{"id":95446,"date":"2025-04-06T16:34:36","date_gmt":"2025-04-06T16:34:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.english-culture.com\/?p=95446"},"modified":"2026-02-08T14:15:11","modified_gmt":"2026-02-08T14:15:11","slug":"sports-quotes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.english-culture.com\/sports-quotes\/","title":{"rendered":"Sports quotes"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Sports<\/a>
Sports quotes and aphorisms<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Sports quotes, aphorisms and ideas on athletes, life, perseverance and competition by the World of English blog.<\/span><\/p>\n

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… there are quite enough real causes of trouble already, and we need not add to them by encouraging young men to kick each other on the shins amid the roars of infuriated spectators. <\/span>
\nGeorge Orwell<\/span><\/p>\n

Sports do not build character. They reveal it.<\/span>
\nJohn Wooden<\/span><\/p>\n

The hardest skill to acquire in this sport is the one where you compete all out, give it all you have, and you are still getting beat no matter what you do. When you have the killer instinct to fight through that, it is very special.<\/span>
\nEddie Reese<\/span><\/p>\n

Sport is a preserver of health.\u00a0 <\/span>
\nHippocrates<\/span><\/p>\n

The man loves danger and sport. That is why he loves woman, the most dangerous of all sports.<\/span>
\nFriedrich Nietzsche<\/span><\/p>\n

An athlete cannot run with money in his pockets. He must run with hope in his heart and dreams in his head.<\/span>
\nEmil Zatopek<\/span><\/p>\n

For athletes, the Olympics are the ultimate test of their worth.<\/span>
\nMary Lou Retton<\/span><\/p>\n

I don’t think I can be expected to take seriously any game which takes less than three days to reach its conclusion.<\/span>
\nTom Stoppard<\/span><\/p>\n

The essence of sports is that while you’re doing it, nothing else matters, but after you stop, there is a place, generally not very important, where you would put it.\u00a0<\/span>
\nRoger Bannister<\/span><\/p>\n

The breakfast of champions is not cereal, it’s the opposition.\u00a0 <\/span>
\nNick Seitz<\/span><\/p>\n

Every sport pretends to a literature, but people don’t believe it of any other sport but their own.\u00a0 <\/span>
\nAlistair Cooke<\/span><\/p>\n

Good is not good when better is expected.<\/span>
\nVin Scully<\/span><\/p>\n

Pain is temporary. It may last a minute, or an hour, or a day, or a year, but eventually it will subside and something else will take its place. If I quit, however, it lasts forever.<\/span>
\nLance Armstrong<\/span><\/p>\n

Sport strips away personality, letting the white bone of character shine through.\u00a0 Sport gives players an opportunity to know and test themselves.\u00a0 <\/span>
\nRita Mae Brown<\/span><\/p>\n

A lifetime of training for just ten seconds.\u00a0 <\/span>
\nJesse Owens<\/span><\/p>\n

All sports are games of inches.\u00a0<\/span>
\nDick Ritger<\/span><\/p>\n

I always turn to the sports section first.\u00a0 The sports page records people’s accomplishments; the front page has nothing but man’s failures.\u00a0 <\/span>
\nEarl Warren<\/span><\/p>\n

Society is like a large piece of frozen water; and skating well is the great art of social life.\u00a0 <\/span>
\nLetitia Landon<\/span><\/p>\n

Sport in the sense of a mass-spectacle, with death to add to the underlying excitement, comes into existence when a population has been drilled and regimented and depressed to such an extent that it needs at least a vicarious participation in difficult feats of strength or skill or heroism in order to sustain its waning life-sense.<\/span>
\nLewis Mumford<\/span><\/p>\n

Most talented players don\u2019t always succeed. Some don\u2019t even make the team. It\u2019s more what\u2019s inside.<\/span>
\nBrett Favre<\/span><\/p>\n

If you watch a game, it\u2019s fun. If you play it, it\u2019s recreation. If you work at it, it\u2019s golf.<\/span>
\nBob Hope<\/span><\/p>\n

