A helluva athlete, the best ever to play his position in the history of the game. — Al Davis
Durability is part of what makes a great athlete. — Bill Russell
I am now a legend. I am also the greatest athlete to live. — Usain Bolt
One of the redeeming things about being an athlete is redefining what is humanly possible. — Lance Armstrong
Meeting sports athletes that are the best in the world is a thrill to this day. — Phil Knight
A good athlete always mentally replays a competition over and over, even in victory, to see what might be done to improve the performance the next time. — Frank Shorter
I'm an athlete, I'm funny, I'm creative, I can tell a story, I'm likable. — Logan Paul
You see a hockey player, you'd never know he's a professional athlete. But you put the skates on him, and he becomes a beast. — Junior Seau
You can tell a great athlete by, like, not how many times he wins, unlike when he loses. Because that's what is gonna make a swimmer. — Ryan Lochte
A competitive athlete is painful to look at; trying hard to become an animal rather than a man, he will never be as fast as a cheetah or as strong as an ox. — Nassim Nicholas Taleb
Here's a guy who can use his arms and legs at the same time. — John Madden
The mark of great sportsmen is not how good they are at their best, but how good they are their worst. — Martina Navratilova
I want to be remembered as a great athlete. As a boxing champion. — Idi Amin
Being pretty good at everything is more important than excelling in one pursuit. Be an athlete of life. — Peter Attia
I am simply the very best sports entertainer — Shawn Michaels
Short Great Athlete Quotes
I'm a huge wrestling fan. Wrestlers have so many great qualities that athletes need to have. — Bob Stoops
Meadowlark was the most sensational, awesome, incredible basketball player I've ever seen. — Wilt Chamberlain
Everyone is an athlete. The only difference is that some of us are in training, and some are not. — George A. Sheehan
I swim when I am injured. What the best guys do is so hard. Michael Phelps is the best. — Usain Bolt
I'm a huge sports fan. — Marc Anthony
Mediocre athletes that tried like hell to get good are the best coaches. — Mark Rippetoe
A runner must run with dreams in his heart. — Emil Zatopek
I'm not like a full athlete. But I'm definitely a boxer. — Logan Paul
I still can't believe I'm an Olympic athlete. — Shawn Johnson
Great Athlete Image Quotes
The price of success is hard work, dedication to the job at hand — Vince Lombardi
Silence is a source of great strength.
Good Athlete Quotes
Good athletes do not know what tiredness is. They do not know what discouragement is. Good athletes only know what victory is. — Fidel Castro
The prayer offered to God in the morning during your quiet time is the key that unlocks the door of the day. Any athlete knows that it is the start that ensures a good finish. — Adrian Rogers
You may have read that humans are the best endurance athletes. It's not true. We're only good in the heat, thanks to how we cool ourselves. Sled dogs are—by far—the greatest endurance athletes in the mammal kingdom. And their stats are insane. — Michael Easter
Make today so awesome, yesterday gets jealous.
Nothing good comes in life or athletics unless a lot of hard work has preceded the effort. Only temporary success is achieved by taking short cuts. — Roger Staubach
The country is full of good coaches. What it takes to win is a bunch of interested players. — Don Coryell
Several of my critics have said, 'Bowerman just tacks up a piece of paper in the locker room and turns his runners loose.' They're partially right. I do give the athletes a relatively free rein and for good reason. One of my principles is? 'Don't overcoach.' — Bill Bowerman
Great minds discuss ideas.Average minds discuss events.Small minds discuss people.
I would advise all youths aspiring to athletic fame or a professional career to practice clean living, fair play and good sportsmanship. — Major Taylor
Before I go out on the field every day, I tell myself, 'You are having fun, and you want to set a good example to those who are watching. — Cory Snyder
One of the great lessons I've learned in athletics is that you've got to discipline your life. No matter how good you may be, you've got to be willing to cut out of your life those things that keep you from going to the top. — Bob Richards
I love watching a good horse do what he's bred to do - I guess that's what I like the most about it. And I love to see good athletes do what they're bred to do. — Wilford Brimley
Inspiring Athlete Quotes
Somewhere behind the athlete you've become and the hours of practice and the coaches who have pushed you is a little girl who fell in love with the game and never looked back... play for her. — Mia Hamm
You have to believe in yourself when no one else does. — Serena Williams
Impossible is just a big word thrown around by small men who find it easier to live in the world they've been given than to explore the power they have to change it. — Muhammad Ali
Not all of us can do great things. But we can do small things with great love.
