy Lopez, golfer

Cooperation is the thorough conviction that nobody gets there unless everybody gets there. – Virginia Burden The values learned on the playing field – how to set goals, endure, take criticism and risks, become team players, use our beliefs, stay healthy, and deal with stress – prepare us for life. – Donna de Varona, swimmer The trophies mean nothing. The glory will fade. In the end all that is important is your happiness. – Anonymous Winning is a game within itself. That act of showing up shows you’ve already won. – Travis Quigly I am the person you’ll see everyday training when everyone else has gone home. I live for the one moment of glory when I save that goal or score the winning basket. I am the sport, I am the glory, nothing can change that. I am an athlete, no one can forget that. – Alexa Wilkinson Passion, not pedigree, will win in the end. – Jon Bon Jovi, musician When the playing is over, one can sense that one’s youth has been spent playing a game, and now both the game and youth are gone. – Bill Bradley, basketball player The glory of sport is witnessing a well-coached team perform as a single unit, striving for a common goal and ultimately bringing distinction to the jersey the players represent. – Dick Vitale, broadcaster The fans can make you famous. A contract can make you rich. The press can make you a superstar. But only the love can make you a player. – Kevin Hartwyk You run like a girl. You jump like a girl. You serve 165 km in their faces. Like a girl. – Anonymous For some people it’s the end of the rainbow, but for us it’s the end of the finish line. – Larisa Healy Training is what you are doing while your opponent is sleeping in. – Brian Owen Every team requires unity. A team has to move as one unit, one force. If the team doesn’t do this, it goes down in defeat. You win or lose as a team, as a family. – Jack Kemp, football player

Almost all of our limitations are self-imposed. Those that are not can be overcome by cooperation with others whose strengths compliment our weakness. – Bill Koch, yachtsman No matter how many errors you make, no matter how many times you strike out, keep hustling. That way you’ll at least look like a ballplayer. – Tony Kubek, Sr., baseball player Sports is when a guy walks off the court, and you can’t tell whether he won or lost. – Jim Courier, tennis player Twenty years from now, I can look at this medal and say I was the best quarter-miler in the world on that day. If you don’t think that’s important, you don’t know what’s inside an athlete’s soul. – Vince Matthews, track athlete I always wanted to be somebody. If I’ve made it, it’s half because I was game to take a wicked amount of punishment along the way and half because there were an awful lot of people who cared enough to help me. – Althea Gibson, tennis player Champions separate the important from the unimportant. They know that good press, playing time, or individual honors aren’t as important as knowing you and your teammates have responded to the challenge together. – Don Shaw You can motivate players better with kind words than you can with a whip. – Bud Wilkinson, football coach The problem with referees is they don’t care which side wins. – Tom Canterbury Never underestimate the heart of a champion. – Rudy Tomjanovich, basketball coach Even when you’ve played the game of your life, it’s the feeling of teamwork that you’ll remember. You’ll forget the plays, the shots, and the scores, but you’ll never forget your teammates. – Deborah Palmore Part of being a champ is acting like a champ. You have to learn how to win and not run away when you lose. – Nancy Kerrigan, figure skater Teammates are there for each other even after the noise of the crowd is gone. – Jim Brown, football player

Coaches have to watch for what they don’t want to see and listen to what they don’t want to hear. – John Madden, football coach Winning is only half of it. Having fun winning is the other half. – Bum Phillips, football coach People always think kids’ sports are about fun, but that’s not why they play. They play to find out about who they are. It’s a vehicle for self-discovery. – Paul Clements What separates a winner from the rest of the pack is not raw talent or physical ability; it is the drive and dedication to work hard every single day and the heart to go after your dream, no matter how unattainable others think it is. – Linda Mastandrea Individual commitment to a group effort – that is what makes a team work. – Vince Lombardi, football coach The glory of sport comes from dedication, determination, and desire. Achieving success and personal glory has less to do with wins and losses than it does with learning how to prepare yourself so that at the end of the day you know there was nothing more you could have done to reach your ultimate goal. – Jackie Joyner-Kersee, track athlete The difference is almost all mental. The top players just hate to lose. A champion hates to lose even more than she loves to win. – Chris Evert, tennis player Win or lose you will never regret working hard, making sacrifices, being disciplined, or focusing too much. Success is measured by what we have done to prepare for competition. – John Smith, track athlete It’s blood, sweat, sometimes tears. – Bob Hayes, track athlete and football player Every time you compete, try harder to improve on your last performance. Give nothing short of your very best effort. – Elgin Baylor, basketball player Sports create 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, basketball player It’s important to respect both your teammates and your opponents. Friendships can make a victory last forever. – Jamie Koven

