"If at this moment you simply made up your minds that you were handsome, beautiful, strong, dangerous, powerful, that you knew everything there was to know, you were totally capable in any job that you undertook or any sport you undertook-if you really believed that, and you can believe it, some of your faces would change physically before my eyes."
Sports quotes
Sports
8.2K quotes on this topic — from poets, philosophers, and thinkers across history.
Explore further
Topics related to Sports
Browse quotes that often appear alongside sports — connected by shared ideas and recurring themes.
Quote collection
Sports quotes (page 40 of 409)
Follow a thought to its author, or read the full quote page.
"When I entered the sport of boxing I wanted to be one of the best and be undefeated. And I was able to attain that, not just one championship title, but four."
"That is not enough. Sport has been great for me, a great learning place that if you want to achieve you can, even if you are from the poorest part of Africa."
"The only sport I'm not interested in is horse racing. That's because I don't know the horses personally."
"If they asked me, I did two shifts. I did sports, I did news, because I loved it."
"I think the Greeks invented sports as an antidote to philosophy. In sports there are absolute rules. It's not, What about this? What about that? Either you're safe or you're out. It's ten yards or it's not. It's in the hoop or out of the hoop. It's certain."
"You gotta be a good sport! So when I would lose, I would say, "That guy was better than I was; what do I have to do to be better next time?""
"Sports is the only entertainment where, no matter how many times you go back, you never know the ending."
"None of us really pushes hard enough. People always talk about playing over your head when you are up against someone really good. Maybe you don't play over your head at all. Maybe it's just potential you never knew you had."
"Fear causes people to draw back from situations. It brings on mediocrity, it dulls creativity, it sets one up to be a loser in life."
"But there is something to the fact that we don't see games on the West Coast, or we don't see games on the East Coast, and stuff like that. It's so unfair, because there is a bias that takes place."
"To be a winner of that, and to fall in the long line of traditional great backs at USC, to have your name in perpetuity, the fact that your parents are like icons... that's the greatest thing."
"I just think that we're capable of so much more; we don't utilize all our capacity like we should."
"It really lasted the whole game, because I was really untouchable, unstoppable that game. But it was heightened on one particular play, and that was the longest run where everything completely slowed down. My awareness was so keen, it was so heightened, it was really amazing."
"I had no idea what was in store for me this season. This is the first time I've been a part of a true team sport, and there's someone else counting on you. You can't let that person down, and that's what drives me."
"If you have the athletic ability, why waste it in one sport?"
"I know when I've been surfing I've got a sense of level of calmness to me, and when I hit the ocean, even in its presence, at the shore, and especially by a powerful surf, I've been put in my place as a person."
"Hopefully the new breed of kids won't have to go through that hard lesson - my kids, my grandkids, my fans' kids, hopefully they won't have to go through it."
"First of all, a player has to know what is banned and what is not banned."
"She's a fighter, and she does the long program well, so we'll see how it turns out. And in figure skating, it's never over until the fat lady sings."