The strength of the team is each individual member. The strength of each member is the team. — Phil Jackson
Champions aren't made in the gyms. Champions are made from something they have deep inside them-a desire, a dream, a vision. — Muhammad Ali
During my 18 years I came to bat almost 10,000 times. I struck out about 1,700 times and walked maybe 1,800 times. You figure a ballplayer will average about 500 at-bats a season. That means I played 7 years without ever hitting the ball. — Mickey Mantle
Acknowledge all of your small victories. They will eventually add up to something great.
There are only two options regarding commitment; you’re either in or you’re out. — Pat Riley
To bring inspiration and innovation to every athlete* in the world. — Bill Bowerman
It's not the will to win that matters-everyone has that. It's the will to prepare to win that matters. — Bear Bryant
The team with the best athletes doesn't usually win. It's the team with the athletes who play best together. — Lisa Fernandez
Athlete Quotes
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
A clean, hard-fought wrestling match is the most honest of athletic contests. There is no technological interventions, no teammates to blame, no panel of judges to bias the score. In wrestling, you compete or you quit. No alibis. I like that — Dan Gable
God made me fast. And when I run, I feel His pleasure. — Eric Liddell
You need a little bit of insanity to do great things.
When I'd get tired and want to stop, I'd wonder what my next opponent was doing. I'd wonder if he was still working out. I'd tried to visualize him. When I could see him working, I'd start pushing myself. When I could see him in the shower, I'd push myself harder. — Dan Gable
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
He who has overcome his fears will truly be free. — Aristotle
Failure is a great teacher, and, if you are open to it, every mistake has a lesson to offer.
I have often been asked whether I am a women or an athlete. The question is absurd. Men are not asked that. I am an athlete. I am a women. — Billie Jean King
Think of all the girls who could become top athletes but quit sports because they're afraid of having too many defined muscles and being made fun of or called unattractive. — Serena Williams
Friendships born on the field of athletic strife are the real gold of competition. Awards become corroded, friends gather no dust. — Jesse Owens
To be candid with you, free agency hurts all sports. It's great for athletes making an enormous amount of money. But to say it helps the sports, I don't believe that. — Jerry West
Olympic Athlete Quotes
After I came home from the 1936 Olympics with my four medals, it became increasingly apparent that everyone was going to slap me on the back, want to shake my hand or have me up to their suite. But no one was going to offer me a job. — Jesse Owens
I wanted no part of politics. And I wasn't in Berlin to compete against any one athlete. The purpose of the Olympics, anyway, was to do your best. As I'd learned long ago from Charles Riley, the only victory that counts is the one over yourself. — Jesse Owens
The potential for greatness lives within us all. — Wilma Rudolph
To a great mind, nothing is little.
The U.S. Olympic spirit award is an award that is given to an athlete who embodies the Olympic spirit in more ways than just on the playing field, in showing incredible perseverance, in overcoming obstacles, and what we wanted to do is have everybody can vote on-line. — Brian Boitano
Each of us has a fire in our hearts for something. It's our goal in life to find it and keep it. — Mary Lou Retton
Nothing can substitute for just plain hard work — Andre Agassi
Average people have great ideas. Legends have great execution.
It's all about the journey, not the outcome. — Carl Lewis
If you dream and you allow yourself to dream you can do anything. — Clara Hughes
Female success stories from sporting events like the Olympic Games have played a role in shifting the Indian perception to see the female athlete as a hero and a role model for young Indian girls. — Richard Attias
I didn't train to make the Olympic team until 1968. I simply trained for the moment. I never even imagined I would be an Olympic athlete. It always seemed to evolve. — Dick Fosbury
Athlete Motivational Quotes
Talent is never enough. With few exceptions the best players are the hardest workers. — Magic Johnson
When you fall, get right back up. Just keep going, keep pushing it. — Lindsey Vonn
Most people give up just when they're about to achieve success. — Ross Perot
Don't fear the failure... in great attempts it is glorious even to fail.
