600 Inspirational Sports Leadership Quotes (2023)

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

2. “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 winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.” ~ Michael Jordan

3. “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

4. “Most people get excited about games, but I’ve got to be excited about practice, because that’s my classroom.”

5. “It is not what the coach knows; it is what his players have learned.”

6. “I believe in the impossible because no one else does.” —Florence Griffith Joyner

7. “Without self-discipline, success is impossible, period.”– Lou Holtz

8. “I have learned over the years how to hold a team together. How to lift some men up, how to calm others down, until finally they’ve got one heartbeat, together, a team.”

9. “Ability is what you’re capable of doing. Motivation determines what you do. Attitude determines how well you do it.” – Lou Holtz

10. “The integrity and self-esteem gained from winning the battle against extremity are the richest treasures in my life.” — Diana Nyad

11. “To paly the game is great, to win the game is greater, but to love the game is the greatest of all.” ― Palestra Palque

12. “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

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

14. “You miss 100 percent of the shots you don’t take.” – Wayne Gretzky

15. “Sports is human life in microcosm.” ― Howard Cosell

16. “Experience is a hard teacher because she gives the test first, the lesson afterward.” – Vernon Law

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

18. “To be prepared is half the victory.” Miguel Cervantes

19. “Life begins at the end of your comfort zone.” —Neale Donald Walsh

20. “There is another side [to ego] that can wreck a team or an organization. That is being distracted by your own importance. It can come from your insecurity in working with others. It can be the need to draw attention to yourself in the public arena. It can be a feeling that others are a threat to your own territory. These are all negative manifestations of ego, and if you are not alert to them, you get diverted and your work becomes diffused. Ego in these cases makes people insensitive to how they work with others and it ends up interfering with the real goal of any group efforts.”

21. “I don’t want to be the next Michael Jordan, I only want to be Kobe Bryant.” —Kobe Bryant

22. “On a football team, it’s not the strength of the individual players, but it is the strength of the unit and how they all function together.” – Bill Belichik

23. “If an athlete wants to be perceived as a focused and relentless competitor, then he must know how to look the part before he can play it.”

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

25. A man who has no imagination has no wings

26. “Being nervous is not something you should be ashamed of. Nervous means you care, you really want to do well.” —Paula Creamer

27. “It’s what you learn after you think you know it all that really counts.” – John Wooden

28. Customer Engagement – What’s Your Marketing Soup of the Day?

29. “The potential for greatness lives within each of us.” – Wilma Rudolph

30. “A baseball game is twice as much fun if you’re seeing it on the company’s time.” ― William Feather

31. “I don’t run away from a challenge because I am afraid. Instead, I run toward it because the only way to escape fear is to trample it beneath your feet.” – Nadia Comăneci

32. “You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.” – Wayne Gretzky

33. “I always want to give more than I gave yesterday.” – Allyson Felix

34. “Love is playing every game as if it’s your last.” ― Michael Jordan

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

36. “Goals prepare Olympic athletes physically and mentally. Did you know that goals are used by sports psychologists in order to help athletes improve their performance?” – Paul Bailey

37. “It’s just a job. Grass grows, birds fly, waves pound the sand. I beat people up.” – Muhammad Ali

38. “If you don’t believe in yourself, why is anyone else going to believe in you.”

39. “I’ll always be Number 1 to myself.” — Moses Malone

40. “Never let the fear of striking out get in your way.” – Babe Ruth

41. “They say discipline and dedication and respect are the key factors, but patience is a virtue that is absolutely essential!” —Ria Ramnarine

42. “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

43. “All it takes is one person who is committed, focused, and on a mission to spark an entire team into believing in themselves.”