Sports gives us the ability to test ourselves mentally, physically, and emotionally in a way no other aspect of life can. For many 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, track athlete In life, we choose whether or not to be a winner or a loser. To be a winner, we must devote time and hard work. To be a loser we do nothing, and that’s exactly what we will get, nothing. – Patrick Boles Just as in a rainbow, if there was only one color it would not be beautiful. On our team, if there was only one player it would not be victorious. – Anonymous If it wasn’t for failure, we wouldn’t have succeeded. – Lucas Hellmer It’s impossible for athletes to grow up. On the one hand, you’re still a child, still playing a game. But on the other hand, you’re a superhuman hero who everyone dreams of being. No wonder we have such a hard time understanding who we are. – Billie Jean King, tennis player Each warrior wants to leave the mark of his will, his signature, on the 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. In every contest, there comes a moment that separates winning from losing. The true warrior understands and seizes that moment by giving an effort so intense and so intuitive that it could only be called one from the heart. – Pat Riley, basketball coach Whether I fail or succeed shall be no man’s doing but my own. I am the force. I can clear any obstacle before me or I can be lost in the maze. My choice, my responsibility, win or lose. Only I hold the keys to my destiny. – Elaine Maxwell I believe in playing with your heart, with every fiber in your body – fairly, squarely, by the rules – to win. And I believe that any man’s finest moment, the greatest fulfillment of all he holds dear, is that moment when he has worked his heart out and lies exhausted on the floor of battle – victorious. – Bella Karolyi, gymnastics coach Sport, at its best, at its most human, is able to inspire an innocence and joy that is unique to each of us. – Richard Corman You find you have peace of mind and can enjoy yourself, get more sleep, and rest when you know it was a 100 percent effort you gave – win or lose. – Gordie Howe, hockey player

When anyone tells me I can’t do anything, I’m not listening anymore. – Florence Griffith-Joyner, track athlete When I was in college, people told me I couldn’t play in the NBA. There’s always somebody saying you can’t do it, and those people have to be ignored. – Bill Cartwright, basketball player If you aren’t playing well, the game isn’t as much fun. When that happens, I tell myself just to go out and play the game as I did when I was a kid. – Tom Watson, golfer Don’t ever forget that you play with your soul as well as your body. – Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, basketball player All of us get knocked down, but it’s resiliency that matters. All of us do well when things are going well, but the thing that distinguishes athletes is the ability to do well in times of great stress, urgency, and pressure. – Roger Staubach, football player In order to excel, you must be completely dedicated to your chosen sport. You must also be prepared to work hard and accept constructive criticism. Without 100 percent dedication, you won’t be able to do this. – Willie Mays, baseball player The ones who want to achieve and win championships motivate themselves. – Mike Ditka, football player and coach I don’t need to be the Number 1 on the team. If I need to hit, pitch, run, whatever, I will do it. If everything was going to be about me, I’d quit. – Michele Smith You have to accept whatever comes, and the only important thing is that you meet it with the best you have to give. – Anonymous The best feeling in the world is walking into an athletic atmosphere and knowing the other athletes are scared to death to compete against you. – Matt Hurst 1 goal, 10 assists. – Adidas commercial A successful team beats with one heart. – Sarah Redmond I like pressure. If I am not on the edge of failure, I’m not being sufficiently challenged. – Jewel, singer

I will always be someone who wants to do better than others. I love competition. – Jean-Claude Killy, skier Do you believe you’re a starter or a benchwarmer? Do you believe you’re an all-star or an alsoran? If the answers to these questions are the latter, your play on the field will reflect it. But when you’ve learned to shut off outside influences and believe in yourself, there’s no telling how good a player you can be. – Rod Carew, baseball player I’ve always made a total effort, even when the odds seemed against me. I never quit trying; I never felt I didn’t have a chance to win. – Arnold Palmer, golfer There are many ways to be a winner, but there is only one way to be a loser: to fail and not look beyond the failure. – Kyle Rote, Jr., soccer player There has never been a great athlete who died not knowing what pain is. – Bill Bradley, basketball player Sports ideally teach discipline and commitment. They challenge you and build character for everything you do in life. – Howie Long, football player Obstacles are challenges for winners and excuses for losers. – M.E. Kerr, writer Let others cheer the winning man There’s one I hold worthwhile. ‘Tis he who does the best he can, Then loses with a smile. – Anonymous A winner never whines. – Paul Brown, football coach Love your sport. Never do it to please someone else; it has to be yours. That is all that will justify the hard work. Compete against yourself, not others, for that is who is truly your best competition. – Peggy Fleming, figure skater We make too much of winning. The mere fact of winning doesn’t make you great. – Wilt Chamberlain, basketball player Once I get the ball, you’re at my mercy. There is nothing you can say or do about it. I own the ball. When I’m on my game, I don’t think there’s anybody that can stop me. – Michael Jordan, basketball player