You can motivate by fear, and you can motivate by reward. But both those methods are only temporary. The only lasting thing is self motivation. — Homer Rice
Natural talent only determines the limits of your athletic potential. It's dedication and a willingness to discipline your life that makes you great. — Billie Jean King
Wisdom is always an overmatch for strength. — Phil Jackson
What to do with a mistake: recognize it, admit it, learn from it, forget it. — Dean Smith
Sports can do so much. They've given me a framework: meeting new people, confidence, self-esteem, discipline, motivation. All these things I learned, whether I knew I was learning them or not, through sports. — Mia Hamm
You were born to be a player. You were meant to be here. This moment is yours. — Herb Brooks
I want to be remembered as the guy who gave his all whenever he was on the field. — Walter Payton
Pro Athlete Quotes
People complain that pro athletes make a lot of money; but what they don't understand is that we need a lot of money because we spend a lot of money. — Patrick Ewing
Stop saying athletes do it for the love of the game. They do it for the love of their 32-room mansion with the live shark tank in the living room. If pro sports paid minimum wage, Shaquille O'Neal would be a bouncer at Scores, and Anna Kournikova would be a mail-order bride from Minsk. — Bill Maher
He hasn't shown me anything but how he carries himself as a professional man, husband, father and athlete. Tom Brady is a pro's pro. I love the man and everything he's accomplished. — Randy Moss
No one has ever made himself great by showing how small someone else is.
"I've always been a proponent of "if you're going to do something, do it right." I applied that across all aspects of my shooting - planning, setting up shoots, getting up early, working with athletes and models, working with clients etc. Just being a pro about it. — Jimmy Chin
Do I midnight snack? Not a lot, but sometimes. And it's usually Doritos Cooler Ranch. I know that's terrible, especially for a pro athlete, but they're just so good. — Clint Mathis
The pro athlete is a sad tale. He signs a big contract and thinks he's set for life. I didn't think I was set for life, and I don't now. As athletes, we are important, celebrities, in demand and rich. Then we are out of the game and we are not important, not celebrities, not in demand and not rich. — Fran Tarkenton
Hip-hop and being a pro athlete go hand in hand. When they come together, it's a win, not just for your business brand but also for culture. — Kendrick Lamar
In college I never realized the opportunities available to a pro athlete. I've been given the chance to meet all kinds of people, to travel and expand my financial capabilities, to get ideas and learn about life, to create a world apart from basketball. — Michael Jordan
A sportswriter's life means never sitting with your wife or family at the games. Still working after everyone has gone to the party... Digging beneath a coach's lies, not to forget those of athletic directors and general managers and owners of pro teams. Keeping a confidence. Risking it. — Dan Jenkins
The principle is competing against yourself. — Steve Young
Athletic Ability Quotes
I played football for a team called the East Dragons on the east side of town. We only had six regular season games. And six games I played tail back and I had 18 touchdowns in six games. That's when I knew I had some athletic ability. — LeBron James
The ability to grow is directly related to the amount of insecurity you can take in your life. — Bruce Jenner
My education is going to take me 10 times further than my athletic ability. — Cardale Jones
Money has changed today's black athletes. Those who have the ability as African men to bring a change in a community that so desperately needs it are concentrating only on their own careers, some charities and how much money they can make. — Jim Brown
Teamwork is the ability to work together toward a common vision. — Andrew Carnegie
All of us get knocked down, but it's resiliency that really 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
It is simply not consistent with either my character or my confidence in my God-given athletic ability to cheat in any way. — Justin Gatlin
My father's encouragement is what has brought me this far, because when I grew up I wanted to be like him, and I knew I had that ability to become an athlete. Being an Olympian is one of the greatest things, and being an Olympic gold medallist is one of the most prestigious titles in the world. — David Rudisha
The street to obscurity is paved with athletes who perform great feats before friendly crowds. Greatness in major league sports is the ability to win in a stadium filled with people who are pulling for you to lose. — George Allen
This ability to conquer oneself is no doubt the most precious of all things sports bestows. — Olga Korbut
Encouraging Athletic Quotes
Never let your head hang down. Never give up and sit down and grieve. Find another way. — Satchel Paige
Encourage kids to enjoy running and play in athletics. Don't force them to run too much competition. — Arthur Lydiard
But at the same time, my parents always encouraged my brother and me to be happy with what we were doing. My parents were athletes in high school; my mom and my dad were the stars of the basketball team, but they never pushed my brother and me to be anything we didn't want to be. — Jonathan Groff
I think when young kids can see Jason Collins, myself and Michael Sam, and Abby Wambach and Megan Rapinoe and different athletes come out, it will definitely change and encourage younger gay men and women to play the sport. — Robbie Rogers