Gold medals aren\u2019t really made of gold. They\u2019re made of sweat, determination, and a hard-to-find alloy called guts.<\/span>
\nDan Gable<\/span><\/p>\n

Tennis is a perfect combination of violent action taking place in an atmosphere of total tranquillity.<\/span>
\nBillie Jean King<\/span><\/p>\n

Given the nature of sports, its not surprising that athletes have had some inspiring and motivational things to say about hard work, leadership, perseverance, winning, and much more.
\nCarl William Brown
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

One man practicing sportsmanship is far better than a hundred teaching it.<\/span>
\nKnute Rockne<\/span><\/p>\n

Unlike any other business in the United States, sports must preserve an illusion of perfect innocence. The mounting of this illusion defines the purpose and accounts for the immense wealth of American sports. It is the ceremony of innocence that the fans pay to see – not the game or the match or the bout, but the ritual portrayal of a world in which time stops and all hope remains plausible, in which everybody present can recover the blameless expectations of a child, where the forces of light always triumph over the powers of darkness. <\/span>
\nLewis H. Lapham<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Sports<\/a>
Sports quotes and aphorisms on athletes<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The five S\u2019s of sports training are: stamina, speed, strength, skill, and spirit; but the greatest of these is spirit.<\/span>
\nKen Doherty<\/span><\/p>\n

Stretch pants – the garment that made skiing a spectator sport.\u00a0<\/span>
\nAuthor Unknown<\/span><\/p>\n

There may be people that have more talent than you, but theres no excuse for anyone to work harder than you do.<\/span>
\nDerek Jeter<\/span><\/p>\n

Perseverance is an excellent key word for good sport results, but unfortunately it is not the only one.<\/span>
\nCarl William Brown<\/span><\/p>\n

Always make a total effort, even when the odds are against you.<\/span>
\nArnold Palmer<\/span><\/p>\n

In sport, mental imagery is used primarily to help you get the best out of yourself in training and competition. The developing athletes who make the fastest progress and those who ultimately become their best make extensive use of mental imagery. They use it daily as a means of directing what will happen in training, and as a way of pre-experiencing their best competition performances.<\/span>
\nTerry Orlick<\/span><\/p>\n

You have to do something in your life that is honorable and not cowardly if you are to live in peace with yourself.<\/span>
\nLarry Brown<\/span><\/p>\n

An athlete cannot run with money in his pockets. He must run with hope in his heart and dreams in his head.<\/span>
\nEmil Zatopek<\/span><\/p>\n

Never give up, never give in, and when the upper hand is ours, may we have the ability to handle the win with the dignity that we absorbed the loss.<\/span>
\nDoug Williams<\/span><\/p>\n

Never give up! Failure and rejection are only the first step to succeeding.<\/span>
\nJim Valvano<\/span><\/p>\n

Why is luge a sport? You dress up like a giant sperm and go sledding really fast. That\u2019s hardly athletic. Phallic and sexy, yes. But hardly athletic.<\/span>
\nJessica Park<\/span><\/p>\n

Sports teaches you character, it teaches you to play by the rules, it teaches you to know what it feels like to win and lose-it teaches you about life. <\/span>
\nBillie Jean King<\/span><\/p>\n

Sports is the common denominator in the world that brings everyone together. If there’s any one place in the world where there is equality, it is probably sports. That was something that didn’t always exist. We’ve come a long way in sports. Why can’t society use sports as a way to bring people together and create change? <\/span>
\nStephen M. Ross<\/span><\/p>\n

It doesn’t matter whether you are pursuing success in business, sports, the arts, or life in general: The bridge between wishing and accomplishing is discipline. <\/span>
\nHarvey Mackay<\/span><\/p>\n

In sports, you simply aren’t considered a real champion until you have defended your title successfully. Winning it once can be a fluke; winning it twice proves you are the best. <\/span>
\nAlthea Gibson<\/span><\/p>\n