44. A man who views the world the same at 50 as he did at 20 has wasted 30 years of his life.

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

46. “Run when you can, walk if you have to, crawl if you must; just never give up.” – Dean Karnazes

47. “Never say never because limits, like fears, are often just an illusion.” – Michael Jordan

48. “No man can avoid being born average,but no man has to stay average.” — Satchel Paige

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

50. “You can’t let success diminish the desire to be a winner. There’s room for improvement in every sportsman.” — Lionel Messi

51. “You’ll score a lot of goals in your career but not one of them will happen without the help of a teammate.” – Abby Wambach

52. “Even while they teach, men learn.” —Seneca the Younger

53. “Don’t measure yourself by what you have accomplished, but by what you should have accomplished with your ability.” – John Wooden

54. “You must have confidence in your competence.” – Elijah Cummings

55. “The only way to prove you are a good sport is to lose.” – Ernie Banks

56. “It is a rough road that leads to the heights of greatness.” — Seneca the Younger

57. “Every strike brings me closer to the next home run.” Babe Ruth

58. On leading people toward their potential.

59. “I don’t have to wait for nobody, I move when I wanna move.” – Floyd Mayweather

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

61. “A crust eaten in peace is better than a banquet partaken in anxiety.”

62. “A person always doing his or her best becomes a natural leader, just by example.”

63. Hunger not for success, but for excellence. And don’t let anyone else define excellence for you.

64. “Kill them with success and bury them with a smile.” – Usain Bolt

65. “When you see a good move, look for a better one.” – Emanuel Lasker

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

67. “You’ve got to be very careful if you don’t know where you are going, because you might not get there.” – Yogi Berra

68. “Experience tells you what to do; confidence allows you to do it.”

69. “Set your goals high, and don’t stop till you get there.” – Bo Jackson

70. “If you watch a game, it’s fun; if you play it, it’s recreation; if you work at it, it’s golf.” ― Evan Esar

71. “The definition of courage is going from defeat to defeat with enthusiasm.”

72. “Cancer can take away all my physical abilities. It cannot touch my mind, it cannot touch my heart and it cannot touch my soul. And those three things are going to carry on forever.” – Jimmy Valvano

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

74. “Losing feels worse than winning feels good.” — Vin Scully

75. “Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm.”

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

77. “If he is to become a ball player, he must learn the rules of the game. And, contrary to popular thinking, children appreciate rules.” ― Billy Graham

78. “Just play. Have fun. Enjoy the game.” Michael Jordan

79. “Many times, I had to dig deep and perform. All of that adversity helped me and drove me to want to be the best.” —Hayley Wickenheiser

80. “You learn you can do your best even when its hard, even when you’re tired and maybe hurting a little bit. It feels good to show some courage. “ — Joe Namath

81. “Never quit. It is the easiest cop-out in the world. Set a goal and don’t quit until you attain it. When you do attain it, set another goal, and don’t quit until you reach it. Never quit.”

82. “Only he who can see the invisible can do the impossible.” – Frank L. Gaines

83. “Things turn out best for those who make the best of the way things turn out.”

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

85. “You can accomplish anything in life provided you don’t mind who gets the credit.”

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

87. “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

88. “It is action that creates motivation.” —Steve Backley

89. “Earn your Leadership everyday.” ~ Michael Jordan

90. “Never let your head hang down. Never give up and sit down and grieve. Find another way.”– Satchel Paige

91. “Winners never quit and quitters never win. Sports do not build character. They reveal it.” – Heywood Broun

92. “The ability to conquer one’s self is no doubt the most precious of all things that sports bestows.” — Olga Korbut

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

94. “Anyone can support a team that is winning — it takes no courage. But to stand behind a team, to defend a team when it is down and really needs you, that takes a lot of courage.” – Bart Starr

95. “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

96. “Our 85′ Bears team was a bunch of characters with character.”

97. “The rewards are going to come, but my happiness is just loving the sport and having fun performing.” – Jackie Joyner Kersee

98. “True disputants are like true sportsmen: their whole delight is in the pursuit.” — Alexander Pope

99. “Without self-discipline, success is impossible, period.” – Lou Holtz

100. If my mind can conceive it, and my heart can believe it—then I can achieve it

101. “I am a member of a team, and I rely on the team, I defer to it and sacrifice for it, because the team, not the individual, is the ultimate champion.” – Mia Hamm

102. “Leadership is more about responsibility than ability!”

103. “Champions keep playing until they get it right.” — Billie Jean King, Tennis Player

104. “I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.” – Michael Jordan

105. “The highest compliment that you can pay me is to say that I work hard every day, that I never dog it.”– Wayne Gretzky

106. “Coaching is people management – getting people to do what you want them to do and like doing it.”

