Even More Quotes

Success/Sports-Related Quotations From the website at
http://smiley963.tripod.com/sports.html 

• 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
• "A pint of sweat will save a gallon of blood." George Patton
• "I've never known anybody to achieve anything without overcoming adversity." Lou Holtz
• "The glory of sport is born at the moment when the game and the person become one, when all the complexity of one's life finds a moment to emerge in the game." Timothy Shriver, Ph.D.
• "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
• "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
• "I love the game. It's fun to play, period. I love running around and getting sweaty. I love trying to lead my team. I love facing the challenge of another team that's better." Jamila Wideman
• "I think 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 that it was the time and the effort you invested that led to your high achievement."  Nicole Haislett
• "Any guy who can maintain a positive attitude without much playing time certainly earns my respect."  Earvin "Magic" Johnson
• "In our lives we will encounter many challenges, and tomorrow we face one together. How we accept the challenge and attack the challenge head on is only about us--no one can touch that. 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
• "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." Unknown
• "Sports remain a great metaphor for life's more difficult lessons. It was through athletics that many of us first came to understand that fear can be tamed; that on a team the whole is more than the sum of its parts; and that the ability to be heroic lies, to a surprising degree, within."  Susan Casey
• "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 that 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 that 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 of the game to another athlete who has seen your dedication, your work, your challenges, your triumphs... and then that athlete will, because of you, love the game." Unknown
• "A gold medal is a wonderful thing, but if you're not enough without it, you'll never be enough with it." Irv Blitzer (John Candy), Cool Runnings
• "An athlete is a normal person with the gift of an undying passion to be the best and achieve greatness." Amanda Ring
• "It doesn't take talent to hustle." H. Jackson Brown
• "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 playing, nothing else matters at the time. 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
• "When you step on that field knowing that everything you worked for comes down to one game, you get that realization: this is what it's all about, and this is why the game was made." - Unknown
• "If what you did yesterday still looks big to you today, then you must not have done anything today." - Unknown
• "Together we stand, together we fall, together we're winners, and winners take all."
  Unknown
• "I'm not a yeller. My theory is that no one goes out there trying to screw up." -m Amy Ruley, head woman's basketball coach, North Dakota State (5-time NCAA D2 champions)
• "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
• "Fishing is worth any amount of effort and any amount of expense to people who love it, because in the end, you get such a large number of dreams per fish." - Fan Frazier
• "Individual glory is insignificant when compared to achieving victory as a team."
  - Dot Richardson
• "It may sound strange, but many champions are made champions by setbacks."
  - Bob Richards
• "If there is a mutual respect between players and coaches, that keeps the team honest and makes for a very healthy environment which in turn promotes other important qualities such as work ethic, integrity and a positive atmosphere for competing and winning." - Jillian Ellis
• "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
• "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
• "To achieve in sports you first have to have a dream, and then you must act on that dream. The best athletes are those who truly enjoy what they are doing and display a tremendous amount of work ethic. They continue to persevere in spite of setbacks and never lose sight of their ultimate goal." - Dianne Holum
• "There are things about some professional athletes that I cannot stand--the pretense, the egos, the pomposity, the greed." - Ted Simmons
• "Behind all the years of practice and all the hours of glory waits that inexorable terror of living without the game." - Bill Bradley
• "I won't accept anything less than the best a player's capable of doing, and he has the right to expect the best that I can do for him and the team." - Lou Holtz
• "You spend a good deal of your life gripping a baseball, and it turns out it was the other way around all the time." - Jim Bouton
• "I'm a high school player. I'm a team player. I play with my friends and with some of my enemies, but I respect everyone when it comes to my sport. I know I'm not going to get a multi-million dollar contract to play professionally. I know I may not even get my name in the paper. I play for love of the game. For the pride and honor, for the blood, sweat and tears it takes to make the team, to earn the spot, to win the game. I play because I can, I play because I know that my life would be empty without the sport I play. I would have a lack of everything my sport gives me... integrity, courage, talent, fearlessness, pride, strength, stamina, will, and the heart of a champion. If I didn't play, I would lose a part of me. I'm an athlete. I'm a girl. I'm a champion, not because my team always wins, but because when we don't, we learn from our mistakes. We try to fix them, and most of all because we have fun. I have built lifelong friendships and memories because of my being an athlete. I leave everything on the field or court and continue to push myself. I am never happy with second place, but I have learned to accept it. I have learned to get over and through my anger and be the athlete and player I have always dreamed of being. I don't play for my parents, for my family, for my friends; I don't play for my coach or my teachers or my school. I play for myself but when I'm playing I represent them. It isn't about winning or losing, but I hate to lose. I won't settle for a tie, and I am not satisfied with 100%. To play, you have to sacrifice everything, your body, your time, your sweat, blood, and tears, everything... for your team. I am a player, and athlete and a champion, not because I know what it is like to win, but because I know what it is like to lose. I know what it is like to feel the anger and pain that comes along with "second best." I have been that girl with tears in her eyes, walking out to receive the second place trophy and clapping as the other team, my opponents, receive the first place one. I know what it is like to lose, to win, to want to quit, to want to cry, to not want to get up. I know what it is like to hear the cheers and yells for you. I know what it is like to feel the pressure of everyone on your shoulders, and I know what it is like to choke under that pressure. I know what it means to be an athlete, a true player, and that is why I play. I AM AN ATHLETE, A CHAMPION, A TRUE PLAYER."  - "An Athlete's Pride"
