Quotes About Athletics And Life

“Athletics lasts for such a short period of time. It ends for people. But while it lasts, it creates this make-believe world where normal rules don't apply. We build this false atmosphere. When it's over and the harsh reality sets in, that's the real joke we play on people ... Everybody wants to experience that superlative moment, and being an athlete can give you that. It's Camelot for them. But there's even life after it.”

— H.G. Bissinger

“To me, we must learn to spell the word RESPECT. We must respect the rights and properties of our fellowman. And then learn to play the game of life, as well as the game of athletics, according to the rules of society. If you can take that and put it into practice in the community in which you live, then, to me you have won the greatest championship.”

— Jesse Owens

“Nothing good comes in life or athletics unless a lot of hard work has preceded the effort. Only temporary success is achieved by taking short cuts.”

— Roger Staubach

“A big part of my life is music education because it changed my life - but arts, academics and athletics should all be equally treated in the school.”

— Flea

“You have to be positive, and I'm not just talking about athletics, this also applies to life.”

— Sheryl Swoopes

“I knew I could sing when I was about 7 years old. But since athletics was very much the forefront of my life, and I was kind of doing that a lot, I don't think anybody was caring or looking for me to be singing anything. So, yeah, I just kept it hidden from everyone.”

— Liv Warfield

“One of the great lessons I've learned in athletics is that you've got to discipline your life. No matter how good you may be, you've got to be willing to cut out of your life those things that keep you from going to the top.”

— Bob Richards

“Athletics: it's a wonderful thing, it's a spell-binding thing, nothing in life has quite as much pageantry, as much emotion within a finite time frame, it's incredibly exciting.”

— H.G. Bissinger

“Athletics provided a life preserver for me, and that maybe kept me out of trouble. I never partied in high school. I mostly just dated.”

— Bill Fagerbakke

“My childhood ambition was to be an Olympic swimmer like my aunt, but that died a quick death when I discovered other sports. I swam very competitively till I was 15, then I swam for fun until I was 18. But athletics remain a very big part of my life.”

— Teddy Sears

“I swam very competitively till I was 15, then I swam for fun until I was 18. But athletics remain a very big part of my life. I try to keep that as much in balance with work as I can.”

— Teddy Sears

“Don't walk through life just playing football. Don't walk through life just being an athlete. Athletics will fade. Character and integrity and really making an impact on someone's life, that's the ultimate vision, that's the ultimate goal - bottom line.”

— Ray Lewis

“What is learned on the athletic field is not forgotten, nor are the lessons of character that are forged there ever lost. Consider the contributions in the field of public life, business, law, medicine, and the military of those who actively participated in athletics.”

— Robert Kennedy

“It has always been my thought that the most important single ingredient to success in athletics or life is discipline. I have many times felt that this word is the most ill-defined in all of our language. My definition isas follows: 1. Do what has to be done; 2. When it has to be done; 3. As well as it can be done; and 4. Do it it that way all the time.”

— Bobby Knight

“I think that there's too much sugar in the world and not enough salt. Kids want to be challenged. Humans want to aspire to something. You don't win in life and you don't win in athletics with softness or selfishness.”

— Buzz Williams

“But don't forget my ideas are only what's been written down in history by the great people of the world who've gone before. All I've done is condense the wisdom of the world into an attitude for athletics. Athletics aren't just running, it's a way of life”

— Percy Cerutty

“Potential does not always ensure success. The greatest players have not always been the most endowed. In athletics, we often hear the phrase, "He has the will to win". I think this is wrong. We can have the greatest will to do well. But unless we have prepared, it is of little use. Really, it should be the "will to prepare". Those who succeed have this will, whether it be in athletics, whether it be in school, whether it be in their chosen vocation, whether it be on a mission, or in almost any other phase of their life.”

— LaVell Edwards