Here’s some motivating sports quotes that have inspired me or made me laugh.
If you have any motivating or humorous sports quotes to send in, please email me (email at end of this piece)
“Always make a total effort, even when the odds are against you.”
Arnold Palmer, former PGA player
“The more difficult the victory, the greater the happiness in winning.”
Pele, former pro soccer player
“If you’re worried about falling off the bike, you’d never get on.”
Lance Armstrong, pro cyclist
“You have to expect things of yourself before you can do them.”
Michael Jordan, former NBA player
“Champions keep playing until they get it right.”
Billie Jean King, former Tennis player
“I always turn to the sports section first. The sports page records people’s accomplishments; the front page has nothing but man’s failures.”
Earl Warren
“Every sport pretends to a literature, but people don’t believe it of any other sport but their own.”
Alistair Cooke
“If only Hitler and Mussolini could have a good game of bowls once a week at Geneva, I feel that Europe would not be as troubled as it is.”
R.G. Briscow
“The difference between the old ballplayer and the new ballplayer is the jersey. The old ballplayer cared about the name on the front. The new ballplayer cares about the name on the back.”
Steve Garvey
“You miss 100% of the shots you never take.”
Wayne Gretzky, former NHL player
“Never let the fear of striking out get in your way.”
Babe Ruth, former MLB player
“The man who has no imagination has no wings.”
Muhammad, Ali former pro boxer
“A trophy carries dust. Memories last forever.”
Mary Lou Retton, former Olympic gymnast
“It is not the size of a man but the size of his heart that matters.”
Evander Holyfield, pro boxer
“Sports is human life in microcosm.”
Howard Cosell
“Thus so wretched is man that he would weary even without any cause for weariness… and so frivolous is he that, though full of a thousand reasons for weariness, the least thing, such as playing billiards or hitting a ball, is sufficient enough to amuse him.”
Blaise Pascal
“The fewer rules a coach has, the fewer rules there are for players to break.”
John Madden
“I think my favorite sport in the Olympics is the one in which you make your way through the snow, you stop, you shoot a gun, and then you continue on. In most of the world, it is known as the biathlon, except in New York City, where it is known as winter.”
Michael Ventre, L.A. Daily News
“We didn’t lose the game; we just ran out of time.”
Vince Lombardi
“The trouble with referees is that they just don’t care which side wins.”
Tom Canterbury
“Men forget everything; women remember everything. That’s why men need instant replays in sports. They’ve already forgotten what happened.”
Rita Rudner
“To me, boxing is like a ballet, except there’s no music, no choreography, and the dancers hit each other.”
Jack Handey
“I don’t know. I never smoked AstroTurf.”
Tug McGraw, when asked if he preferred grass or artificial turf, 1974, BQ
“Prize fighters can sometimes read and write when they start – but they can’t when they finish.”
Martin H. Fischer
“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. We want to conquer. We are going to conquer. Using the word “I” when you’re in a group makes things complicated.”
Wanderley Luxemburgo, 1999
“One day of practice is like one day of clean living. It doesn’t do you any good.”
Abe Lemmons
“I wanted to have a career in sports when I was young, but I had to give it up. I’m only six feet tall, so I couldn’t play basketball. I’m only 190 pounds, so I couldn’t play football. And I have 20-20 vision, so I couldn’t be a referee.”
Jay Leno