107. “I don’t plan on being disappointed. We plan on being really good, and obviously, we plan on winning.” – Gregg Troy

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

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

110. “If you are afraid of failure, you don’t deserve to be successful.” Charles Barkely

111. “A coach should never be afraid to ask questions of anyone he could learn from.”

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

113. “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

114. “You play to win the game…Hello. You play to win the game.” — Herman Edwards

115. “Remember, once you set a goal, it’s all about how hard you’re willing to work, how much you’re willing to sacrifice and how badly you truly want it.” – J.J. Watt

116. “It’s not the will to win, but the will to prepare to win that makes the difference.” – Bear Bryant

117. “Strength does not come from winning. Your struggles develop your strengths.” — Arnold Schwarzenegger

118. “The absolute bottom line in coaching is organization and preparing for practice.”

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

120. “You should never stay at the same level. Always push yourself to the next.” —Marnelli Dimzon

121. “You can’t get much done in life if you only work on the days when you feel good.” – Jerry West

122. “I would never do anything outside of the rules of play.” – Tom Brady

123. “I’ve always made a total effort, even when the odds seemed entirely against me. I never quit trying; I never felt that I didn’t have a chance to win.” – Arnold Palmer

124. “When people ask me now if I miss coaching UCLA basketball games, the national championships, the attention, the trophies, and everything that goes with them, I tell them this: I miss the practices.”

125. “Success is the inner satisfaction and peace of mind that come from knowing I did the best I was capable of doing for the group.”

126. “Passion is a huge prerequisite to winning.” — Kerri Walsh Jennings, Beach Volleyball Player

127. “I think the most important thing about coaching is that you have to have a sense of confidence about what you’re doing. You have to be a salesman and you have to get your players, particularly your leaders, to believe in what you’re trying to accomplish on the basketball floor.”

128. “Perfection is not attainable, but if we chase perfection, we can catch excellence.” — Vince Lombardi, legendary Green Bay Packers coach

129. “Seek opportunities to show you care. The smallest gestures often make the biggest difference.” John Wooden

130. “I just knew if it could be done, it had to be done, and I did it.” —Gertrude Ederle

131. “Selecting the right person for the right job is the largest part of coaching.”

132. If something isn’t working, try something new and different. Innovate. Never give up. Never.

133. He who is not courageous enough to take risks will accomplish nothing in life.

134. “Being a good teammate isn’t about recognition. I do it because it makes me whole and complete.” – Dwyane Wade

135. “Comfort the challenged, and challenge the comfortable.” – Ric Charlesworth

136. “My only feeling about superstition is that it’s unlucky to be behind at the end of the game.” — Duffy Daugherty

137. “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

138. “It isn’t hard to be good from time to time in sports. What is tough, is being good every day.” — Willie Mays

139. “No matter what life throws at you, or how unfair you think it is, never give up. Pick yourself up and go on.” — Megan Rapinoe, Soccer Player

140. “Run when you can, walk if you have to, crawl if you must; just never give up.” ― Dean Karnazes

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

142. “Part of being a champ is acting like a champ. You have to learn how to win and not run away when you lose.” – Nancy Kerrigan

143. “Today I will do what others won’t, so tomorrow I can accomplish what others can’t.”

144. “If something stands between you and your success, move it. Never be denied.” —Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson

145. “The past doesn’t matter. Take today.” —Becky Sauerbrunn

146. Never give up and sit down and grieve. Find another way.” – Satchel Paige

147. “Be more concerned with your character than your reputation. Because your character is what you really are, while your reputation is merely what others think you are.”

148. On courage and fear.

149. “Whatever is going to happen will happen, whether we worry or not.” – Ana Monnar

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

151. “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

152. “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 habit. Unfortunately, so is losing.”

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

154. “Be more concerned with your character than your reputation. Your character is what you really are, while your reputation is what others think of you.”