We live in a world where sports have the potential to bridge the gap between racism, sexism and discrimination. The 2012 Olympic Games was a great start but hopefully what these games taught us is that if women are given an opportunity on an equal playing field the possibilities for women are endless. <\/span>
\nJackie Joyner-Kersee<\/span><\/p>\n

All of the sports have a safety net, but boxing is the only sport that has none. So when the fighter is through, he is through. While he was fighting his management was very excited for him, but now that he is done, that management team is moving on. <\/span>
\nGerry Cooney<\/span><\/p>\n

Sports play a very important role in consolidating the national strength, adding lustre to the country’s prestige and honour, inspiring people with national dignity and pride, and imbuing the whole society with revolutionary mettle. Kim Jong-un<\/span><\/p>\n

Team sports are very important for shaping personalities. It’s important that kids understand the mentality behind playing team sports and playing for one another and playing with friends. <\/span>
\nBrian O’Driscoll<\/span><\/p>\n

The most important thing in the Olympic Games is not winning but taking part; the essential thing in life is not conquering but fighting well.<\/span>
\nPierre de Coubertin<\/span><\/p>\n

The Olympics remain the most compelling search for excellence that exists in sport, and maybe in life itself.<\/span>
\nDawn Fraser<\/span><\/p>\n

The first is to love your sport. Never do it to please someone else. It has to be yours.<\/span>
\nPeggy Fleming<\/span><\/p>\n

When anyone tells me I can’t do anything, I’m just not listening any more.<\/span>
\nFlorence Griffith Joyner<\/span><\/p>\n

Sport is where an entire life can be compressed into a few hours, where the emotions of a lifetime can be felt on an acre or two of ground, where a person can suffer and die and rise again on six miles of trails through a New York City park. Sport is a theater where sinner can turn saint and a common man become an uncommon hero, where the past and the future can fuse with the present. Sport is singularly able to give us peak experiences where we feel completely one with the world and transcend all conflicts as we finally become our own potential. <\/span>
\nGeorge A. Sheehan<\/span><\/p>\n

The problem with winter sports is that – follow me closely here – they generally take place in winter.\u00a0 <\/span>
\nDave Barry<\/span><\/p>\n

If curling were easy, they’d call it hockey.\u00a0 <\/span>
\nAuthor Unknown<\/span><\/p>\n

Continuous effort \u2014 not strength or intelligence \u2014 is the key to unlocking our potential.<\/span>
\nLiane Cardes<\/span><\/p>\n

If you watch a game, it\u2019s fun. If you play it, it\u2019s recreation. If you work at it, it\u2019s golf.<\/span>
\nBob Hope<\/span><\/p>\n

Champions keep playing until they get it right.<\/span>
\nBillie Jean King<\/span><\/p>\n

A snowflake is one of God’s most fragile creations, but look what they can do when they stick together!\u00a0 <\/span>
\n Author Unknown<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Sports<\/a>
Sports quotes and aphorisms by English-culture.com<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Snowboarding is an activity that is very popular with people who do not feel that regular skiing is lethal enough… I now realize that the small hills you see on ski slopes are formed around the bodies of forty-seven-year-olds who tried to learn snowboarding.\u00a0 <\/span>
\nDave Barry<\/span><\/p>\n

Skiing:\u00a0 the art of catching cold and going broke while rapidly heading nowhere at great personal risk.\u00a0 <\/span>
\nAuthor Unknown<\/span><\/p>\n

Leadership, like coaching, is fighting for the hearts and souls of men and getting them to believe in you.<\/span>
\nEddie Robinson<\/span><\/p>\n

You\u2019re never a loser until you quit trying.<\/span>
\nMike Ditka<\/span><\/p>\n

People in the States used to think that if girls were good at sports their sexuality would be affected. Being feminine meant being a cheerleader, not being an athlete. The image of women is changing now. You don’t have to be pretty for people to come and see you play. At the same time, if you’re a good athlete, it doesn’t mean you’re not a woman.<\/span>
\nMartina Navratilova<\/span><\/p>\n