• "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. They have the ability to be superstars, but if they fit into a good team, they make sacrifices, they do things necessary to help the team win. What the numbers are in salaries or statistics don't matter; how they play together does."  - Red Holzman
• "When you talk about an injury and the kind of depression you go through, it's not just because you're out of shape and you can't go out and play. You're missing a part of you. That's what's painful. That's what hurts." - Jamila Wideman
• "No amount of ability is of the slightest avail without honor." - Andrew Carnegie
• "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
• "Play like you're in first, but train like you're in second." Unknown
• "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 the hard work because it's such a tough atmosphere....to win week in and week out. You need togetherness because you don't always win, and you gotta hang tough together." Tony Dungy
• "Trust. Without it, there is no team. Of the teams I've coached that have been successful, all have had an unbelievable amount of trust in each other." John Cook
• "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 high school coach
• "To win the game, you don't have to be the most athletic or talented. To win, you must have passion for the game, determination and complete faith in yourself and your team." Unknown
• "To be a successful coach you should be and look prepared. You must be a man of integrity. Never break your word. Don't have two sets of standards. Remember you don't handle players--you handle pets. You deal with players. Stand up for your players. Show them you care--on and off the court. Very important--it's not 'how' or 'what' you say but what they absorb." Red Auerbach
• "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
• "In sport, part of the game is accepting the umpire's call, no matter how hard that might be. Sometimes the calls go your way, and sometimes they don't." Dr. Dot Richardson
• "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
• "The trophies mean nothing. The glory will fade. In the end all that is important is your happiness." Unknown
• "Winning is a game within itself. That act of just showing up shows that 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 sink that 3-point shot and 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
• "Ah, the glories of women's sports: the camaraderie. The quiet dignity. The proud refusal to buy into traditional stereotypes of beauty." Sports Illustrated For Women
• "In every sport there comes a moment when a spell of bitter weeping seems like a fair recess from whatever tough work is going on. It's only the steeliest among us who can fight the urge to turn negative--who instead will make contact and redouble her efforts. Call it grace under pressure. Call it grit....call it excellence." Sports Illustrated For Women editor, Susan Casey
• "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
• "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
• "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
• "Great teams work harder after a tough loss."  Ron Brown
• "You run like a girl. You jump like a girl. You serve 165 km/h in their faces. Like a girl." Australian Female Volleyball
• "For some people it's the end of the rainbow, but for us it is 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, with each person understanding and assisting the roles of his teammates. If the team doesn't do this, whatever the reason, it goes down in defeat. You win or lose as a team, as a family."   Jack Kemp
• "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
• "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.
• "Nobody's more important than the team."  Rejean Houle
• "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
• "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
• "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
• "Champions separate the important from the unimportant. They know that good press, playing time or individual honors aren't as important as knowing that 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
• "There's nothing greater in the world than when somebody on the team does something good, and everybody gathers around to pat him on the back."  Billy Martin
  "The point of the game is not how well the individual does but whether the team wins. That is the beautiful heart of the game, the blending of personalities, the mutual sacrifices for group success."  Bill Bradley
• "The problem with referees is that they just don't care which side wins." Tom Canterbury
• "My responsibility is to get my twenty-five guys playing for the name on the front of their uniform and not the one on the back." Tommy Lasorda
• "Never underestimate the heart of a champion."  Rudy Tomjanovich
• "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. Everyone has bad stretches and real successes. Either way, you have to be careful not to lose your confidence or get too confident." Nancy Kerrigan
• "Teammates are there for each other even after the noise of the crowd is gone."  Jim Brown
• "High school sports: where lessons of life are still being learned, and where athletes still compete for the love of the game and their teammates." Michael Powers
• "Strive to be the best you can be...focus, watch, listen, and learn. Try never to be satisfied with 'good enough'...and above all, love what you do--share that passion with others, and always stay humble. Nobody likes a 'big head' no matter how good you are." Robby Naish
• "Coaches have to watch for what they don't want to see and listen to what they don't want to hear."  John Madden
• "Winning is only half of it. Having fun winning is the other half."  Bum Phillips
• "People always think kids' sports are about fun. The kids have fun playing, but that's not why they play. The real reason they play is to find out about who they are...It's a vehicle for self-discovery."  Paul Clements
• "No matter how much I've won, or how much outside praise has come my way, or where it goes from here, there's one clear fact that has never, ever been lost on me. I didn't do this alone."  Power Bar
• "Wear your battle scars as medals of honor."  Unknown
• "Victory goes to the player who makes the next to last mistake."  Unknown
• "I do good when people doubt me. When someone says I can't do something, I want to do more. I won't back down from anybody."  Kenyon Martin
• "It is better to be defeated on principle than to win on lies."  Arthur Calwell
• "What I've learned in my years as a competitive wheelchair athlete is this--what separates a winner from the rest of the pack is not raw talent or physical ability; instead, 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
• "The Most Important Thing I Know About the Spirit of Sport... It instills in us the ability to recognize and appreciate the talents of others as well as the gifts we have been given and the ability to work with others as a team. It also allows us to face the challenge of competition, learn from our successes and failures, altogether making us true champions in life."  Dr. Dot Richardson