155. “There’s no substitute for hard work. If you work hard and prepare yourself, you might get beat, but you’ll never lose.” – Nancy Lieberman

156. “In sports, players need to be reminded of their competition to become motivated to practice. The same can be applied in business.” – Gavin McGinnis

157. “Good coaching may be defined as the development of character, personality and habits of players, plus the teaching of fundamentals and team play.”

158. “A champion is simply someone who did not give up when they wanted to.” – Tom Landry

159. “To give any less than your best is to sacrifice a gift.” — Steve Prefontaine

160. “You should never stay at the same level. Always push yourself to the next.” — Marnelli Dimzon, Footballer

161. “Just play. Have fun. Enjoy the game.” — Michael Jordan

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

163. “I’ve failed over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.” – Michael Jordan

164. “You have to expect things of yourself before you can do them.” – Michael Jordan

165. “Close don’t count in baseball. Close only counts in horseshoes and grenades.” — Frank Robinson

166. “You miss 100 percent of the shots you don’t take.”– Wayne Gretzky

167. “In the sports arena I would say there is nothing like training and preparation. You have to train your mind as much as your body.” — Venus Williams

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

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

170. “You make your own luck. You make it in training.” – Simone Biles

171. “Our emphasis is on execution, not winning.”

172. “He who controls others may be powerful, but he who has mastered himself is mightier still.”

173. “It doesn’t matter what your background is or where you come from, if you have dreams and goals, that’s all that matters.” Serena Williams

174. “Wherever I can impact the game, I will continue to work and to be the best I can be, and if that opportunity comes up, and that’s where I truly be a game-changer, that’s the step I’ll take.”

175. “If you train hard, you’ll not only be hard, you’ll be hard to beat.”– Herschel Walker

176. “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

177. “Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.” ~MLK

178. “In baseball and in business, there are three types of people. Those who make it happen, those who watch it happen, and those who wonder what happened.” – Tommy Lasorda

179. “The key is not the will to win. Everybody has that. It is the will to prepare to win that is important.”

180. “The harder the battle, the sweeter the victory.” — Les Brown

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

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

183. Winning is important to me but what brings me real joy is the experience of being totally engaged in whatever I’m doing

184. “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 habit. Unfortunately, so is losing.” – Vince Lombardi

185. “You can’t win unless you learn how to lose.” – Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

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

187. “If you want to be happy, set a goal that commands your thoughts, liberates your energy, and inspires your hopes.” —Andrew Carnegie

188. “What keeps me going is not winning, but the quest for reaching potential in myself as a coach and my kids as divers. It’s the pursuit of excellence.” – Ron O’Brien

189. “The only place that success comes before work is in the dictionary.”

190. “Dedication requires determination and determination requires dedication. Being number one means to be both, but being both doesn’t make number one.”

191. Having a clearly defined set of principles to work with reduces conflict because it depersonalizes the criticism.

192. “I look for three things in hiring people. The first is personal integrity, the second is intelligence, the third is a high energy level. But if you don’t have the first, the other two will kill you.”

193. “Everybody is going to be excited to play in a Super Bowl. When you still enjoy the preparation and the work part of it, I think you ought to be still doing that. I think as soon as I stop enjoying it, if I can’t produce, if I can’t help a team, that’s when I will stop playing.” — Peyton Manning

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

195. “If you are afraid of failure you don’t deserve to be successful!” – Charles Barkley

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

197. “You win a few, you lose a few. Some get rained out. But you got to dress for all of them.” – Satchel Paige

198. “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

199. “To be as good as it can be, a team has to buy into what you as the coach are doing. They have to feel you’re a part of them and they’re a part of you.”

200. “You don’t demand respect, you earn it.”

201. “I would have thought that the knowledge that you are going to be leapt upon by half-a-dozen congratulatory, but sweaty team-mates would be inducement not to score a goal.” – Arthur Marshall

202. “My thoughts before a big race are usually pretty simple. I tell myself: Get out of the blocks, run your race, stay relaxed. If you run your race, you’ll win… channel your energy. Focus.” — Carl Lewis

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

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

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

206. “It’s hard to beat a person who never gives up.” “Heroes get remembered, but legends never die.” – Babe Ruth

207. “I got more bruises, grass burns and cuts in practice than in match play.” – Jonty Rhodes

208. “You can’t always be the best. You have to remember that everyone makes mistakes sometimes.” —Aly Raisman

209. “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

210. “Today, do what others won’t so tomorrow you can accomplish what others can’t.” — Simone Biles, Gymnast

211. “Never let the fear of striking out get in your way.”

