300+ Best Sports Quotes of All Time

Updated

Navid.me is reader-supported. When you buy through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Learn more.

Looking for the best sports quotes of all time? In this post, you’ll discover the ultimate collection of 200+ famous sports quotes to inspire and motivate you.

Best Sports Quotes of All Time

Are you looking for the best sports quotes of all time? Then you’ve come to the right place.

In this article, you’ll discover a collection of 200+ of the most inspirational sports quotes you need to know to achieve greatness in your business and life (be sure to check out the FAQ section for some bonus content as well).

Let’s dive right in.

Sports quotes for motivation

These sports quotes for motivation will give you courage and the perseverance you need to keep going.

“You are never really playing an opponent. You are playing yourself, your own highest standards, and when you reach your limits, that is real joy.” – Arthur Ashe

“What makes something special is not just what you have to gain, but what you feel there is to lose.” – Andre Agass

“The more difficult the victory, the greater the happiness in winning.” – Pele

“It ain’t about how hard you can hit. It’s about how hard you can get hit, and keep moving forward.” – Sylvester Stallone, Rocky Balboa

“Most talented players don’t always succeed. Some don’t even make the team. It’s more what’s inside.” – Brett Favre

“One man can be a crucial ingredient on a team, but one man cannot make a team. ” – Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

“Stubbornness usually is considered a negative; but I think that trait has been a positive for me.” – Cal Ripken Jr.

“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.” – Eddie Reese

“I never left the field saying I could have done more to get ready and that gives me peace of mind.” – Peyton Manning

“Always make a total effort, even when the odds are against you.” – Arnold Palmer

“To uncover your true potential you must first find your own limits and then you have to have the courage to blow past them.” – Picabo Street

“You can motivate by fear, and you can motivate by reward. But both those methods are only temporary. The only lasting thing is self motivation.” – Homer Rice

“You find that you have peace of mind and can enjoy yourself, get more sleep, and rest when you know that it was a one hundred percent effort that you gave–win or lose.” – Gordie Howe

“Your biggest opponent isn’t the other guy. It’s human nature.” – Bobby Knight

“Make each day your masterpiece.” – John Wooden

“Excellence is the gradual result of always striving to do better.” – Pat Riley

“Win If You Can, Lose If You Must, But NEVER QUIT!” – Cameron Trammell

“If you have everything under control, you’re not moving fast enough.” – Mario Andretti

“What do you do with a mistake: recognize it, admit it, learn from it, forget it.” – Dean Smith

“Push yourself again and again. Don’t give an inch until the final buzzer sounds.” – Larry Bird

“If you aren’t going all the way, why go at all?” – Joe Namath

“You can’t put a limit on anything. The more you dream, the farther you get.” – Michael Phelps

“Do not let what you can not do interfere with what you can do.” – John Wooden

“Wisdom is always an overmatch for strength.” – Phil Jackson

“The will to win is important, but the will to prepare is vital.” – Joe Paterno

“Adversity cause some men to break; others to break records.” – William A. Ward

 “It is not the size of a man but the size of his heart that matters.” – Evander Holyfield

“There are only two options regarding commitment. You’re either IN or you’re OUT. There is no such thing as life in-between.” – Pat Riley

“A champion is someone who gets up when he can’t.” – Jack Dempsey

“You’re only as strong as your weakest link.” – Phil Jackson

Sports quotes for Inspiration

These sports quotes for inspiration will inspire you to work harder with the dedication to achieve your goals.

“It’s not whether you get knocked down; it’s whether you get up.” – Vince Lombardi

“When you’re riding, only the race in which you’re riding is important.” – Bill Shoemaker

“Age is no barrier. It’s a limitation you put on your mind.” – Jackie Joyner-Kersee

“I always felt that my greatest asset was not my physical ability, it was my mental ability.” – Bruce Jenner

“A trophy carries dust. Memories last forever.” – Mary Lou Retton

“Number one is just to gain a passion for running. To love the morning, to love the trail, to love the pace on the track. And if some kid gets really good at it, that’s cool too.” – Pat Tyson

“Most people give up just when they’re about to achieve success. They quit on the one yard line. They give up at the last minute of the game one foot from a winning touchdown.” – Ross Perot