I think when you are the parents of a gifted athlete, the best thing in the world you can do is to encourage them, in my opinion. My dad didn't push me and I didn't push my children in athletics. — Bob Lilly
Of course, rivals do affect athletes mentally, but if you are competing with top-notch athletes, you will push each other, you will encourage each other. — Liu Xiang
Athletes who take to the classroom naturally or are encouraged to focus on grades should be able to do well in the classroom. I believe the reason you go to college is to get your degree. It's not a minor league or an audition for the pros. — Rebecca Lobo
I would love to encourage all my teammates to eat the best way they possibly can. High school athletes. Now, that's not the way our food system in America is set up. It's very different. They have a food pyramid, and I disagree with that. I disagree with a lot of things that people tell you to do. — Tom Brady
I try to encourage all my teammates, and I sure hope that some day all athletes - my kids, high school kids - get the same level of care I get. Because you can play for a long period of time without having knee replacements, without having all the major head trauma that people are dealing with. — Tom Brady
I want to stay involved in athletics; I want to encourage kids to take part and try to grow the sport. — Usain Bolt
Sports 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
I always set my ambitions very high. You want to be the greatest athlete, but I realized that life is not about that. I was a little bit blind. — Joanna Jedrzejczyk
The sport of wrestling is a tremendous builder of the values and characteristics which are needed to succeed in any walk of life. Much of what I have managed to achieve in life I owe directly to the years I spent in the wrestling room, as an athlete and a coach. Wrestling is a great educational tool. — Dennis Hastert
My thoughts before a big race are usually pretty simple. I tell myself: Get out of the blocks, run your race, stay relaxed. If you run your race, you'll win... channel your energy. Focus. — Carl Lewis
I don't fold under pressure, great athletes perform better under pressure, so put pressure on me. — Floyd Mayweather, Jr.
When you're riding, only the race in which you're riding is important. — Bill Shoemaker
These days the temptation to use steroids in sports has become too great for many young athletes. — Jim Sensenbrenner
The more I practice, the luckier I get. — Jerry Barber
Most people do not know themselves. The real you is not that person you are when times are great, the real you shows when everything goes wrong. Can you hold on, can you keep pushing or do you quit? — Ian Warner
My recruiting key - I looked for PEOPLE first, athletes second. I wanted people with a sound value system as you cannot buy values. You're only as good as your values. I learned early on that you do not put greatness into people...but somehow try to pull it out. — Herb Brooks
A trophy carries dust. Memories last forever. — Mary Lou Retton
We thought I was going to be a great athlete, and we were wrong, and I thought I was going to be a great entertainer, and that wasn't it either. I'm going to be an American Citizen. First class. — Dick Gregory
Personally, I think SmackDown! has to be a little spicier than it is, a little more electrifying than it is. It's got great athletes and they've got great action, they've done some tremendous stuff, but I want it to knock you off the couch when it opens up. And I think we as a group have the ability to do that. — Dusty Rhodes
It's not whether you win or lose - but whether I win or lose. — Sandy Lyle
Great people and great athletes realize early in their lives their destiny, and accept it. Even if they do not consciously realize the how, the where, the what. — Percy Cerutty
You play to win the game. — Herman Edwards
Sports is a metaphor for overcoming obstacles and achieving against great odds. Athletes, in times of difficulty, can be important role models. — Bill Bradley
Had I been a great athlete, I'm not sure I would have even gone into coaching. I may have turned out feeling that my life ended when my athletic career ended, as happens so many times with various athletes. — Lou Holtz
One man cannot make a team. — Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
Olympics are probably the most important thing for Russians than any other athletes in the whole world. Since I was a little kid and since everybody was a little kid, their dream was playing in Olympic Games, especially if we have a chance to represent our country in Sochi, it's unbelievable and it's going to be a great thing. — Alexander Ovechkin
When things are tough, French athletes tend to pull out great performances. — Didier Deschamps
Difficulty, my brethren, is the nurse of greatness - a harsh nurse, who roughly rocks her foster - children into strength and athletic proportion. — William C. Bryant
I wouldn't say I'm a phenomenon, just a great athlete. — Usain Bolt
I decided to become a teacher because I thought it would be a great career where I could wear different hats. You're an academic one moment, and you're a psychologist the next moment, an athlete the next moment... when you are out on the playground or coaching...so it enables you to play different roles. — Erik Weihenmayer
Ask any great athlete or the concert pianist or the successful actor if they have arrived at the place where they need no further practice. They will tell you that the higher you climb in proficiency and public acceptance, the greater the need for practice. — Sayings
I was worried that all the corners of the earth had been explored, all the great battles fought. The famous people on TV were athletes and actresses and singers. What did they stand for? I wondered: Had the time for heroes passed? — Eric Greitens
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