212. “Winning solves everything.” — Tiger Woods

213. “Setbacks motivate me.” — Lindsey Vonn, Alpine Ski Racer

214. “Courage doesn’t mean you don’t get afraid. Courage means you don’t let fear stop you.” Bethany Hamilton

215. “There are always new, grander challenges to confront, and a true winner will embrace each one.” – Mia Hamm

216. “Courage, sacrifice, determination, commitment, toughness, heart, talent, guts. That’s what little girls are made of; the heck with sugar and spice.” —Bethany Hamilton

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

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

219. “Champions keep playing until they get it right.”

220. “Great teams have players who understand their responsibilities.”

221. “Courage doesn’t mean you don’t get afraid. Courage means you don’t let fear stop you.”

222. “Sports for me is when a guy walks off the court, and you really can’t tell whether he won or lost, when he carries himself with pride either way.” — Jim Courier

223. “One man practicing sportsmanship is far better than 50 preaching it.” – Knute Rockne

224. “Life is about choices. You ask the questions and you listen to the answers. Then you listen to your heart.” — Peyton Manning

225. “A common mistake among those who work in sport is spending a disproportional amount of time on “x’s and o’s” as compared to time spent learning about people.”

226. “Just believe in yourself. Even if you don’t pretend that you do and, and some point, you will.” —Venus Williams

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

228. “The ability to conquer one’s self is no doubt the most precious of all things that sports bestows.” —Olga Korbut

229. “Don’t ever ask a player to do something he doesn’t have the ability to do. He’ll just question your ability as a coach, not his as an athlete.”

230. “Today, do what others won’t so tomorrow you can accomplish what others can’t.” — Simone Biles (Credit: Wikimedia Commons)

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

232. “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

233. “I wouldn’t let the boys down, no way. If my arm came off I’d still play.” — Jack Bird

234. “Believe me, the reward is not so great without the struggle.” – Wilma Rudolph

235. “I always try to start out with some type of goal. Then I work backward and think of what I need to do to get there and give myself smaller goals that are more immediate.” —Kristi Yamaguchi

236. “Strive not to be a success, but rather to be of value.” – Albert Einstein

237. “Talent is God given. Be humble. Fame is man-given. Be grateful. Conceit is self-given. Be careful.” – John Wooden

238. “Never give up! Failure and rejection are only the first step to succeeding.” – Jim Valvano

239. “The more you lose yourself in something bigger than yourself, the more energy you will have.”

240. “Sport is singularly able to give us peak experience where we feel completely one with the world and transcend all conflicts as we finally become our own potential.” — George A. Sheehan

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

242. In baseball and in business, there are three types of people. Those who make it happen, those who watch it happen, and those who wonder what happened.

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

244. “I am facing a challenge, I am not facing defeat. Remember this.” – Nikki Rowe

245. Don’t count the days; make the days count.

246. “I’ve never felt my job was to win basketball games – rather, that the essence of my job as a coach was to do everything I could to give my players the background necessary to succeed in life.”

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

248. “Nothing else will show your true character than how you lose.” – Ken Gleed

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

250. “Finding good players is easy. Getting them to play as a team is another story.” – Casey Stengel

251. “A person has to be his own guy. You can take good ideas from a lot of people, but you also have to have some of your own.”