“You have to do something in your life that is honorable and not cowardly if you are to live in peace with yourself.” – Larry Brown

“The five S’s of sports training are: stamina, speed, strength, skill, and spirit; but the greatest of these is spirit.” – Ken Doherty

“An athlete cannot run with money in his pockets. He must run with hope in his heart and dreams in his head.” – Emil Zatopek

“Somewhere behind the athlete you’ve become and the hours of practice and the coaches who have pushed you is a little girl who fell in love with the game and never looked back… play for her.” – Mia Hamm

“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.” – Doug Williams

“It’s not the will to win that matters—everyone has that. It’s the will to prepare to win that matters.” – Paul “Bear” Bryant

“Persistence can change failure into extraordinary achievement.” – Marv Levy

“I’ve learned that something constructive comes from every defeat.” – Tom Landry

“Make sure your worst enemy doesn’t live between your own two ears.” – Laird Hamilton

“I became a good pitcher when I stopped trying to make them miss the ball and started trying to make them hit it.” – Sandy Koufax

“If you can’t outplay them, outwork them.” – Ben Hogan

“People ask me what I do in winter when there’s no baseball. I’ll tell you what I do. I stare out the window and wait for spring.” – Rogers Hornsby

“Most people never run far enough on their first wind to find out they’ve got a second.” – William James

“Do you know what my favorite part of the game is? The opportunity to play.” – Mike Singletary

“Continuous effort — not strength or intelligence — is the key to unlocking our potential.” – Liane Cardes

“Good is not good when better is expected.” – Vin Scully

“The difference between the impossible and the possible lies in a person’s determination.” – Tommy Lasorda

“You were born to be a player. You were meant to be here. This moment is yours.” – Herb Brooks

“If you fail to prepare, you’re prepared to fail.” – Mark Spitz

“How you respond to the challenge in the second half will determine what you become after the game, whether you are a winner or a loser.” – Lou Holtz

“Persistence can change failure into extraordinary achievement.” – Matt Biondi

“Sports serve society by providing vivid examples of excellence.” – George F. Will

“The principle is competing against yourself. It’s about self-improvement, about being better than you were the day before.” – Steve Young

Sports quotes on leadership

These sports quotes on leadership will give you a strong will to step up and accept challenges without fears.

“Leaders aren’t born, they are made. They are made by hard effort, which is the price which all of us must pay to achieve any goal which is worthwhile.” – Vince Lombardi

“Some people want it to happen, some wish it would happen, others make it happen.” – Michael Jordan

“Leadership is diving for a loose ball, getting the crowd involved, getting other players involved. It’s being able to take it as well as dish it out. That’s the only way you’re going to get respect from the players.” – Larry Bird

“To do things you’ve never done before, you have to do things you’ve never done before.” – Sean Payton

“Earn your leadership every day.” – Michael Jordan

“In leadership, there are no words more important than trust. In any organization, trust must be developed among every member of the team if success is going to be achieved.” – Mike Kryzewski

“Think of yourself as an athlete. I guarantee you it will change the way you walk, the way you work, and the decisions you make about leadership, teamwork, and success.” – Mariah Burton Nelson

“Champions aren’t made in the gyms. Champions are made from something they have deep inside them — a desire, a dream, a vision.” – Muhammad Ali

“Luck is a dividend of sweat. The more you sweat, the luckier you get.” – Ray Kroc

“There’s always the motivation of wanting to win. Everybody has that. But a champion needs, in his attitude, a motivation above and beyond winning.” – Pat Riley

“Leadership is getting players to believe in you. If you tell a teammate you’re ready to play as tough as you’re able to, you’d better go out there and do it. Players will see right through a phony. And they can tell when you’re not giving it all you’ve got.” – Larry Bird

“The supreme quality for leadership is unquestionably integrity. Without it, no real success is possible, no matter whether it is on a section gang, a football field, in an army, or in an office.” – Dwight D. Eisenhower 

“A star wants to see himself rise to the top. A leader wants to see those around him rise to the top.” – Simon Sinek

“The final test of a leader is that he leaves behind him in other men the conviction and the will to carry on.” – Walter Lippmann

“Nothing will work unless you do.” – John Wooden

“To have long term success as a coach or in any position of leadership, you have to be obsessed in some way.” – Pat Riley

