The mind is the limit. As long as the mind can envision the fact that you can do something, you can do it—as long as you really believe 100 percent.
—Arnold Schwarzenegger (b.1947) Austrian-American Athlete, Actor, Politician
Adversity causes some men to break, others to break records.
—William Arthur Ward (1921–94) American Author
A day for toil, an hour for sport, but for a friend is life too short.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
Business is a combination of war and sport.
—Andre Maurois (1885–1967) French Novelist, Biographer
Winners make it happen – losers let it happen.
Winners make choices – losers take chances.
Winners never quit and quitters never win.
—Vince Lombardi (1913–70) American Football Coach
Skiing: the art of catching cold and going broke while rapidly heading nowhere at great personal risk.
—Unknown
Bullfighting is the only art in which the artist is in danger of death and in which the degree of brilliance in the performance is left to the fighter’s honor.
—Ernest Hemingway (1899–1961) American Author, Journalist, Short Story Writer
There are people who think that wrestling is an ignoble sport. Wrestling is not sport, it is a spectacle, and it is no more ignoble to attend a wrestled performance of suffering than a performance of the sorrows of Arnolphe or Andromaque.
—Roland Barthes (1915–80) French Writer, Critic, Teacher
It isn’t hard to be good from time to time in sports. What’s tough is being good every day.
—Willie Mays (1931–2024) American Baseball Legend, Hall of Fame Center Fielder
There is a syndrome in sports called “paralysis by analysis.”
—Arthur Ashe (1943–93) American Tennis Player
We are inclined to think that if we watch a football game or a baseball game, we have taken part in it.
—John F. Kennedy (1917–63) American Head of State, Journalist
It’s too bad that one has to conceive of sports as being the only arena where risks are, [for] all of life is risk exercise. That’s the only way to live more freely, and more interestingly.
—William Sloane Coffin (1924–2006) American Clergyman, Activist
Sports serve society by providing vivid examples of excellence.
—George Will (b.1941) American Columnist, Author, Commentator
God does not charge time spent fishing against a man’s allotted life span.
—American Indian Proverb
I have a lifetime contract. That means I can’t be fired during the third quarter if we are ahead and moving the ball.
—Lou Holtz (1893–1980) American Stage Performer
Football today is far too much a sport for the few who can play it well; the rest of us, and too many of our children, get out exercise from climbing up the seats in stadiums, or from walking across the room to turn on our television sets.
—John F. Kennedy (1917–63) American Head of State, Journalist
So you wish to conquer in the Olympic Games, my friend? And I, too… But first mark the conditions and the consequences. You will have to put yourself under discipline; to eat by rule, to avoid cakes and sweetmeats; to take exercise at the appointed hour whether you like it or not, in cold and heat; to abstain from cold drinks and wine at your will. Then, in the conflict itself you are likely enough to dislocate your wrist or twist your ankle, to swallow a great deal of dust, to be severely thrashed, and after all of these things, to be defeated.
—Epictetus (55–135) Ancient Greek Philosopher
In the great department store of life, baseball is the toy department.
—Unknown
Tennis is a perfect combination of violent action taking place in an atmosphere of total tranquility.
—Billie Jean King (b.1943) American Tennis Player
The Lord does not deduct from the hours of man those spent in fishing.
—Herbert Hoover (1874–1964) 31st American President
Serious sport has nothing to do with fair play. It is bound up with hatred, jealousy, boastfulness, disregard of all rules and sadistic pleasure in witnessing violence. In other words, it is war minus the shooting.
—George Orwell (1903–50) English Novelist, Journalist
Sport strips away personality, letting the white bone of character shine through. Sport gives players an opportunity to know and test themselves.
—Rita Mae Brown (b.1944) American Writer, Feminist
Never let a win get to your head, or a loss to your heart.
—Chuck D (b.1960) American Rapper, Musician, Activist
The mark of great sportsmen is not how good they are at their best, but how good they are their worst.
—Martina Navratilova (b.1956) Czech-born American Sportsperson
I played golf some time ago with John D. Rockefeller. The other day, I played with Charles M. Schwab…. Both played exactly the same. Neither overreached (or) tried to do more than he was capable of…. Most golfers, like most businessmen, swat the ball with all their might and trust more or less to luck as to the result…. Now, both Rockefeller and Schwab hit a straight ball nine times out of ten. In fact, in the first 17 holes I played with Schwab, he didn’t foozle a single shot. I could drive a ball 25 to 50 yards further than he, but quite often it flew wild. The result was that Schwab licked me decisively.
—B. C. Forbes (1880–1954) Scottish-born American Journalist, Publisher
In France, cooking is a serious art form and a national sport.
—Julia Child (1912–2004) American Cook, Author
Since the Bible and the church are obviously mistaken in telling us where we came from, how can we trust them to tell us where we are going?
—Anonymous
Winners never quit, and quitters never win.
—Vince Lombardi, Jr. (b.1942) American Lawyer, Politician, Motivational Speaker
What counts in sports is not the victory, but the magnificence of the struggle.
—Joe Paterno (1926–2012) American College Football Coach
Sport inevitably creates deadness of feeling. No one could take pleasure in it who was sensitive to suffering; and therefore its pursuit by women is much more to be regretted than its pursuit by men, because women pursue much more violently and recklessly what they pursue at all.
—Ouida (Maria Louise Rame) (1839–1908) English Novelist
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