• "The best thing about sports is the sense of community and shared emotion it can create."  Bob Costas
• "Individual commitment to a group effort--that is what makes a team work."  Vince Lombardi
• "The glory of sport comes from dedication, determination and desire. Achieving success and personal glory in athletics 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, whether on the track or in the office, you know that there was nothing more you could have done to reach your ultimate goal."  Jackie Joyner-Kersee
• "The difference is almost all mental. The top players just hate to lose. I think that's the difference. A champion hates to lose even more than she loves to win."  Chris Evert
• "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
• "It's blood, sweat, sometimes tears."  Bob Hayes
• "Every time you compete, try harder to improve on your last performance. Give nothing short of your very best effort."  Elgin Baylor
• "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
• "It's important to respect both your teammates and your opponents. Friendships can make a victory last forever." Jamie Koven
• "The spirit of sports gives each of us who participate an opportunity to be creative. Sports knows no sex, age, race or religion. Sports gives us all the ability to test ourselves mentally, physically and emotionally in a way no other aspect of life can. For many of us who struggle with 'fitting in' or our identity--sports gives us our first face of confidence. That first bit of confidence can be a gateway to many other great things!"  Dan O'Brien
• "In life, we choose whether or not we want to be a winner or a loser. To be a winner, we must devote time and hard work. To be a loser you do nothing, and that's exactly what you 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."  Unknown
• "Playing your favorite sport is like being able to get candy when you're at the store with your mom. Being on the field and having all your problems drift away for the two hours you play is like the most relaxing thing I can think of."  Danielle Ballentine
• "If it wasn't for failure, we wouldn't have succeeded."  Lucas Hellmer
• "It's really 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 that everyone dreams of being. No wonder we have such a hard time understanding who we are."  Billie Jean King
• "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
• "Sport is quite a simple thing. It is play, and in play, people of all ages find the chance to engage their most profound emotions--love, fear, excitement, disappointment, anger and joy."  Timothy Shriver, Ph.D.
• "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
• "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
• "In life, as in sports, you will try, and you will sometimes fail. There will be no apparent reward except to know that you did your best." Charles Lawrie
• "Sport, indeed, is a bare canvas to which we present ourselves...fully, completely, and exquisitely." Dr. Carole Oglesby
• "An athlete experiences the emotions of pain and elation through triumph and defeat, through teamwork and individuality, as nothing more than a human being...that is the true glory of sport." Aimee Mullins
• "Sports can unite a group of people from different backgrounds, all working together to achieve a common goal. And even if they fall short, sharing that journey is an experience they'll never forget. It can teach some of the most fundamental and important human values: dedication, perseverance, hard work, and teamwork. It also teaches us how to handle our success and cope with our failure. So, perhaps the greatest glory of sport is that is teaches us so much about life itself."  Ahmad Rashad
• "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
• "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 that you have peace of mind and can enjoy yourself, get more sleep, and rest when you know that it was a 100 percent effort that you gave - win or lose."  Gordie Howe
• "When anyone tells me I can't do anything...I'm just not listening anymore." Florence Griffith-Joyner
• "I remember 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
• "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
• "I never gave up, even when people told me I'd never make it."  Bob Wickman
• "Training gives us an outlet for suppressed energies created by stress and thus tones the spirit just as exercise conditions the body."  Arnold Schwarzenegger
• "Don't ever forget that you play with your soul as well as your body." Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
• "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
• "In order to excel, you must be completely dedicated to your chosen sport. You must also be prepared to work hard and be willing to accept constructive criticism. Without a total 100 percent dedication, you won't be able to do this."  Willie Mays
• "Sports should always be fun."  Charles Mann
• "The ones who want to achieve and win championships motivate themselves." Mike Ditka
• "I don't need to be the Number 1 on the team. This is what I train for day in and day out. I am the support player. If I need to hit, pitch, run, whatever, I will do it. If everything was going to be about me, I think I'd quit." - Michele Smith
• "The values learned on the playing field--how to set goals, endure, take criticism and risks, become team players, use our bodies, stay healthy and deal with stress - prepare us for life."
   Donna de Varona
• "You have to accept whatever comes, and the only important thing is that you meet it with the best you have to give."  Unknown
• "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 on USA Women's World Cup Soccer Team

• "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
• "I will always be someone who wants to do better than others. I love competition." - Jean-Claude Killy
• "Athletics should reduce stress, not increase it." Mark Allen
• "Do you believe you're a starter or a benchwarmer? Do you believe you're an all-star or an also-ran? 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. That's because you have the mental edge." Rod Carew
• "Every athletic career, no matter how modest or lofty, is a journey." Dan Millman
• "I don't think I can play any other way but all out... I enjoy the game so much because I'm putting so much into it." George Brett
• "Part of being a champ is acting like a champ. You have to learn how to win and not run away when you lose.... Everyone has bad stretches and real successes. Either way, you have to be careful not to lose your confidence or get too confident." Nancy Kerrigan
• "I've always made a total effort, even when the odds seemed entirely against me. I never quit trying; I never felt that I didn't have a chance to win." - Arnold Palmer
• "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
• "There is no doubt in my mind that there are many ways to be a winner, but there is really only one way to be a loser, and that is to fail and not look beyond the failure." - Kyle Rote, Jr.