“Leadership, like coaching, is fighting for the hearts and souls of men and getting them to believe in you.” – Eddie Robinson

“A good leader takes a little more than his share of the blame, a little less than his share of the credit.” – Arnold H. Glasow

“Winning isn’t everything, but the will to win is everything.” – Vince Lombardi

“Leadership must be likeable, affable, cordial, and above all emotional. The fashion of authoritarian leadership is gone. Football is about life. You can’t be angry all day.” – Vicente del Bosque

“The best motivation always comes from within.” – Michael Johnson

“Clarity affords focus.” – Thomas Leonard

“I don’t look at myself as a basketball coach. I look at myself as a leader who happens to coach basketball.” – Mike Krzyzewski

“Once a player joins our team, our priority is to teach him, not worry about the player we didn’t select.” – Tony Dungy

“Your first and foremost job as a leader is to take charge of your own energy and then help to orchestrate the energy of those around you.” – Peter F. Drucker

“My responsibility is leadership, and the minute I get negative, that is going to have an influence on my team.” – Don Shula

“Victory breeds victory. Leadership summons participation.” – Ellen Shaffer

“Talent wins games, but teamwork and intelligence wins championships.” – Michael Jordan

“Treat a person as he is, and he will remain as he is. Treat him as he could be, and he will become what he should be.” – Jimmy Johnson

“Leadership is possible in all different ways, and in all different areas of life. Whether it is with friends or family, I expect them to set a great example for me, and hopefully I will do the same for them. And that is all part of being a leader.” – Steve Nash

“In simplest terms, a leader is one who knows where he wants to go, and gets up, and goes.” – John Erskine

“Sport fosters many things that are good; teamwork and leadership.” – Daley Thompson

“Soar with wit. Conquer with dignity. Handle with care.” – Criss Jami

“Leadership is based on inspiration, not domination; on cooperation, not intimidation.” – William Arthur Ward

Sports quotes about losing

These sports quotes about losing will motivate you that losing is always part of the game that will make you push to your limit and force you to grow.

“Losing is part of the game. If you never lose, you are never truly tested, and never forced to grow.” – David Sirlin

“Losing is only temporary and not all encompassing. You must simply study it, learn from it, and try hard not to lose the same way again. Then you must have the self-control to forget about it.” – John Wooden

“I would prefer even to lose with honor than to win by cheating.” – Sophocles

“If you learn from a loss you have not lost.” – Austin O’Malley

“The trouble with being a good sport is that you have to lose to prove it.” – Croft M. Pentz

“Losing would be painful, but not as painful as knowing there was something else you could’ve done.” – Joe Trippi

“Sometimes you lose. Nothing you can do but admit it.” – Sarah Dessen

“We didn’t lose the game; we just ran out of time.” – Vince Lombardi

“For every winner, there’s a loser. And that person didn’t really need to lose. They just didn’t understand the game plan.” – Buzz Aldrin

“Always imitate the behavior of the winners when you lose.” – George Meredith

“Show me a good loser, and I’ll show you a loser.” – Vince Lombardi

“Lose something every day. Accept the fluster of lost door keys, the hour badly spent. The art of losing isn’t hard to master.” – Elizabeth Bishop

“Any coward can fight a battle when he’s sure of winning; but give me the man who has pluck to fight when he’s sure of losing.” – George Eliot

“We are not interested in the possibilities of defeat; they do not exist.” – Queen Victoria

“A good loser is all right, but it isn’t so much fun to beat him.” – Evan Esar

“I hate to lose more than I like to win.” – Larry Bird

“Always have the situation under control, even if losing. Never betray an inward sense of defeat.” – Arthur Ashe

“I would rather lose in a cause that will someday win, than win in a cause that will someday lose!” – Woodrow Wilson

“Sometimes you must lose everything to gain it again, and the regaining is the sweeter for the pain of loss.” – Cassandra Clare

“What makes defeat so painful is just the awareness that the other has won. It hurts to lose because it feels so good to win.” – David Roochnik

“Nobody remembers who finished second but the guy who finished second.” – Bobby Unser