I can accept failure. Everyone fails at something. But I can’t accept not trying. – Michael Jordan, basketball player Teamwork is the fuel that allows common people to produce uncommon results. – Anonymous Do not throw in the towel; use it for wiping the sweat off your face. – Anonymous It’s not how hard you pushed along the way. It’s having something in you to finish. – Michael Jordan It’s not the will to win that matters – everyone has that. It’s the will to prepare to win that matters. – Paul “Bear” Bryant, football coach Competition is a painful thing, but it produces great results. – Jerry Flint, editor A group becomes a team when each member is sure enough of himself and his contributions to praise the skills of the others. – Norman Shidle I believe I’m one of the best pitchers in the world, but you can’t live on your legacy. Every time I step on the mound, I have to prove it. – Michele Smith, softball player I refuse. I refuse to lose. To be average. To fail. I refuse to die. To be afraid. I refuse to be taken. I refuse. – Gatorade commercial I can’t play being mad. I go out there and have fun. It’s a game, and that’s how I’m going to treat it. – Ken Griffey, Jr., baseball player You have to wonder at times what you’re doing out there. Over the years, I’ve given myself a thousand reasons to keep running, but it always comes back to where it started. It comes down to self-satisfaction and a sense of achievement. – Steve Prefontaine, runner Most people run a race to see who is fastest. I run a race to see who has the most guts. – Steve Prefontaine, runner When you’re playing against a stacked deck, compete even harder. Show the world how much you’ll fight for the winner’s circle. – Anonymous

The purpose of any athletic endeavor is to challenge human limits, both on and off the playing field. – Anonymous Experience shows that success is due less to ability that to zeal. The winner is he who gives himself to his work, body, and soul. – Charles Buxton, British philanthropist When I was 15, I had lucky underwear. When that failed, I had a lucky hairdo, then a lucky race number, even lucky race days. After 15 years, I’ve found the secret to success is hard work. – Margaret Groos Don’t get mad, get better. – Cindy Bristow Excellence is not a singular act but a habit. You are what you do repeatedly. Shaquille O’Neal, basketball player The higher the goal, the harder the climb, but taken each day, one step at a time. The goal is accomplished, the dream is attained, and the prizes? The wisdom and strength that are gained. – Greeting card What I am, what I have, what I am going to leave behind me – all this I owe to the game of baseball. – Babe Ruth, baseball player A baseball field must be the most beautiful thing in the world. It’s so honest and precise. And we play on it. Every star gets humbled. Every mediocre player has a great moment. Jim Lefebvre, baseball player Running is a metaphor for life. There’s always someone faster than you, always someone slower. All you can do is hang in there and put your heart into it. – Anonymous To give anything less than your best is to sacrifice your gift. – Steve Prefontaine, runner A good coach will make his players see what they can be rather than what they are. – Ara Parseghian, football coach Build for your team a feeling of oneness, of dependence on one another, and of strength to be derived by unity. – Vince Lombardi, football coach

Football is a great deal like life in that it teaches that work, sacrifice, perseverance, competitive drive, selflessness, and respect for authority are the price each and every one of us must pay to achieve any goal that is worthwhile. – Vince Lombardi, football coach Teamwork is what the Green Bay Packers were all about. They didn’t do it for individual glory. They did it because they loved one another. – Vince Lombardi, football coach They don’t give you gold medals for beating somebody. They give you gold medals for beating everybody. – Michael Johnson, track athlete The man who can drive himself farther once the effort gets painful is the man who will win. – Roger Bannister, track athlete History has demonstrated that the most notable winners usually encountered heartbreaking obstacles before they triumphed. They won because they refused to become discouraged by their defeats. – Bertie Forbes Do you know what my favorite part of the game is? The opportunity to play. – Mike Singletary, football player I’ve worked too hard and too long to let anything stand in the way of my goals. I will not let my teammates down, and I will not let myself down. – Mia Hamm, soccer player If you set a goal for yourself and are able to achieve it, you have won your race. Your goal can be to come in first, to improve your performance, or just finish the race – it’s up to you. – Dave Scott, triathlete Winners think in terms of I can, I will, and I am. Losers concentrate on what they should have or would have done or what they can’t do. – Dennis Waitley It’s easy to figure out who isn’t a team player. They’ll constantly remind the coach just how good they are. – Brian Jett The more you sweat in practice, the less you bleed in battle. – Anonymous I make my weaknesses my strengths and my strengths stronger. – Lisa Fernandez, softball player