• "I know you've heard it a thousand times before. But it's true--hard work pays off. If you want to be good, you have to practice, practice, practice." - A.J. English
• "There has never been a great athlete who died not knowing what pain is." Bill Bradley
• "Sports ideally teach discipline and commitment. They challenge you and build character for everything you do in life."  Howie Long
• "I never thought about losing, but now that it's happened, the only thing is to do it right....We all have to take defeats in life."  Muhammad Ali
• "Obstacles are challenges for winners and excuses for losers."  Gentlehands by M.E. Kerr
• "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."  "A Smile"
• "For every finish-line tape a runner breaks--complete with the cheers of the crowd and the clicking of hundreds of cameras--there are the hours of hard and often lonely work that rarely gets talked about." - Grete Waltz
• "Heart in champions has to do with the depth of your motivation and how well your mind and body react to pressure--that is, being able to do what you do best under maximum pain and stress." - Bill Russell
• "You go for it. All the stops are out. Caution is to the wind and you're battling with everything you have. That's the real fun of the game." - Dan Dierdorf
• "I learned that the only way you are going to get anywhere in life is to work hard at it. Whether you're a musician, a writer, an athlete or a businessman, there is no getting around it. If you do, you'll win--if you don't, you won't." - Bruce Jenner
• "A winner never whines." - Paul Brown
• "The most important thing is to love your sport. Never do it to please someone else--it has to be yours. That is all that will justify the hard work needed to achieve success. Compete against yourself, not others, for that is who is truly your best competition." Peggy Fleming Jenkins
• "I've always tried to do my best on the ball field. I can't do any more than that. I always give one hundred percent; and if my team loses, I come back and give one hundred percent the next day." Jessie Barfield
• "I just don't feel right unless I have a sport to play or at least a way to work up a sweat." Hank Aaron
• "It is a matter of spirit, not strength. It is a matter of doing your best each little moment. There's never a break. You must have desire, a very intense desire to keep going."   Janet Guthrie
• "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
• "We generally make too much of winning. Let's face it, someone always has to win; that is the nature of competition. But the mere fact of winning doesn't make you great."  Wilt Chamberlain
• "Winning has a joy and discrete purity to it that cannot be replaced by anything else. Winning is important to any man's or woman's sense of satisfaction and well-being. Winning is not everything; but it is something powerful, indeed beautiful, in itself, something as necessary to the strong spirit as striving is necessary to the healthy character."  A. Bartlett Giamatti
• "I think it's the mark of a great player to be confident in tough situations." Jackie Joyner-Kersee
• "We all have days when we just don't seem to have the energy or the interest in working out at peak effort. These are the times to reach inside ourselves and try to find that extra umph that will motivate us."  Kara Leverte Farley and Sheila Curry
• "The harder we work every step of the way, the quicker and more efficiently we'll reach our goals." Kara Leverte Farley and Sheila Curry
• "Hard work is the only way to go. Strive to be the best you can be and remember that when you try your best, you can't ask any more from yourself, and people can't ask any more from you."  Michael Chang
• "What we need are positive, realistic goals and the willingness to work. Hard work and practical goals."  Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
• "In wheelchair sports, people thought athletes with disabilities were courageous and inspirational. They never give them credit for simply being competitive."  Jean Driscoll
• "I ran and ran and ran every day, and I acquired this sense of determination, this sense of spirit that I would never, never give up, no matter what else happened." Wilma Rudolph
• "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
• "I can accept failure. Everyone fails at something. But I can't accept not trying."  Michael Jordan
• "The feeling of accomplishment welled up inside of me...three Olympic gold medals. I knew that was something nobody could ever take away from me, ever."  Wilma Rudolph
• "Teamwork is the fuel that allows common people to produce uncommon results."  Unknown
• "Do not throw in the towel; use it for wiping the sweat off your face."  Unknown
• "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
• "Competition is a painful thing, but it produces great results."  Jerry Flint
• "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
• "There is no defeat except for those who give up."  Joseph Warthlin
• "I believe I'm one of the best pitchers in the world--I know I am as far as results go. But you can't live on your legacy. Every time I step on the mound I have to prove it." Michele Smith
• "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
• "It takes a fighter to be a true champion." Chris Busey
• "I can't play being mad. I go out there and have fun. It's a game, and that's how I am going to treat it." Ken Griffey, Jr.