“Victory has a hundred fathers but defeat is an orphan.” – Galeazzo Ciano

“Losers never know why they are losing. They will mention injuries, the officiating, the weather and bad breaks.” – George Allen

“Close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades.” – George C. Wallace

“You can’t blame your opponents for applying a strategy that beats your brains out with regularity.” – Bill Clinton

“Winning may not be everything, but losing has little to recommend it.” – Dianne Feinstein

“There may be as much nobility in being last as in being first, because the two positions are equally necessary in the world, the one to complement the other.” – Jose Ortega Y Gasset

“One is always more vexed at losing a game of any sort by a single hole or ace, than if one has never had a chance of winning it.” – William Hazlitt

Sports quotes about winning

These sports quotes about winning will make you understand that behind every win or achievement comes hardship, determination, perseverance, and failure.

“Winning isn’t everything, it’s the only thing.” – Vince Lombardi

“The key is not the will to win… everybody has that. It is the will to prepare to win that is important.” – Bobby Knight

“I’ve missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games. 26 times, I’ve been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.” – Michael Jordan

“Show me a gracious loser and I’ll show you a failure.” – Knute Rockne

“Winning is great, sure, but if you are really going to do something in life, the secret is learning how to lose. Nobody goes undefeated all the time. If you can pick up after a crushing defeat, and go on to win again, you are going to be a champion someday.” – Wilma Rudolph

“I hated every minute of training, but I said, ‘Don’t quit. Suffer now and live the rest of your life as a champion.’” – Muhammad Ali

“When you win, say nothing. When you lose, say less.” – Paul Brown

“A champion is afraid of losing. Everyone else is afraid of winning.” – Billie Jean King

“Winning isn’t everything, but it beats anything that comes in second.” – Paul Bryant

“Losing feels worse than winning feels good.” – Vin Scully

“Winning is the most important thing in my life, after breathing. Breathing first, winning next.” – George Steinbrenner

“You learn more from losing than winning. You learn how to keep going.” – Morgan Wootten

“It kills me to lose. If I’m a troublemaker, and I don’t think that my temper makes me one, then it’s because I can’t stand losing. That’s the way I am about winning, all I ever wanted to do was finish first.” – Jackie Robinson

“A champion needs a motivation above and beyond winning.” – Pat Riley

“The biggest thrill wasn’t in winning on Sunday but in meeting the payroll on Monday.” – Art Rooney

“At a young age winning is not the most important thing… the important thing is to develop creative and skilled players with good confidence.” – Arsene Wenger

“I love winning, I can take the losing, but most of all I Love to play.” – Boris Becker

“Winning is not a sometime thing; it’s an all 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.” – Vince Lombardi

“Nothing is black-and-white, except for winning and losing, and maybe that’s why people gravitate to that so much.” – Steve Nash

“It’s not whether you win or lose, it’s how you play the game.” – Grantland Rice

“I never did say that you can’t be a nice guy and win. I said that if I was playing third base and my mother rounded third with the winning run, I’d trip her up.” – Leo Durocher

“There are more important things in life than winning or losing a game.” – Lionel Messi

“Imagination has a great deal to do with winning.” – Mike Krzyzewski

“Winning takes precedence over all. There’s no gray area. No almost.” – Kobe Bryant

“No matter how much you’ve won, no matter how many games, no matter how many championships, no matter how many Super Bowls, you’re not winning now, so you stink.” – Bill Parcells

“All I cared about in tennis was winning.” – Pete Sampras

“Winning solves everything.” – Tiger Woods

“The secret to winning is constant, consistent management.” – Tom Landry

“Competing at the highest level is not about winning. It’s about preparation, courage, understanding and nurturing your people, and heart. Winning is the result.” – Joe Torre

“The person that said winning isn’t everything, never won anything.” – Mia Hamm

Sports quotes about hard work

These sports quotes about hard work will make you keep focusing on your goals and put all the necessary effort for you to succeed.

“The dictionary is the only place that success comes before work. Work is the key to success, and hard work can help you accomplish anything.” – Vince Lombardi Jr.