It’s extra effort that separates a winner from second place. But winning takes a lot more than that. It starts with complete command of the fundamentals. Then it takes desire, determination, discipline, and self-sacrifice. And finally it takes love, fairness, and respect for your fellow man. Put all these together and even if you don’t win, how can you lose? – Jesse Owens, track athlete I am in power. I will not surrender. I will not retreat a single inch, and I will be victorious. – Anonymous I came, I saw, I conquered. – Julius Caesar, Roman emperor Losers look what they’re going through. Winners looks where they’re going to. – Anonymous To play is in the mind. To win is in the heart. – Jennifer McCombs Fall seven times, stand up eight. – Japanese proverb If I had said, “I don’t stand a chance,” one thing is clear: I wouldn’t have. – Chuck Norris, martial artist A team with a star player is a good team, but a team without one is a great team. – Anonymous 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, football player If you accept the expectations of others, especially negative ones, you never will change the outcome. – Michael Jordan, basketball player Success is that old ABC – ability, breaks, courage. – Charles Luckman, businessman Success has many fathers; failures have none. – Philip Caldwell, businessman It is amazing what can be accomplished when no one cares who gets the credit. – Mount Union women’s basketball team I’m not afraid to fail because I will not allow myself to fail. – Finish Line calendar

Winning isn’t always finishing first. Sometimes winning is just finishing. – Manuel Diotte A trophy carries dust. Memories last forever. – Mary Lou Retton, gymnast Before you can win, you have to believe you’re worthy. – Mike Ditka, football player and coach You win the race only after you cross the finish line, regardless of what place. – Anonymous Perseverance is a great element of success. – Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, poet Ain’t nothing better, we beat the odds together. – Shania Twain, singer The will to prepare, the guts to risk, and the desire to be best...these are the trademarks of a champion. – Anonymous You may not be the winner, but there is a winner inside you. – Anonymous Far better it is to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs even though checkered by failure, than to rank with those timid spirits who neither enjoy nor suffer much because they live in the gray twilight that knows neither victory nor defeat. – Theodore Roosevelt, 26th President 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, basketball player If you meet a team with desire, you better be able to match that desire or you will lose. – Anonymous I firmly believe that any man’s finest hour is that moment when he has worked his heart out in good cause and lies exhausted on the field of battle, victorious. – Vince Lombardi, football coach Talent is the gift plus the passion – a desire to succeed so intense that no force on earth can stop it. – Neil Simon, playwright Let me win. But if I cannot win, let me be brave in the attempt. – Special Olympics Oath

Champions aren’t made in gyms. Champions are made from something they have deep inside them. The will must be stronger than the skill. – Muhammad Ali, boxer I have never stolen a ball, scored a goal, or won a game alone. – Kristin Lilley, soccer player It’s always too early to quit. – Norman Vincent Peale, preacher and author In the contest between talent and hard work as to which is the more important element of success, there’s no comparison. A mediocre talent with lots of hard work will go further than a stellar talent who coasts. – Dave Joyner The more honor and respect among the players, the greater the team. – Anonymous Champions expect pain, endure pain, and never complain. – Anonymous Good coaching is about leadership and instilling respect in your players. Dictators lead through fear – good coaches do not. – John Wooden, basketball coach Perseverance isn’t just the willingness to work hard. It’s that plus the willingness to be stubborn about your own belief in yourself. – Merlin Olsen, football player Don’t think expensive equipment will make up for lack of talent or practice. – Anonymous 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. – Anonymous Sweat plus sacrifice equals success. – Charlie Finley, baseball owner Improve your performance by improving your attitude. – Anonymous Besides pride, loyalty, discipline, heart, and mind, confidence is the key to all the locks. – Joe Paterno, football coach

People do not lack strength; they lack will. – Victor Hugo, French poet Grind it out. Hanging on just one second longer than your competition makes you the winner. – Anonymous The only one who can tell you “you can’t” is you. And you don’t have to listen. – Nike ad There are some defeats more triumphant than victories. – Michel de Montaigne, French writer So long as there is breath in me, that long I will persist. For now I know one of the greatest principles on success: If I persist long enough, I will win. – Og Mandino, writer What counts is not the size of the dog in the fight; it’s the size of the fight in the dog. – Dwight D. Eisenhower, 34th President Gold medals don’t make champions, hard work does. – Anonymous Losers quit when they’re tired. Champions quit when they hold the gold. – Anonymous One hundred percent of shots not taken don’t go in. – Wayne Gretzky, hockey player My boyfriend said if I spend one more weekend at the gym, he’ll leave me. I’m sure gonna miss him. – Anonymous You gotta lose ‘em sometimes. When you do, lose ‘em right. – Anonymous The greatest test of courage on the earth is to bear defeat without losing heart. – Robert Green Ingersoll, political leader Somewhere, someplace, there is a person practicing while you’re not, and when you face that person, he will beat you. – Anonymous What lies behind us and what lies before us are small matters compared to what lies within us. – Ralph Waldo Emerson, poet Winners make goals, losers make excuses. – Anonymous