• "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
• "Most people run a race to see who is fastest. I run a race to see who has the most guts."  Steve Prefontaine
• "When you're playing against a stacked deck, compete even harder. Show the world how much you'll fight for the winner's circle."  Unknown
• "The purpose of any athletic endeavor is to challenge human limits both on and off the playing field."  Unknown
• "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
• "When I was fifteen, I had lucky underwear. When that failed, I had a lucky hairdo, then a lucky race number, even lucky race days. After fifteen years, I've found the secret to success is simple: it's hard work." Margaret Groos
• "You either get better or you get worse. You never stay the same. As for me, I'd rather get better."  Jim Smith
• "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
• "You win some, you lose some, but you always try again."  Unknown
• "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."  American Greeting Cards
• "We all like to win, but enjoy the moments along the way, no matter the outcome. Just put your heart and soul into it, and give 110%. If you do this, you will always be a winner to the person who counts most...you!"  Marlene Blaszczyk
• "The vision of a champion is someone who is bent over, drenched in sweat, at the point of exhaustion when no one else is watching."  Anson Dorrance
• "I remember the last season I played. I went home after a ballgame one day, lay down on my bed, and tears came to my eyes. How can you explain that? It's like crying for your mother after she's gone. You cry because you love her. I cried, I guess, because I loved baseball, and I knew I had to leave it."  Willie Mays
• "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
• "I think 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 Lefebure
• "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."  Unknown
• "To give anything less than your best is to sacrifice your gift."  Steve Prefontaine
• "I find motivation within myself. I run track not from a competitive nature, but because I'm a very goal-oriented person."  Gail Devers
• "A good coach will make his players see what they can be rather than what they are."  Ara Parasheghian
• "Build for your team a feeling of oneness, of dependence on one another, and of strength to be derived by unity."  Vince Lombardi
• "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
• "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
• "They don't give you gold medals for beating somebody. They give you gold medals for beating everybody."  Michael Johnson
• "The man who can drive himself farther once the effort gets painful is the man who will win."  Roger Bannister
• "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
• "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
• "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
• "You learn you can do your best even when it's hard, even when you're tired and maybe hurting a little bit. It feels good to show some courage."  Joe Namath
• "The winners in life think constantly in terms of I can, I will, and I am. Losers, on the other hand, concentrate their waking thoughts on what they should have or would have done, or what they can't do."  Dennis Waitley
• "I'm playing baseball because I love it, not because I need the money or attention. That is why I've been so dedicated. I've accomplished a lot of things no one ever thought I could, and I've done it from hard work."  Mike Piazza
• "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."  Unknown
• "I make my weaknesses my strengths and my strengths stronger."  Lisa Fernandez
• "A true champion is someone who wants to make a difference, who never gives up, and who gives everything she has no matter what the circumstances are. A true champion works hard and never loses sight of her dreams."  Dr. Dot Richardson
• "I didn't fall out of bed and become an Olympic champion. I worked hard, I was dedicated, and I really worked to perfect all aspects of my game."  Michele Smith
• "In the end, it's extra effort that separates a winner from second place. But winning takes a lot more than that, too. It starts with complete command of the fundamentals. Then it takes desire, determination, discipline and self-sacrifice. And finally, it takes a great deal of 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
• "I am in power. I will not surrender. I will not retreat a single inch, and I will be victorious."   Unknown
• "Set goals and work together with effort, enthusiasm and persistence to reach those goals."  Matt Georgi
• "You may get skinned knees and elbows, but it's worth it if you score a spectacular goal."  Mia Hamm
• "A true champion is someone who wants to make a difference, who never gives up, and who gives everything she has no matter what the circumstances are. A true champion works hard and never loses sight of her dreams."  Dot Richardson
• "The more you sweat in practice, the less you bleed in battle."  Unknown
• "I came, I saw, I conquered."  Julius Caesar
• "The way I figure it, real athletes want to win and will do what is necessary to win-at all levels. They will find the money, make the time commitment, seek out the best coaches, the best sports information and put it all together. They will not just be satisfied with being on the….team. They will not be satisfied to attend a world championship returning without injury, and they will not accept that the money and the time is not there. They will accept the problems and challenges, study them, and find a solution."  Patrick Hickey
• "Only gods and saints run around unafraid. And liars. This is a game. Somebody has to win. Somebody has to lose. And there is so much real in that."  Nike
• "In order to win you need to define your goal(s); that is conceiving. Once you've done this you must believe…and then you will achieve."
• Conceive Believe Achieve  Jim Tweed, Asst. football coach at Lakewood HS, Lakewood, New Jersey
• "Always hustle; never quit!"  Detroit Lakes Laker volleyball team
• "Losers look what they are going through. Winners looks where they are going to."  Unknown
• "A person who cannot face a defeat can never win."  Ahsan
• "United, united, united we stand. United we never shall fall. United, united, united we stand. United we stand one and all."  Judas Priest
• "To play is in the mind. To win is in the heart."  Jennifer McCombs
• "Each of us is affected by what happens to the other. Just as our movements interact on the field, so our lives interact to a certain degree. This is what is so great about being a member of a team."  Eric Lund
• "Ask not what your teammates can do for you. Ask what you can do for your teammates."  Magic Johnson
• "Fall seven times, stand up eight."  Japanese Proverb
• "My motto was always to keep swinging. Whether I was in a slump or feeling badly or having trouble off the field, the only thing to do was keep swinging."  Hank Aaron
• "If I had said, 'I don't stand a chance,' one thing is clear: I wouldn't have."  Chuck Norris
• "Look at success at any level of sports and you'll often see the same dedication of the mastery of so-called 'little things'."  Unknown
• "A team with a star player is a good team, but a team without one is a great team."  Unknown
• "You dream, you believe, you train, you achieve."  Mark Dixon
• "Never give up, never give in, and when the upper hand is ours, may we have the ability to handle the win with the dignity that we absorbed the loss."  Doug Williams
• "I play to win. Even when common sense should tell me I no longer have a chance. Even when I have been playing at my worst and all the breaks have been going against me. I approach each new day, and each new game as a glorious opportunity to get going again."  Unknown
• "If you accept the expectations of others, especially negative ones, then you never will change the outcome."  Michael Jordan
• "Success is that old ABC--ability, breaks, courage."  Charles Luckman
• "The important thing to recognize it that it takes a team, and the team ought to get credit for the wins and the losses. Success have many fathers, failures have none."  Philip Caldwell
• "It is amazing what can be accomplished when no one cares who gets the credit."
