Every man in the world is better than someone else and not as good someone else.
—William Saroyan (1908–81) American Playwright, Novelist
You have to defeat a great players aura more than his game.
—Pat Riley (b.1945) American Basketball Player, Coach
When you want to win a game, you have to teach. When you lose a game, you have to learn.
—Tom Landry (1924–2000) American Football Coach, Player
Win or lose, do it fairly.
—Knute Rockne (1888–1931) American College Football Coach
So long as the system of competition in the production and exchange of the means of life goes on, the degradation of the arts will go on; and if that system is to last for ever, then art is doomed, and will surely die; that is to say, civilization will die.
—William Morris (1834–96) British Designer, Craftsman, Poet, Writer
Adversaries in law strive mightily, but eat and drink as friends.
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616) British Playwright
Everybody pulls for David, nobody roots for Goliath.
—Wilt Chamberlain (1936–99) American Basketball Player
He can run but he can’t hide.
—Joe Louis (1914–81) American Sportsperson
Competitions are for horse, not artist.
—Bela Bartok (1881–1945) Hungarian Composer, Ethnomusicologist
Winning is not a sometime thing; it’s an all the time thing. You don’t win once in a while; you don’t do things right once in a while; you do them right all the time. Winning is a habit. Unfortunately, so is losing.
There is no room for second place. There is only one place in my game, and that’s first place.
—Vince Lombardi, Jr. (b.1942) American Lawyer, Politician, Motivational Speaker
You must not fight too often with one enemy, or you will teach him all your art of war.
—Napoleon I (1769–1821) Emperor of France
A man comes to measure his greatness by the regrets, envies and hatreds of his competitors.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
What counts is not necessarily the size of the dog in the fight; it’s the size of the fight in the dog.
—Unknown
Regardless of how you feel inside, always try to look like a winner. Even if you are behind, a sustained look of control and confidence can give you a mental edge that results in victory.
—Arthur Ashe (1943–93) American Tennis Player
Competition whose motive is merely to compete, to drive some other fellow out, never carries very far. The competitor to be feared is one who never bothers about you at all, but goes on making his own business better all the time. Businesses that grow by development and improvement do not die. But when a business ceases to be creative, when it believes it has reached perfection and needs to do nothing but produce-no improvement, no development-it is done.
—Henry Ford (1863–1947) American Businessperson, Engineer
I play golf with friends sometimes, but there are never friendly games.
—Ben Hogan (1912–97) American Golfer
Our life is not really a mutual helpfulness; but rather, it’s fair competition cloaked under due laws of war; it’s a mutual hostility.
—Thomas Carlyle (1795–1881) Scottish Historian, Essayist
It has meant a lot to me to challenge the best players in the world and to beat them. And it means a lot to me to be out here and fighting for the title and, you know, it hurts not to win it.
—Andre Agassi (b.1970) American Tennis Player
After the game the King and pawn go into the same box.
—Italian Proverb
And what is the greatest number? Number one.
—David Hume (1711–76) Scottish Philosopher, Historian
The weakness of an enemy forms part of our own strength.
—Common Proverb
When you step onto that field, you cannot concede a thing.
—Gale Sayers (1943–2020) American Football Player
We want to be first; not first if, not first but; but first!
—John F. Kennedy (1917–63) American Head of State, Journalist
Competition is the whetstone of talent.
—Common Proverb
A horse never runs so fast as when he has other horses to catch up and outpace.
—Ovid (Publius Ovidius Naso) (c.43 BCE–c.18 CE) Roman Poet
You must play boldly to win.
—Arnold Palmer (1929–2016) American Professional Golfer
All winning teams are goal-oriented. Teams like these win consistently because everyone connected with them concentrates on specific objectives. They go about their business with blinders on; nothing will distract them from achieving their aims.
—Lou Holtz (1893–1980) American Stage Performer
One cannot play chess if one becomes aware of the pieces as living souls and of the fact that the Whites and the Blacks have more in common with each other than with the players. Suddenly one loses all interest in who will be champion.
—Anatol Rapoport (1911–2007) Russian-born American Mathematical Psychologist
There is nothing noble about being superior to some other person. The true nobility is in being superior to your previous self.
—Indian Proverb
My hat’s in the ring. The fight is on and I’m stripped to the buff.
—Theodore Roosevelt (1858–1919) American Historian, Political Leader, Explorer
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