Pain is inevitable. Suffering is optional. – M. Kathleen Casey Coming together is a beginning; keeping together is progress; working together is success. – Henry Ford, industrialist Know that you are great...so dominate. – Ella Wheeler Wilcox, poet Always imitate the behavior of the winners when you lose. – George Meredith, British novelist Strength Within, Pride Throughout. – Acton-Boxboro girl’s basketball slogan Our greatest glory is not in never failing, but in rising each and every time we fail. – Confucius, Chinese philosopher Players win games, teams win championships. – Bill Taylor The minute you start talking about what you’re going to do if you lose, you’ve lost. – George Shultz, secretary of state Sports are meant to be fun. Don’t let someone make the sport unfun for you. – A.J. Kitt, skier We have not yet begun to fight. – Patrick Henry, revolutionary figure We are the stuff of which winners are made. – Kif Anderson A heavy hitter is nothing more than a little hitter who kept on hitting. – Pete Zafra A winner is a loser who was willing to fail and get up, fail and get up, fail and get up, fail and get up, and win. – Pete Zafra If size is all that matters, how come the whale is endangered and the ant continues to do just fine? – Kelly Marshall Winners don’t blame fate for their failures nor luck for their successes. They know a goal is only as worthy as the effort that’s required to achieve it. – Anonymous

If you can’t excel with talent, triumph with effort. – Dave Weinbaum We cannot fail to win unless we fail to try. – Tom Clancy, author Everyone likes a good loser, especially when he is on the opposing team. – Milton Segal 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, sportswriter Doing what is right, fair, and honorable is more important than winning or losing. – Chick Moorman Good, better, best. Never rest till good be better and better be best! – Plum High School swim team slogan There are few positions in life in which difficulties have not to be encountered. These difficulties are, however, our best instructors, as our mistakes often form our best experience. – Paxton Hood Gold medals aren’t made of gold. They’re made of sweat, determination, and a hard-to-find alloy called guts. – Dan Gable, wrestler The difference between the impossible and the possible lies in a person’s determination. – Tommy Lasorda, baseball coach I always thought there was at least one person in the stands who had never seen me play, and I didn’t want to let him down. – Joe Dimaggio, baseball player Do not let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do. – John Wooden, basketball coach Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much. – Helen Keller, author and activist Success doesn’t come to you, you go to it. – Marva Collins, educator If you train hard, you’ll not only be hard, you’ll be hard to beat. – Herschel Walker, football player

We must either find a way or make one. – Hannibal, Carthaginan military commander Set your goals high, and don’t stop till you get there. – Bo Jackson, football player It’s not the time you spend at practice that counts; it’s what you put into practice that makes the difference. – Eric Lindros, hockey player I’m a great believer in luck. I find the harder I work, the more I have of it. – Thomas Jefferson, 3rd President The way a team plays as a whole determines its success. You may have the greatest bunch of individual stars in the world, but if they don’t play together, the club won’t be worth a dime. – Babe Ruth, baseball player Other people may not have high expectations for me, but I have high expectations for myself. – Shannon Miller, gymnast You can’t possibly hit the ball if you’re thinking about all the possible ways you could miss. – Anonymous The only points you can be dead sure of are those you’ve already made. – Byron Nelson, golfer Most players prepare for disaster. A good player prepares for success. – Bob Toski, golfer Whoever said “It’s not whether you win or lose that counts” probably lost. – Martina Navratilova, tennis player Competitive sports are played mainly on a five-and-a-half-inch court – the space between your ears. – Bobby Jones, golfer The harder you work, the luckier you get. – Gary Player, golfer Sports are 90% inspiration and 10% perspiration. – Johnny Miller, golfer Fair play is primarily not blaming others for anything that is wrong with us. – Eric Hoffer, writer Don’t bunt. Aim out of the ballpark. – David Ogilvy, ad executive