   Mount Union women's basketball team, Division III National Runners-Up
• "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
• "Sports are not an extracurricular activity. Sports are an academic discipline."  America Sports
• "A trophy carries dust. Memories last forever."  Mary Lou Retton
• "Before you can win, you have to believe you are worthy."  Mike Ditka
• "Not all are blessed with great ability, but with teamwork and perseverance, all can accomplish great things."  M.D. Boyer
• "You win the race only after you cross the finish line, regardless of what place."  Unknown
• "Perseverance is a great element of success."  Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
• "Ain't nothing better, we beat the odds together."  Shania Twain, "You're Still the One"
• "The will to prepare, the guts to risk, and the desire to be best...these are the trademarks of a champion."  Unknown
• "You may not be the winner, but there is a winner inside you."  Unknown
• "In the battle of life, it is not the critic who counts; nor the one who points out how the strong person stumbled, or where the doer of a deed could have done better. The credit belongs to the person who is actually in the arena; whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; who does actually strive to do deeds; who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotion, spends oneself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement; and who at worst, if he or she fails, at least fails while daring greatly. 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
• "The time when there is no one there to feel sorry for you or to cheer for you is when a player is made."  Tim Duncan
• "If you meet a team with desire, you better be able to match that desire or you will lose."  Unknown
• "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
• "A quitter never...
  ...kisses the cup.
  ...kisses the ground.
  ...runs out a grounder.
  ...runs through the signs.
  ...signs autographs.
  ...signs for free.
  ...plays for free.
  ...plays for keeps.
  ...keeps her promises.
  ...keeps going.
  ...gets going.
  ...gets it together.
  ...gets noticed.
  ...gets promoted.
  ...gets an A.
  ...brings his A game.
  ...has game.
  ...has fun.
  ...has to work hard.
  ...works a little more.
  ...reaches a little deeper.
  ...reaches the finish line.
   Spike, Finish Line magazine
• "True champions are team players."  Alan Cohen
• "Every day the word 'gift' is used to define talent, ability, and performance. Being gifted has an even deeper meaning, a meaning that isn't always measured in points per game or win/loss records - it's measured by heart, effort, and desire."  Alan Cohen
• "I see beauty and elegance in every female athlete. I don't think being an athlete is unfeminine."  Jackie Joyner-Kersee
• "Talent is the gift plus the passion--a desire to succeed so intense that no force on earth can stop it."  Neil Simon
• "The most important lesson you can learn from winning is that you can."  Dave Weinbaum
• "Being a winner doesn't have anything to do with a win-lost record."  Country magazine
• "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: A desire, a dream, a vision. They have to have late minute stamina, they have to be a little faster, they have to have the skill and the will. But the will must be stronger than the skill."  Muhammed Ali
• "I've never been afraid to fail."  Michael Jordan
• "I have never stolen a ball, scored a goal, or won a game alone."  Kristin Lilley, Adidas commercial
• "It's always too early to quit."  Norman Vincent Pearle
• "Being focused is great. Being passionate about something can be even better. But if you're so intense that you're stressed out and preoccupied with one aspect of life to the exclusion of everything else, you're missing out."  Life's Playbook for Success by GTE Academic All-America Hall of Famers
• "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 farther than a stellar talent who just coasts."  Dave Joyner
• "The more honor and respect among the players, the greater the team."  Unknown
• "Champions expect pain, endure pain, and never complain."  Unknown
• "Good coaching is about leadership and instilling respect in your players. Dictators lead through fear--good coaches do not."  John Wooden
• "So many coaches forget that when they take the fun out of something, it's just not something people want to do."  Michelle Johnson
• "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
• "When I was younger, I thought that the key to success was just hard work. But the real foundation is faith. Faith--the idea that 'I can do it'--is the opposite of fear ('What if I fail?'). And faith creates motivation which in turn leads to commitment, hard work, preparation...and eventually success."  Howard Twilley
• "Don't think expensive equipment will make up for lack of talent or practice."  Unknown
• "Good athletes prepare themselves to play, but more importantly, prepare themselves to WIN!"