“Success is not final; failure is not fatal: It is the courage to continue that counts.” – Winston S. Churchill

“It is always the simple that produces the marvelous.” – Amelia Barr

“Permanence, perseverance, and persistence in spite of all obstacles, discouragements, and impossibilities: It is this, that in all things distinguishes the strong soul from the weak.” – Thomas Carlyle

“Success usually comes to those who are too busy to be looking for it.” – Henry David Thoreau

“Skill comes from consistent and deliberate practice.” – Shawn Allen

“I was obliged to be industrious. Whoever is equally industrious will succeed equally well.” – Johann Sebastian Bach

“Perseverance, the secret of all triumphs.” – Victor Hugo

“Nobody ever drowned in his own sweat.” – Unknown

“The road to success is not easy to navigate, but with hard work, drive and passion, it’s possible to achieve the American dream.” – Tommy Hilfiger

“It is better to fail in originality than to succeed in imitation.” – Herman Melville

“Opportunities don’t happen. You create them.” – Chris Grosser

“Let us make our future now, and let us make our dreams tomorrow’s reality.” – Malala Yousafzai

“Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence.” – Calvin Coolidge

“Don’t give up in times of difficulty. Persevere on as there will be an end to these.” – Edward Dunedin

“Success is no accident. It is hard work, perseverance, learning, studying, sacrifice and most of all, love of what you are doing or learning to do.” – Pelé

“Some people dream of success while others wake up and work hard at it.” – Wayne Huizenga

“I do not know anyone who has got to the top without hard work. That is the recipe. It will not always get you to the top but should get you pretty near.” – Margaret Thatcher

“The road to success and the road to failure are almost exactly the same.” – Colin R. Davis

“All you need is the plan, the road map, and the courage to press on to your destination.” – Earl Nightingale

“Look at a stonecutter hammering away at his rock, perhaps a hundred times without as much as a crack showing in it. Yet at the hundred-and-first blow, it will split in two, and I know it was not the last blow that did it, but all that had gone before.” – Jacob A. Riis

“Fools wait for a lucky day, but every day is a lucky day for an industrious man.” – Gautama Buddha

“Perseverance means that achieving a goal is not an ‘if’ possibility but, instead is a ‘definite’ passion.” – Byron Pulsifer

“Any reward that is worth having only comes to the industrious. The success which is made in any walk of life is measured almost exactly by the amount of hard work that is put into it.” – Calvin Coolidge

“Perseverance is failing 19 times and succeeding the 20th.” – Julie Andrews

“It’s hard to beat a person who never gives up.” – Babe Ruth

“Don’t be afraid to give up the good to go for the great.” – John D. Rockefeller

“Never, never, never, never give up.” – Winston Churchill

“An industrious sinner I much prefer to a lazy saint.” – Sophie Kerr

“I find that the harder I work, the more luck I seem to have.” – Thomas Jefferson

Sports quotes about teamwork

These sports quotes about teamwork will make you work effectively as a team and rely on each other to succeed.

“Coming together is a beginning. Keeping together is progress. Working together is success.” – Henry Ford

“Teamwork makes the dream work.” – Bang Gae

“Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much” – Helen Keller

“The strength of the team is each member. The strength of each member is the team.” – Phil Jackson

“A successful team is a group of many hands and one mind.” – Bill Bethel

“Good teams incorporate teamwork into their culture, creating the building blocks for success.”  – Ted Sundquist

“None of us is as smart as all of us.” – Ken Blanchard

“No individual can win a game by himself.” – Pele

“No one can whistle a symphony. It takes a whole orchestra to play it.” – HE Luccock

“Teamwork is the secret that makes common people achieve uncommon results.” – Ifeanyi Onuoha

“The ratio of We’s to I’s is the best indicator of the development of a team.” – Lewis B Ergen

“Individual commitment to a group effort – that’s what makes a team work, a company work, a society work, a civilization work.” – Vince Lombardi

“So powerful is the light of unity that it can illuminate the whole earth.” – Bahaullah

“We must all hang together or most assuredly we shall all hang separately.” – Ben Franklin

“It is literally true that you can succeed best and quickest by helping others to succeed.” – Napoleon Hill

“Trust is knowing that when a team member does push you, they’re doing it because they care about the team.” – Patrick Lencioni

“A group becomes a team when each member is sure enough of himself and his contribution to praise the skills of others.” – Norman Shidle

“If a team is to reach its potential, each player must be willing to subordinate his personal goals to the good of the team.” – Bud Wilkinson