The trouble with not having a goal is that you can spend your life running up and down the field and never scoring. – Bill Copeland, cricket umpire The strongest people are not always the people who win, but the people who don’t give up when they lose. – Ashley Hodgeson Champions take responsibility. When the ball is coming over the net, you can be sure I want the ball. – Billie Jean King, tennis player Sports do not build character. They reveal it. – Heywood Hale Broun, sportswriter How a man plays the game shows something of his character. How he loses shows it all. – Tribune (Camden County, Georgia) In our play, we reveal what kind of people we are. – Ovid, Roman poet One man practicing sportsmanship is far better than 50 preaching it. – Knute Rockne, football coach Perseverance is the hard work you do after you get tired of doing the hard work you already did. – Newt Gingrich, political leader Victory is in the quality of competition, not the final score. – Mike Marshall, baseball player 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 There are no secrets to success. It is the result of preparation, hard work, and learning from failure. – Colin Powell, military commander You’re never a loser until you quit trying. – Mike Ditka, football player and coach Sports serve society by providing vivid examples of excellence. – George F. Will, columnist You can’t build a reputation on what you’re going to do. – Henry Ford, industrialist

The finish line is sometimes merely the symbol of victory. All sorts of personal triumphs take place before that point, and the outcome may be decided long before the end. – Laurence Malone If your work is not fired with enthusiasm, you will be fired with enthusiasm. – John Mazur, football player Leaders are like eagles – they don’t flock. You find them one at a time. – Knute Rockne, football coach The only place you can win a football game is on the field. The only place you can lose is in your heart. – Darrell Royal, football coach If you wish to hide your character, do not play golf. – Percy Boomer, British golfer and author No matter how hard the loss, defeat might serve as well as victory to shape the soul and let the glory out. – Al Gore, vice president If a horse has four legs and I’m riding it, I can win. – Angel Cordero, Jr., jockey I became an optimist when I discovered I wasn’t going to win any more games by being anything else. – Earl Weaver, baseball manager The only disability in life is a bad attitude. – Scott Hamilton, figure skater The most important human endeavor is the striving for morality in our actions. – Albert Einstein, German physicist He that wrestles with us strengthens our nerves and sharpens our skill. Our antagonist is our helper. – Edmund Burke, Irish statesman and philosopher Every kid who plays soccer wants to be Pele. I have a great responsibility to show them not just how to be like a soccer player, but how to be like a man. – Pele, Brazilian soccer player Sport strips away personality, letting the white bone of character shine through. – Rita Mae Brown, author The lowest ebb is the turn of the tide. – Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, poet

To the victor belong the responsibilities. – Al Bernstein, boxing analyst To dope the racer is as criminal, as sacrilegious, as trying to imitate God. It is stealing from God the privilege of the spark. – Roland Barthes, French critic and philosopher Ability may get you to the top, but it takes character to keep you there. – John Wooden, basketball coach If it’s your limit, you can’t exceed it. If you exceed it, it’s not your limit. – Andrew Poon When it’s third and ten, you can take the milk drinkers and I’ll take the whiskey drinkers every time. – Max McGee, football player Victory goes to the player who makes the next-to-last mistake. – Savielly Grigorievitch Tartakower, chessmaster Success and rest don’t sleep together. – Russian proverb An athlete cannot run with money in his pockets. He must run with hope in his heart and dreams in his head. – Emil Zatopek, Czech runner Eighteen holes will teach you more about your foe than will 18 years of dealing with him across a desk. – Grantland Rice, sportswriter If at first you don’t succeed, you’re running about average. – M.H. Alderson Everything comes to those who hustle while they wait. – Thomas Edison, inventor Nothing splendid has ever been achieved except by those who dared believe something inside them was superior to circumstance. – Bruce Barton, author and ad executive I became a good pitcher when I stopped trying to make them miss the ball and started trying to make them hit it. – Sandy Koufax, baseball player Horse sense is the thing a horse has that keeps it from betting on people. – W.C. Fields, actor

Cards are war in disguise of a sport. – Charles Lamb, British essayist Ninety feet between home plate and first base may be the closest man has ever come to perfection. – Red Smith, sportswriter Be strong in body, clean in mind, lofty in ideals. – James Naismith, basketball inventor Some people skate to the puck. I skate to where the puck is going to be. – Wayne Gretzky, hockey player We had one coach for football and basketball. He had us run through a forest. The ones who ran into the trees were on the football team. – George Raveling, basketball coach What are we at the park for except to win? I’d trip my mother. I’d help her up, brush her off, tell her I’m sorry. But mother don’t make it to third. – Leo Durocher, baseball manager Good shot, bad luck, and hell are the five basic words in tennis, though these, of course, can be slightly amplified. – Virginia Graham, talk-show host The good Lord gave you a body that can stand most anything. It’s your mind you have to convince. – Vince Lombardi, football coach In life, as in a football game, the principle to follow is: Hit the line hard. – Theodore Roosevelt, 26th President Competition is a by-product of productive work, not its goal. A creative man is motivated by the desire to achieve, not by the desire to beat others. – Ayn Rand, author and philosopher We must all suffer from one of two pains: the pain of discipline or the pain of regret. The difference is, discipline weighs ounces while regret weighs tons. – Jim Rohn, author and motivational speaker If everything seems under control, you’re not going fast enough. – Mario Andretti, race-car driver In the arena of human life, the honors and rewards fall to those who show their good qualities in action. – Aristotle, Greek philosopher