   Michael Lasher, Asst. Coach, Peters Township Varsity Hockey team
• "In order for there to be ups, there must be downs. Remember all your failures, so when you succeed you can look back and have pride that you had strength enough to overcome."  Unknown
• "Sweat plus sacrifice equals success."  Charlie Finley
• "Improve your performance by improving your attitude."  Unknown
• "Besides pride, loyalty, discipline, heart, and mind, confidence is the key to all the locks."  Joe Paterno
• "...we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph."  Thomas Paine
• "People do not lack strength; they lack will."  Victor Hugo
• "Grind it out. Hanging on just one second longer than your competition makes you the winner."  Unknown
• "Strive for excellence, not perfection."  Unknown
• "The only one who can tell you 'you can't' is you. And you don't have to listen."  Nike
• "There are some defeats more triumphant than victories."  Michel de Montaigne
• "Victories that are easy are cheap. Those only are worth having which come as the result of hard fighting."  Henry Ward Beecher
• "Quitting is only a shortcut to losing."  Unknown
• "Persevere and never fear."  Unknown
• "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
• "What counts is not necessarily the size of the dog in the fight--it's the size of the fight in the dog."  Dwight D. Eisenhower
• "We learn early on that, in order to be a winner, you have to believe in yourself. You have to have the confidence to make things happen. And you have to have personal pride."
   Alan Cohen
• "Sure, basketball's a team game. But each player has a man to break down. A guy that's his to get around. And while it's true there's no 'I' in TEAM, consider this: There is an 'I' in WIN."  Nike
• "If you wanna get better, concentrate on the areas you'd rather not. Force yourself to work the weak link. Physically. Mentally. But most of all, repeatedly."  Nike
• "Gold medals don't make champions...hard work does."  Unknown
• "Losers quit when they're tired...Champions quit when they hold the gold."  Unknown
• "100% percent of shots not taken don't go in."  Wayne Gretzky
• "The will to win is not worth a nickel unless you have the will to practice."  Unknown
• "My boyfriend said if I spend one more weekend at the gym he'll leave me...I'm sure gonna miss him."  Unknown
• "You gotta lose 'em sometimes. When you do, lose 'em right."  Unknown
• "The greatest test of courage on the earth is to bear defeat without losing heart."  Robert Green Ingersoll
• "You can be an ordinary athlete by getting away with less than your best. But if you want to be a great athlete, you have to give it all you've got--your everything."  Unknown
• "Somewhere, someplace there is a person that is practicing while you are not, and when you face that person face to face he will beat you." Bill Bradley
• "If you think you can win, you can win. Faith is necessary to victory."  Unknown
• "The only thing better than winning is losing knowing you gave your best."  Michael Ip
• "What lies behind us and what lies before us are small matters compared to what lies within us."  Ralph Waldo Emerson
• "Winners make goals, losers make excuses."  Unknown
• "If you can't win, make the fellow ahead of you break the record."  Unknown
• "Each day you don't practice is one more day you have to practice to get better."  Unknown
• "There are no gains without pains."  Benjamin Franklin
• "Hold up your head! You were not made for failure, you were made for victory. Go forward with a joyful confidence."  George Eliot
• "Accept challenges so that you may feel the exhilaration of victory."  Unknown
• "All glory comes from daring to begin."  Unknown
• "Champions believe in themselves even if no one else does."  Unknown
• "I have never lost a race in my life. Occasionally I have just run out of time."  Unknown
• "Success is a state of mind. If you want success, start thinking of yourself as a success."  Dr. Joyce Brothers
• "Pain is inevitable. Suffering is optional."  M. Kathleen Casey
• "Coming together is a beginning; keeping together is progress; working together is success."  Henry Ford
• "Know that you are great...so dominate."  Ella Wheeler Wilcox
• "Failure will hurt but not hinder us."  Babcock
• "Together we stand, by ourselves we fall flat."  Unknown
• "The price of success: hard work, patience, and a few sacrifices."  Edward Bok
• "There is no such thing as a great talent without a great willpower."  Honore de Balzac
• "Always imitate the behavior of the winners when you lose."  George Meredith
• "Strength Within, Pride Throughout."  Acton-Boxboro Varsity Girls Basketball
• "Our greatest glory is not in never failing, but in rising each and every time we fail."  Confucious
• "When champions fail, they get back up and try again. They don't let failure discourage them."  Mary Ellen Clark
• "The size of your heart--how much determination you have--is what matters. If you work hard enough at whatever you do, you'll be able to accomplish it, regardless of your size."  Erica Routt
• "Good coaches teach respect for the opposition, love of competition, the value of trying your best, and how to win and lose graciously."  Brooks Clark
• "Winning as a team is better than anything. It's great to share success."  Jim Harbaugh
• "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
• "Take the criticism as a challenge to work hard. It will make you a better athlete and a better person."  Cristi Millward
• "Above all, really enjoy your sport. When you are passionate about what you are doing and love doing it, you can do anything."  Carole Merle
• "Remember that sports are meant to be fun. Don't let someone make the sport unfun for you."