“People achieve more as a result of working with others than against them.” – Dr. Allan Fromme

“Teamwork is the ability to work together toward a common vision.” – Andrew Carnegie

“Teamwork. A few harmless flakes working together can unleash an avalanche of destruction.” – Justin Sewell

“Interdependent people combine their own efforts with the efforts of others to achieve their greatest success.” – Stephen Covey

“The nice thing about teamwork is that you always have others on your side.” – Margaret Carty

“There is no ‘I’ in the team but there is a win.” – Michael Jordan

“Strategy is not a solo sport, even if you’re the CEO.” – Max McKeown

“A leader must inspire or his team will expire.” – Orrin Woodward

“Bad attitudes will ruin your team.” – Terry Bradshaw

“The main ingredient of stardom is the rest of the team.” – John Wooden

“Teams share the burden and divide the grief.” – Doug Smith

“Everyone is needed, but no one is necessary.” – Bruce Coslet

“On this team, we’re all united in a common goal: to keep my job.” – Lou Holtz

“With an enthusiastic team you can achieve almost anything.” – Tahir Shah

“Many of us are more capable than some of us, but none of us is as capable as all of us.” – Tom Wilson

“Individually, we are one drop. Together, we are an ocean.” – Ryunosuke Satoro

“We realized that no one of us could be as good as all of us playing unselfishly.” – Bill Bradley

“Sticks in a bundle are unbreakable.” – Kenyan Proverb

“When he took time to help the man up the mountain, lo, he scaled it himself.” – Tibetan Proverb

Sports quotes about confidence

These sports quotes about confidence will give you a boost of self-confidence to believe in your abilities.

“People wrote me off, but I believed in myself. I got the confidence back, and it grew and grew. I won my first major and my last at the place that changed my life.” – Pete Sampras

“I think in the lifetime of a tennis player there are many times where you feel that tremendous confidence.” – Gabriela Sabatini

“Life is not easy for any of us. But what of that? We must have perseverance and above all confidence in ourselves. We must believe we are gifted for something and that this thing must be attained.” – Marie Curie

“I didn’t believe in team motivation. I believe in getting a team prepared so it knows it will have the necessary confidence when it steps on the field and be prepared to play a good game.” – Tom Landry

“What’s the worst thing that can happen to a quarterback? He loses his confidence.” – Terry Bradshaw

“I think it’s the mark of a great player to be confident in tough situations.” – John McEnroe

“If you have confidence you have patience. Confidence, that is everything.” – Ilie Nastase

“Confidence comes not from always being right but from not fearing to be wrong.” – Peter T. McIntyre

“Nothing is too high for a man to reach, but he must climb with care and confidence.” – Hans Christian Andersen

“Leadership is a matter of having people look at you and gain confidence, seeing how you react. If you’re in control, they’re in control.” – Tom Landry

“You need to play with supreme confidence, or else you’ll lose again, and then losing becomes a habit.” – Joe Paterno

“Besides pride, loyalty, discipline, heart, and mind, confidence is the key to all the locks.” – Joe Paterno

“Confidence is a lot of this game or any game. If you don’t think you can, you won’t.” – Jerry West

“Sports can do so much. It’s give me confidence, self esteem, discipline, and motivation.” – Mia Hamm

“Have confidence that if you have done a little thing well, you can do a bigger thing well too.” – David Storey

“Confidence is a plant of slow growth; especially in an aged bosom.” – Samuel Johnson

“Winning breeds confidence and confidence breeds winning.” – Hubert Green

“You’ve got to take the initiative and play your game. In a decisive set, confidence is the difference.” – Chris Evert

“Concentration comes out of a combination of confidence and hunger.” – Arnold Palmer

“One important key to success is confidence. An important key to self-confidence is preparation.” – Arthur Ashe

“Experience tells you what to do; confidence allows you to do it.” – Stan Smith

“If you don’t have confidence, you’ll always find a way not to win.” – Carl Lewis

“Confidence in golf means being able to concentrate on the problem at hand with no outside interference.” – Tom Watson

“Confidence is contagious. So is lack of confidence.” – Vince Lombardi

“It takes hundreds of good golf shots to gain confidence, but only one bad one to lose it.” – Jack Nicklaus