There is no quality of human nature so nearly royal as the ability to yield gracefully. – Charles Conrad The harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly. It is dearness only that gives everything its value. – Thomas Paine, writer and revolutionary I count him braver who overcomes his desires than him who conquers his enemies, for the hardest victory is over self. – Aristotle, Greek philosopher It is necessary for us to learn from others’ mistakes. You will not live long enough to make them all yourself. –Hyman G. Rickover, naval commander There are many victories worse than a defeat. – George Eliot, British author Show me the man you honor, and I will know what kind of man you are. – Thomas Carlyle, Scottish essayist Success without honor is an unseasoned dish. It will satisfy your hunger, but it won’t taste good. – Joe Paterno, football coach If you can’t win, make the one ahead of you break the record. – Jan McKeithen Nothing can stop the man with the right mental attitude from achieving his goal; nothing can help the man with the wrong mental attitude. – W. W. Ziege Success isn’t based on your ability to change. It is based on your ability to change faster than your competition. – Mark Sanborn, author and motivational speaker A leader not only stays above the line between right and wrong, he stays well clear of the gray areas. – G. Alan Bernard, pilot and manufacturer Every man has three characters – that which he exhibits, that which he has, and that which he thinks he has. – Jean-Baptiste Alphonse Karr, French critic If you’re not working at your game to the utmost of your ability, someone out there with equal ability is. And one day you’ll play each other. – “Easy” Ed Macauley, basketball player

He who has done his best for his own time has lived for all times. – Johann von Schiller, German poet and playwright Feedback is the breakfast of champions. – Ken Blanchard and Spencer Johnson, authors Sense shines with a double luster when it is set in humility. An able and yet humble man is a jewel worth a kingdom. – William Penn, British colonizer The man who complains about the way the ball bounces is likely the one who dropped it. – Lou Holtz, football coach There is no victory at bargain basement prices. – Dwight D. Eisenhower, 34th president Concentration is the ability to think about absolutely nothing when it is absolutely necessary. – Ray Knight, baseball player Those who know how to win are much more numerous than those who know how to make proper use of their victories. – Polybius, Greek historian The only problem with success is it doesn’t teach you how to deal with failure. – Tommy Lasorda, baseball manager Never let defeat have the last word. – Tibetan proverb If anything goes bad, I did it. If anything goes semi-good, we did it. If anything goes really good, you did it. That’s all it takes to get people to win football games for you. – Paul “Bear” Bryant, football coach Individual commitment to a group effort – that is what makes a team work, a company work, a society work, a civilization work. – Vince Lombardi, football coach Rail-splitting produced an immortal president in Lincoln, but golf hasn’t produced even a good Congressman. – Will Rogers, humorist Never mind what others do; do better than yourself. Beat your own record from day to day and you are a success. – William J.H. Boetcker, religious leader Obstacles are those frightful things you see when you take your eyes off your goal. – Henry Ford, industrialist

You always pass failure on the way to success. – Mickey Rooney, actor Golf has humbled, humiliated, and just about licked all the great athletes who tried it. – Early “Red” Blaik, football coach A hero is one who knows how to hang on one minute longer. – Norwegian proverb One that desires to excel should endeavor in those things that are in themselves most excellent. – Epictetus, Greek philosopher One machine can do the work of 50 ordinary men. No machine can do the work of one extraordinary man. – Elbert Hubbard, writer You can discover more about a person in an hour of play than a year of conversation. – Plato, Greek philosopher Behind all the years of practice and all the hours of glory waits that inexorable terror of living without the game. – Bill Bradley, basketball player If you’re losing a tug of war with a tiger, give it the rope. You can always buy a new one. – Max Gunther, author The two most important things in life are good friends and a good bullpen. – Bob Lemon, baseball player When I did this three years ago, it was like death. When I did it last year, it was like near death. This year, it was just really hard. – John Howie, wheelchair athlete However beautiful the strategy, you should occasionally look at the results. – Winston Churchill, British prime minister Experience is a hard teacher because she gives the test first, the lesson afterward. – Vernon Law, baseball player No amount of ability is of the slightest avail without honor. – Andrew Carnegie, businessman, philanthropist We must all suffer one of two things: the pain of discipline or the pain of disappointment. – Jim Rohn, motivational speaker My responsibility is to get my 25 guys playing for the name on the front of their uniform and not the one on the back. – Tommy Lasorda, baseball manager