252. “Passion first and everything will fall into place.” —Holly Holm

253. “Sooner or later, those who win are those who think they can.” ― Paul Tournier

254. On aiming high.

255. “There is always going to be a reason why you can’t do something; your job is to constantly look for the reasons why you can achieve your dreams.” —Shannon Miller

256. “Once you give them the power to tell you you’re great, you’ve also given them the power to tell you you’re unworthy. Once you start caring about people’s opinions of you, you give up control.” —Ronda Rousey

257. “Team guts always beats individual greatness.” – Robert Zuppke

258. “You wouldn’t have won if we’d beaten you.” Yogi Berra

259. “It’s not the will to win, but the will to prepare to win that makes the difference.” ~ Bear Bryant

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

261. “Great teamwork is the only way we create the breakthroughs that define our careers.” – Pat Riley

262. “You are the handicap you must face. You are the one who must choose your place.” – James Lane Allen

263. “When the opportunity arises, it is too late to prepare.” ~ John Wooden

264. “The ideal attitude is to be physically loose and mentally tight."

265. “If you think you’re done, you always have at least 40 percent more.” —Lauren Crandall

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

267. “Some people want it to happen, some wish it would happen, others make it happen.” — Michael Jordan, Hall of Fame basketball player

268. “Pressure is a word that is misused in our vocabulary. When you start thinking of pressure, it’s because you’ve started to think of failure.” – Tommy Lasorda

269. “If it doesn’t challenge you, it won’t change you.” – Fred Devito

270. “It’s not the size of the dog in the fight, but the size of the fight in the dog.” – Archie Griffin

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

272. “The only one who can tell you ‘you can’t win’ is you and you don’t have to listen.”—Jessica Ennis-Hill

273. “There may be people that have more talent than you, but there’s no excuse for anyone to work harder than you do.” Derek Jeter

274. “You can’t always be the best. You have to remember that everyone makes mistakes sometimes.” – Aly Raisman

275. “Be more concerned with your character than your reputation, because your character is what you really are, while your reputation is merely what others think you are.” ~ John Wooden

276. “It never gets easier. You just get better.” – Jordan Hoechlin

277. “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

278. “There are certain basic qualities and characteristics you’ve got to have. Number one: you’ve got to have a will to win.” – Bob Richards

279. “An acre of performance is worth a whole world of promise.”

280. “Think training’s hard? Try losing.” Nike Ad Slogan

281. “Show class, have pride, and demonstrate character. If you do, winning takes care of itself.”

282. “For every pass I caught in a game, I caught a thousand in practice.” – Dom Hutson

283. “Nothing will work unless you do.” ~ John Wooden

284. “There may be people that have more talent than you, but there’s no excuse for anyone to work harder than you do.” – Derek Jeter

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

286. “Competitive sports are played mainly on a five-and-a-half inch court, the space between your ears.” – Bobby Jones

287. “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.”

288. “I think sports gave me the first place where this awkward girl could feel comfortable in my own skin. I think that’s true for a lot of women—sports gives you a part of your life where you can work at something and you look in the mirror and you like that person.” – Teri McKeever

289. “You can’t cry when things get a little bit hard. You’ve just got to push through and know that there’s a reason and end to the means.” — Abby Wambach, Soccer Player

290. “I’m not 23 anymore. But the defensive ends and linebackers chasing me are. If I had to chose between youth and experience, I’d take experience every time.” — Peyton Manning

291. “Don’t give up. Don’t ever give up.” – Jim Valvano

292. “To succeed…You need to find something to hold on to, something to motivate you, something to inspire you.” – Tony Dorsett

293. “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

294. “The secret to success is good leadership, and good leadership is all about making the lives of your team members or workers better.” – Tony Dungy

295. “Good players want to be coached… Great players want to be told the truth.” — Doc Rivers

296. “Believe me, the reward is not so great without the struggle.” —Wilma Rudolph

297. “When you fall, get right back up. Just keep going, keep pushing it.” —Lindsey Vonn

298. “All coaching is, is taking a player where he can’t take himself.”

299. “I’ve been a Colt for almost all of my adult life, but I guess in life, and in sports, we all know nothing lasts forever. Times change, circumstances change, and that’s the reality of playing in the NFL.” — Peyton Manning

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

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

302. To succeed, the new Bulls will have to … expand their minds and embrace a vision in which the group imperative takes precedence over individual glory, and success comes from being awake, aware, and in tune with others.

303. “As the leader, part of the job is to be visible and willing to communicate with everyone.”