   A.J. Kitt
• "It's hard to go out and practice every single day, and you get really tired. But you have to believe in yourself."  Summer Sanders
• "We have not yet begun to fight."  Patrick Henry
• "There are times when you're tired and times when you don't believe in yourself. That's when you have to stick it out and draw on the confidence that you have deep down beneath all the doubts and worries."  Jim Abbott
• "We are the stuff of which winners are made."  Kif Anderson
• "Winning--it's everything in sports. No matter how many times we've said, or have been told, 'It's not whether you win or lose, it's how you play the game,' we all want to win."  Sandy Stiefer
• "What makes you really come together under pressure is determination and focus and toughness."  Debi Thomas
• "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
• "Never underestimate the heart of a champion." 1997-98 Fairfield High Girls Varsity Basketball, Fairfield, CA
• "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 that a goal is only as worthy as the effort that's required to achieve it."  Unknown
• "While it's important to win, it's imperative to compete."  Dave Weinbaum
• "Never give up, never let up, and you'll never let yourself down."  Dave Weinbaum
• "If you can't excel with talent, triumph with effort."  Dave Weinbaum
• "We cannot fail to win unless we fail to try."  Tom Clancy
• "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
• "Doing what is right, fair, and honorable is more important than winning or losing."  Chick Moorman
• "Nobody ever drowned in sweat!"  Kelly Marshall
• "Good, better, best. Never rest till good be better and better be best!"  Plum High School Swim Team
• "It does not matter how many times you get knocked down, but how many times you get up."  Vince Lombardi
• "Take a minute: look at your goals. Look at your performance. See if your performance matches your goals."  Dan Kelly
• "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 really made of gold. They're made of sweat, determination, and a hard-to-find alloy called guts."  Dan Gable
• "The difference between the impossible and the possible lies in a person's determination."
   Tommy Lasorda
• "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
• "Good players give their best in every match, every game, every move."  Unknown
• "Do not let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do."  John Wooden
• "You have no control over what the other guy does. You only have control over what you do."  A. J. Kitt
• "Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much."  Helen Keller
• "Success doesn't come to you....you go to it."  Marva Collins
• "If you train hard, you'll not only be hard, you'll be hard to beat."  Herschel Walker
• "We must either find a way or make one."  Hannibal
• "Set your goals high, and don't stop till you get there."  Bo Jackson
• "Winners never quit, and quitters never win."  Unknown
• "It's not necessarily the amount of time you spend at practice that counts; it's what you put into practice that makes the difference."  Eric Lindros
• "I'm a great believer in luck, and I find the harder I work, the more I have of it."  Thomas Jefferson
• "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
• "The day you take complete responsibility for yourself, the day you stop making excuses, that's the day you start to the top."  O.J. Simpson
• "Think big, believe big, act big, and the results will be big."  Unknown
• "Winning isn't everything. Wanting to is."  Catfush Hunter
• "Other people may not have high expectations for me...but I have high expectations for myself."  Shannon Miller
• "When all else fails, follow instructions."  Unknown
• "Success is measured by effort."  Unknown
• "T.E.A.M. stands for T.ogether E.veryone A.chieves M.ore."  Unknown
• "You can't possibly hit the ball if you are thinking about all the possible ways you could miss."
   Unknown
• "The first thing we need to know is that we won't get anywhere if we don't get there together."
   Cotton Commercial
• "An athlete is never made by mere instruction. We must go forward, not stand still simply listening and learning. To see it and not to do it is a most disastrous thing."  Unknown
• "Some people dream of success while others wake up and achieve it."  Unknown
• "The only points you can be dead sure of are those you've already made."  Byron Nelson
• "Most players prepare for disaster, A good player prepares for success."  Bob Toski
• "Whoever said 'It's not whether you win or lose that counts' probably lost."  Martina Navratilova
• "It is not true that nice guys finish last. Nice guys are winners before the game even starts."  Addison Walker
• "Competitive sports are played mainly on a five-and-a-half-inch court, the space between your ears."  Bobby Jones
• "You've just one problem. You stand too close to the ball--after you've hit it."  Sam Snead
• "The harder you work, the luckier you get."  Gary Player
• "Sports are 90% inspiration and 10% perspiration."  Johnny Miller
• "Fair play is primarily not blaming others for anything that is wrong with us."  Eric Hoffer
• "Don't bunt. Aim out of the ballpark."  David Ogilvy
• "In the long run, you hit only what you aim at."  Henry David Thoreau
• "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
• "Goals determine what you're going to be."  Julius Erving
• "We can, with the hard work of a team, beat the odds and win the game."  Kif Anderson
• "The strongest people are not always the people who win, but the people who don't give up when they lose."  Ashley Hodgeson
• "Winners must have two things, definite goals and a burning desire to achieve them."  Brad Burden
• "Champions take responsibility. When the ball is coming over the net, you can be sure I want the ball."  Billie Jean King
• "Sports do not build character. They reveal it."  Heywood Hale Brown
• "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
• "One man practicing sportsmanship is far better than 50 preaching it."  Knute K. Rockne
• "Perseverance is the hard work you do after you get tired of doing the hard work you already did." Newt Gingrich
• "Victory is in the quality of competition, not the final score."  Mike Marshall
• "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."  General Colin L Powell
• "You're never a loser until you quit trying."  Mike Ditka
• "Don't aim for success if you want it; just do what you love and believe in, and it will come naturally."  David Frost
• "Sports serve society by providing vivid examples of excellence."  George F. Will
• "The pains measure the gains."  Jennifer Epperson