When you win, say nothing, when you lose, say less.<\/span>
\nPaul Brown<\/span><\/p>\n

Ease brings sport and sport brings rest; For young and old, of all degrees, The mingled lot is best.<\/span>
\nJoanna Baillie<\/span><\/p>\n

I don’t feel right unless I have a sport to play or at least a way to work up a sweat.<\/span>
\nHank Aaron<\/span><\/p>\n

The greatest efforts in sports came when the mind is as still as a glass lake.<\/span>
\nTimothy Gallwey<\/span><\/p>\n

There is a syndrome in sports called “paralysis by analysis.”<\/span>
\nArthur Ashe<\/span><\/p>\n

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.<\/span>
\nRoland Barthes<\/span><\/p>\n

For man, maximum excitement is the confrontation of death and the skillful defiance of it by watching others fed to it as he survives transfixed with rapture.<\/span>
\nErnest Becker<\/span><\/p>\n

Though boys throw stones at frogs in sport, the frogs do not die in sport, but in earnest.<\/span>
\nBion (Greek bucolic poet)<\/span><\/p>\n

Two things only the people anxiously desire, bread and the circus games.<\/span>
\nDecimus Junius Juvenalis<\/span><\/p>\n

When we lose, I eat. When we win, I eat. I also eat when we’re rained out.<\/span>
\nTommy Lasorda<\/span><\/p>\n

I’m fanatical about sport:\u00a0 there seems to me something almost religious about the fact that human beings can organise play, the spirit of play.\u00a0<\/span>
\nSimon Gray<\/span><\/p>\n

When cerebral processes enter into sports, you start screwing up.\u00a0 It’s like the Constitution, which says separate church and state.\u00a0 You have to separate mind and body.<\/span>
\nBill Lee<\/span><\/p>\n

Skiing combines outdoor fun with knocking down trees with your face.\u00a0<\/span>
\nDave Barry<\/span><\/p>\n

The sport of skiing consists of wearing three thousand dollars’ worth of clothes and equipment and driving two hundred miles in the snow in order to stand around at a bar and get drunk.\u00a0 <\/span>
\nP.J. O’Rourke<\/span><\/p>\n

Sports should always be fun.<\/span>
\nCharles Mann<\/span><\/p>\n

Any manager who can’t get along with a .400 hitter is crazy.<\/span>
\nJoe McCarthy<\/span><\/p>\n

In sports… you play from the time you’re eight years old, and then you’re done forever.<\/span>
\nJoe Montana<\/span><\/p>\n

One man practicing sportsmanship is far better than fifty preaching it.<\/span>
\nKnute Rockne<\/span><\/p>\n

In skating over thin ice our safety is in our speed.\u00a0 <\/span>
\nRalph Waldo Emerson<\/span><\/p>\n

It’s a strange world of language in which skating on thin ice can get you into hot water.\u00a0 <\/span>
\nFranklin P. Jones<\/span><\/p>\n

Ice hockey is a form of disorderly conduct in which the score is kept.\u00a0 <\/span>
\nDoug Larson<\/span><\/p>\n

Fifty percent of life in the N.B.A. is sex. The other fifty percent is money.<\/span>
\nDennis Rodman<\/span><\/p>\n

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.<\/span>
\nOuida<\/span><\/p>\n

Do you know what my favorite part of the game is? The opportunity to play.<\/span>
\nMike Singletary<\/span><\/p>\n

Skiing: the art of catching cold and going broke while rapidly heading nowhere at great personal risk.<\/span>
\nAuthor Unknown<\/span><\/p>\n

I asked a ref if he could give me a technical foul for thinking bad things about him. He said, of course not. I said, well, I think you stink. And he gave me a technical. You can’t trust em.<\/span>
\nJim Valvano<\/span><\/p>\n

You can also read:<\/span><\/p>\n

The Olympic Games<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

Olympic Games Quotes<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

The Paralympic Games<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

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