304. “It isn’t the mountains ahead to climb that wear you out; it’s the pebble in your shoe.” – Muhammad Ali

305. “I’ve missed more than 9,000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games. Twenty-six 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

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

307. “You must learn how to hold a team together. You must lift some men up, calm others down, until finally, they’ve got one heartbeat. Then you’ve got yourself a team.” – Paul “Bear” Bryant

308. “Difficulties in life are intended to make us better, not bitter.” – Dan Reeves

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

310. “There may be people that have more talent than you, but there’s no excuse for anyone to work harder than you do.” ~ Derek Jeter

311. 7 Metrics to Improve Hiring and Recruiting

312. “I believe in the impossible because no one else does.” – Florence Griffith Joyner

313. “Procrastination is one of the most common and deadliest of diseases and its toll on success and happiness is heavy.” – Wayne Gretzky

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

315. “I’d rather regret the risks that didn’t work out than the chances I didn’t take at all.” —Simone Biles

316. “There’s no stronger thing in life than knowing who you are, and that you believe you can do things.

317. “The most rewarding things you do in life are often the ones that look like they cannot be done.” – Arnold Palmer

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

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

320. “Sport is part of every man and woman’s heritage and its absence can never be compensated for.” — Pierre de Coubertin

321. “We old athletes carry the disfigurements and markings of contests remembered only by us and no one else. Nothing is more lost than a forgotten game.” – Pat Conroy

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

323. Always respect your competition. To disrespect your competition is to disrespect yourself.

324. “I won’t get upset at you about a mistake. I’ll get upset at you for the next mistake that comes from still thinking about the last mistake.” – Doc Rivers

325. “A well-adjusted person is one who can play golf and bridge as if they were games.” ― Evan Esar

326. “In sports, it is not the strongest, who wins, but the most practical and skillful” — Sunday Adelaja

327. “I’ve got a theory that if you give 100% all of the time, somehow things will work out in the end.” – Larry Bird

328. “If you only ever give 90% in training then you will only ever give 90% when it matters.”

329. “Anyone who waits for someone else to make a change automatically becomes a follower.” — Peyton Manning

330. “Get the Buy In, Coach the Mind, The Rest then Follows.”

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

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

333. “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

334. “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

335. “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

336. “The interesting thing about coaching is that you have to trouble the comfortable, and comfort the troubled.”

337. “Winning means you’re willing to go longer, work harder, and give more than anyone else.” – Vince Lombardo

338. “The [best] coaches… know that the job is to win… know that they must be decisive, that they must phase people through their organizations, and at the same time they are sensitive to the feelings, loyalties, and emotions that people have toward one another. If you don’t have these feelings, I do not know how you can lead anyone. I have spent many sleepless nights trying to figure out how I was going to phase out certain players for whom I had strong feelings, but that was my job. I wasn’t hired to do anything but win.”

339. “Let me tell you what winning means…. you’re willing to go longer, work harder, give more than anyone else.”

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

341. “Champions aren't made in the gyms. Champions are made from something they have deep inside them -- a desire, a dream, a vision.”

342. “The difference between a successful person and others is not a lack of strength, not a lack of knowledge, but rather in a lack of will.”

343. “I enjoy winning and very much dislike losing – but I did not allow either of them to obsess me. I was a silent loser, believing that if you won you said little, and if you lost you said even less.”

344. “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.” – Lance Armstrong

345. “If we were supposed to talk more than we listen we would have two mouths and one ear.”

346. It is good to have an end to journey toward; but it is the journey that matters, in the end.

347. “The best athletes in the world are those who are willing to push harder then anyone else, and go through more pain then anyone else.” ― Ashley M.L.

348. “If you want to be the best, you have to do the things that other people aren’t willing to do.” — Michael Phelps

349. “A champion is someone who does not settle for that day’s practice, that day’s competition, that day’s performance. They are always striving to be better. They don’t live in the past.” – Briana Scurry

350. “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

351. “You have no control over what the other guy does. You only have control over what you do.” — A. J. Kitt

352. “That’s one thing you learn in sports. You don’t give up; you fight to the finish.” ― Louis Zamperini

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

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

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

356. This isn’t all about ‘I love you,’ and ‘Let’s hold hands and skip.’ It’s also about ‘Get your rear in gear.’ ‘What the hell are you doing?’ and ‘Why aren’t you in class?’