“Confidence is everything. From there, it’s a small step to winning.” – Craig Stadler

“There is a difference between conceit and confidence. A quarterback has to have confidence. Conceit is bragging about yourself. Confidence means you believe you can get the job done.” – Johnny Unitas

“Confidence and courage comes through preparation and practice.” – Anonymous

“Confidence is good, even necessary, but overconfidence can be a dangerous thing.” – Pele

“Confidence allows you to progress in something you’re attempting to accomplish, whether it’s playing basketball or baseball or whether it’s trying to succeed in business.” – Michael Jordan

Sports quotes for kids

These sports quotes for kids will make you teach your kids the value of sportsmanship and help them to play hard and fair at the same time develop their characters.

“Champions keep playing until they get it right.” – Billie Jean King

“Once you learn to quit, it becomes a habit.” – Vince Lombardi

“The will must be stronger than the skill.” – Muhammad Ali

“It does not matter how many times you get knocked down, but how many times you get up.” – Vince Lombardi

“It is your response to winning and losing that makes you a winner or a loser.” – Harry Sheeny

“You miss 100 percent of the shots you never take.” – Wayne Gretzky

“I never thought about losing, but now that it’s happened, the only thing is to do it right.” – Muhammad Ali

“The impossible is often untried.” – Jim Goodwin

“Do not throw in the towel; use it for wiping the sweat off your face.” – Unknown

“The man who can drive himself further once the effort gets painful is the man who will win.

– Sir Roger Bannister

“A winner never whines. – Paul Brown

“I can accept failure. Everyone fails at something. But I can’t accept not trying.” – Michael Jordan

“If you can believe it, the mind can achieve it.” – Ronnie Lott

“The skill to win is important, but the will to win is vital.” – Joe Paterno

“Show me a guy who’s afraid to look bad, and I’ll show you a guy you can beat every time.” – Lou Brock

“It ain’t over till it’s over.” – Yogi Berra

“One man practicing sportsmanship is far better than a hundred teaching it.” – Knute Rockne

“I think sportsmanship is knowing that it is a game, that we are only as good as our opponents, and whether you win or lose, to always give 100 percent.” – Sue Wicks

“Teamwork is the fuel that allows common people to produce uncommon results.” – Unknown

“You win some, you lose some. But you live. You live to fight another day.” – Mr. Jones

“Impossible is nothing.” – Adidas slogan

“The time when there is no one to feel sorry for you or cheer you is when a player is truly made.” – Tim Duncan

“Failing to prepare is preparing to fail.” – Wayne Gretzky

“To play is in the mind. To win is in the heart.” – Jennifer McCombs

“Winners must have two things – definite goals and a burning desire to achieve them.” – Brad Burden

Funny sports quotes

These funny sports quotes will give you a good laugh and find some humor in the sports world.

“I know I am getting better at golf because I am hitting fewer spectators.” – Gerald R. Ford

“The reason women don’t play football is because 11 of them would never wear the same outfit in public.” –  Phyllis Diller

“All hockey players are bilingual. They know English and profanity.” – Gordie Howe

“The first half was even, the second half was even worse.” – Pat Spillane

“Sports are the reason I am out of shape. I watch them all on TV.” – Thomas Sowell

“Baseball is almost the only orderly thing in a very un-orderly world. If you get three strikes, even the best lawyer in the world can’t get you off.” – Bill Veeck

“Wrestling is ballet with violence.” – Jesse Ventura

“Playing polo is like trying to play golf during an earthquake.” – Sylvester Stallone

“If a tie is like kissing your sister, losing is like kissing your grandmother with her teeth out.” – George Brett

“Rugby is a beastly game played by gentlemen; soccer is a gentleman’s game played by beasts; football is a beastly game played by beasts.” – Henry Blaha

“Baseball is the only field of endeavor where a man can succeed three times out of ten and be considered a good performer.” – Ted Williams

“If you make every game a life-and-death thing, you’re going to have problems. You’ll be dead a lot.” – Dean Smith

“Baseball is like church. Many attend, few understand.” – Leo Durocher

“I don’t have any tricky plays, I’d rather have tricky players.” – Abe Lemons

“You win some, lose some, and wreck some.” – Dale Earnhardt

“I think football would become an even better game if someone could invent a ball that kicks back.” – Eric Morecambe

