Sports quotes
8.2K quotes on this topic — from poets, philosophers, and thinkers across history.
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Browse quotes that often appear alongside sports — connected by shared ideas and recurring themes.
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"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."
"When it comes to sports, women are big targets for abuse because the resentment is two-fold. Some resent us for our confidence and beliefs. But there also is an added resentment because we are supposedly infiltrating a space that has been decidedly male."
"That's why men need instant replays in sports. They've already forgotten what happened."
"Boxing has become America's tragic theater."
"Boxing is a lot of white men watching two black men beat each other up."
"No one knows what to say in the loser's locker room."
"Frazier is so ugly that he should donate his face to the US Bureau of Wild Life."
"Sports are such a great teacher. I think of everything they've taught me: camaraderie, humility, how to resolve differences."
"I have long understood that losing always comes with the territory when you wander into the gambling business, just as getting crippled for life is an acceptable risk in the linebacker business. They both are extremely violent sports, and pain is part of the bargain. Buy the ticket, take the ride."
"Aspire rather to be a hero than merely appear one."
"People ask me to describe myself, but it's a very personal thing. You don't feel comfortable."
"The way I represent my individuality is by mixing classic pieces - like sports jackets - with little, unexpected additions."
"Indy car racing is much more aggressive."
"Be aware of "yes" men. Generally, they are losers. Surround yourself with winners. Never forget - people win."
"All I know is, I don't want to stop coaching, and I don't want to stop winning, so we're gonna break the record unless I die."
"I can reach a kid who doesn't have any ability as long as he doesn't know it."
"Hell, no! A tie is like kissing your sister!"
"Games lubricate the body and the mind."
"John McEnroe...was arguably the best serve-and-volley man of all time, but then McEnroe was an exception to pretty much every predictive norm there was. At his peak (say 1980 to 1984), he was the greatest tennis player who ever lived-the most talented, the most beautiful, the most tormented: a genius. For me, watching McEnroe don a blue polyester blazer and do stiff lame truistic color commentary for TV is like watching Faulkner do a Gap ad."
"Swimming is a confusing sport, because sometimes you do it for fun, and other times you do it to not die. And when I'm swimming, sometimes I'm not sure which one it is."