Life will always throw you curves. Just keep fouling them off. The right pitch will come. When it does, be prepared to run the bases. – Rick Maksian It is always your next move. – Napoleon Hill, author Let your performance do the thinking. – H. Jackson Brown, Jr., author Man is so made that when anything fires his soul, impossibilities vanish. – Jean de La Fontaine, French poet Action springs not from thought, but from a readiness for responsibility. – Dietrich Bonhoeffer, German theologian At one point in your life, you either have the thing you want or the reasons why you don’t. –Andy Roddick, tennis player Be an all-out, not a hold-out. – Norman Vincent Peale, preacher and author My mother taught me to believe I could achieve any accomplishment. The first was to walk without braces. – Wilma Rudoph, track athlete The secret of winning football games is working as a team. I play not my 11 best, but my best 11. – Knute Rockne, football coach Most people achieved their greatest success one step beyond what looked like their greatest failure. – Brian Tracy, self-help author We don’t stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing. – George Bernard Shaw, Irish writer Whether you think you can or think you can’t, you’re right. – Henry Ford, industrialist Perseverance is not a long race; it is many short races one after another. – Walter Elliott, priest Others can stop you temporarily. You are the only one who can do it permanently. – Zig Ziglar, salesman and speaker

You win some, you lose some, you wreck some. – Dale Earnhardt, race-car driver Sports events do not really exist at all unless there is a certain order and fairness – justice in each event. – Michael Novak, philosopher and diplomat Give me 25 guys on the last year of their contracts and I’ll win a pennant every year. – Sparky Anderson, baseball manager Three failures denote uncommon strength. A weakling has not enough grit to fail thrice. – Minna Thomas Antrim, author If character is what you do when no one is watching, then sportsmanship is that conduct with everybody watching. – Bob Ley, sportscaster If we win or lose this weekend, it will not make a difference in our lives. But why we play and how we play will make a difference in our lives forever. – Beth Anders, field hockey player and coach Great things are done when men and mountains meet. – William Blake, British poet and painter A pat on the back is only a few vertebrae removed from a kick in the pants, but is miles ahead in results. – Ella Wheeler Wilcox, author and poet The successful warrior is the average man – with laser-like focus. – Bruce Lee, Chinese martial artist and actor I do not try to dance better than anyone else. I only try to dance better than myself. – Mikhail Baryshnikov, Russian dancer and choreographer Nothing focuses the mind better than the constant sight of a competitor who wants to wipe you off the map. – Wayne Calloway, businessman Class is when they run you out of town and it looks like you’re leading a parade. – Bill Battle, football coach Always keep your composure. You can’t score from the penalty box. – Bobby Hull, hockey player No one has ever drowned in sweat. – Lou Holtz, football coach

Nobody who ever gave his best regretted it. – George Halas, football coach and owner Masculinity is not something given to you, but something you gain. And you gain it by winning small battles with honor. – Norman Mailer, author Winning is about heart, not just legs. It’s got to be in the right place. – Lance Armstrong, cyclist The integrity and self-esteem gained from winning the battle against extremity are the richest treasures in my life – Diana Nyad, swimmer The mastery of the true self, and the refusal to permit others to dominate us, is the ultimate in living and self-expression in athletics. – Percy Cerutty, Australian athletic coach A player who conjugates a verb in the first-person singular cannot be part of the squad. He has to conjugate the verb in the first-person plural. We. – Vanderlei Luxemburgo da Silva, Brazilian soccer coach Victory has a thousand fathers, but defeat is an orphan. – John F. Kennedy, 35th President When building a team, I always search first for people who love to win. If I can’t find any of those, I look for people who hate to lose. – H. Ross Perot, businessman It’s not my job to motivate players. They bring extraordinary motivation to our program. It’s my job not to de-motivate them. –Lou Holtz, football coach You can stand tall without standing on someone. You can be a victor without having victims. – Harriet Woods, politician and activist Tactics, fitness, stroke ability, adaptability, experience, and sportsmanship are all necessary for winning. – Fred Perry, British tennis player No pain, no palm; no thorns, no throne; no gall, no glory; no cross, no crown. – William Penn, British colonizer When you want to win a game, you have to teach. When you lose a game, you have to learn. – Tom Landry, football coach