“The rules of soccer are very simple, basically it is this: if it moves, kick it. If it doesn’t move, kick it until it does.” – Phil Woosnam

“Pro football is like nuclear warfare. There are no winners, only survivors.” – Frank Gifford

“Serious sport is war minus the shooting.” – George Orwell

“If a man watches three football games in a row, he should be declared legally dead.” – Erma Bombeck

“The breakfast of champions is not cereal, it’s the opposition.” – Nick Seitz

“One day of practice is like one day of clean living. It doesn’t do you any good.” – Abe Lemmons

“If practice makes perfect, and no one is perfect, why practice?” – Derek P.

“If you think it’s hard to meet new people, try picking up the wrong golf ball.” – Jack Lemmon

“To me, boxing is like a ballet, except there’s no music, no choreography, and the dancers hit each other.” – Jack Handey

“The only way to prove that you’re a good sport is to lose.” – Ernie Banks

“I figure practice puts your brains in your muscles.” – Sam Snead

“It’s a round ball and a round bat, and you gotta hit it square.” – Pete Rose

“The trouble with referees is that they know the rules, but they do not know the game.” – Bill Shankly

“The NFL, like life, is full of idiots.” – Randy Cross

Short sports quotes

These short sports quotes will give you inspiration and learn what motivates every athlete and coaches during their play and competitions.

“That awkward moment when you’re wearing Nike’s and you can’t do it.” – Unknown

“The fewer rules a coach has, the fewer rules there are for players to break.” – John Madden

“Tennis and golf are best played, not watched.” – Roger Kahn

“Losing is the great American sin.” – Jerome Holtzman

“If you can beat a team 6-5, you’re better off than losing 5-4.” – Casey Stengel

“The most important thing about batting is getting the bat to hit the ball.” – Michael Holding

“Football games turn on things that are done by players.” – Willie Miller

“I knew I had to win today, otherwise she would have beaten me.” – Heather Watson

“It’s bad to get hit on your chin. Because it’s attached to your head.” – Rex Hudler

“Solo homers usually come with no one on base.” – Ralph Kinner

“As the ball gets softer, it loses its hardness.” – Geoff Boycott

“In order to start winning, we have to stop losing.” – Emmanuel Arceneaux

“It’s hard to get a hit if you strike out.” – Larry Dieker

“We need the players, because without the players we wouldn’t have a team.” – Howard Wilkinson

“Better teams win more often than the teams that are not so good.” – Tom Watt

“This is not that rural sports alone invite, but all the grateful country breathes delight.” – John Gay

“Baseball is like church. Many attend; few understand.” – Leo Durocher

“Baseball is 90% mental. The other half is physical.” – Yogi Berra

“Just sports. Playing games versus playing – sports?” – Filmtwob

“I’ve never lost a game, I just ran out of time.” – Michael Jordan

FAQs | Top sports quotes

Here are some of the most frequently asked questions about sports quotes.

Final thoughts on the best sports quotes

I hope you enjoyed this ultimate collection of the best inspirational travel quotes to help you achieve success in your business and life.

“People don’t buy what you do; they buy why you do it. And what you do simply proves what you believe.

Simon Sinek profile

Simon Sinek

NY Times Bestselling Author & Founder of The Optimism Company

If you found the list of top travel quotes valuable, don’t forget to share them on social media with all your creator and entrepreneur friends to inspire and motivate them.

Whenever you’re ready, here are 5 ways I can help you:

  1. The Navid Insider Newsletter (Free) – 
  2. The Ultimate Creator Toolbox (Free) –
  3. The Ultimate Video Gear Guide (Free) – 
  4. Subscribe to my YouTube Channel (Free) – 
  5. Promote yourself to 10,000+ subscribers by sponsoring my newsletter.

Navid.me is reader-supported. When you buy through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Learn more.

Navid Moazzez Avatar

You might also like

  • 100+ Best Artificial Intelligence Quotes of All Time

    Read More
  • The Ultimate List of The Best Marketing Quotes of All Time

    Read More
  • 100+ Best Vishen Lakhiani Quotes to Inspire You

    Read More

Video library