357. “Winning is a habit leadership is calmly maintaining that habit against all odds.” – Amit Ray

358. On persistence.

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

360. “I want my team to be more detached from the wins and losses and be more focused on doing the little things well. When you focus on getting the win, it can suffocate you, especially during the playoffs when the pressure gets thick.”

361. “Sometimes a player’s greatest challenge is coming to grips with his role on the team.”

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

363. “Life is gonna throw you curve balls and it’s how you deal with them and your attitude and your work ethic.” – Kerri Strug

364. “Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.” ~MLK

365. When I understand that a glass is already broken, every moment with it is precious.

366. “If you have something critical to sat to a player, preface it by saying something positive. That way when you get to the criticism, at least you know he’ll be listening.”

367. “I really think a champion is defined not by their wins but by how they can recover when they fall.” – Serena Williams

368. “You’re playing a game, whether it’s Little League or Game 7 of the World Series. It’s impossible to do well unless you’re having a good time. People talk about pressure. Yeah, there’s pressure. But I just look at it as fun.” —Derek Jeter

369. It's just a job. Grass grows, birds fly, waves pound the sand. I beat people up

370. “Never underestimate the heart of a champion!” – Doc Rivers

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

372. “One of my own favorite quotes is, ‘Say something positive, and you’ll see something positive,” said PCA Founder Jim Thompson (@JimThompson18). “The more people we can get to read, heed and share these quotes, the more joy and inspiration we’ll all bring to the 40 million youth playing sports in the U.S.”

373. “Watch your actions, they become your habits. Watch your habits, they become your character.” – Vince Lombardi

374. “Nobody who gave his best ever regretted it.” – George Halas

375. “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

376. On failure as an opportunity.

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

378. “So many players enter the game with the same approximate skills. The difference is not aptitude but attitude.” — Dave Winfield

379. “We make too much of winning. The mere fact of winning doesn’t make you great.” — Wilt Chamberlain

380. “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

381. “I’d rather regret the risks that didn’t work out than the chances I didn’t take at all.” – Simone Biles

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

383. “All problems are leadership problems and what does that mean? The beautiful thing about that is that means leadership is the solution.”

384. “Sport, at its best, at its most human, is able to inspire an innocence and joy that is unique to each of us.” — Richard J. Corman

385. “Nobody who ever gave his best regretted it.” – George Halas

386. “Bodybuilding is much like any other sport. To be successful, you must dedicate yourself 100% to your training, diet and mental approach.” – Arnold Schwarzenegger

387. “I am no genius; I just worked hard like my other teammates, and I believe all my teammates can win the title as they work hard, too.” – Lin Dan

388. “When you don’t give up, you cannot fail.” – Adrian Peterson

389. “Coaches who can outline plays on a blackboard are a dime a dozen. The ones who win get inside their player and motivate.” Vince Lombardi

390. “Good teams become great ones when the members trust each other enough to surrender the ‘me’ for the ‘we’.”

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

392. “Hard work beats talent when talent doesn’t work hard.” – Tim Notke

393. “Victory or defeat is not determined at the moment of crisis, but rather in the long and unspectacular period of preparation.”

394. “Winners never quit and quitters never win.” —Vince Lombardi

395. “Losing teaches you how to win, winning teaches you how not to lose.” – Matshona Dhliwayo

396. “Each person holds so much power within themselves. Sometimes they just need a little nudge — direction, support, coaching.” — Pete Carroll

397. “Don’t tell me how rocky the sea is, just bring the ship in.” – Lou Holtz

398. “Obstacles don’t have to stop you. If you run into a wall, don’t turn around and give up. Figure out how to climb it, go through it, or work around it.”– Michael Jordan

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

400. “Every kid around the world who plays soccer wants to be Pele. I have a great responsibility to show them not just how to be like a soccer player, but how to be like a man.” – Pele

401. “You’ve got to remember what your priorities are. When you’re playing, what you do on the field is the most important thing.“ — Peyton Manning

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

403. “Just keep going. Everybody gets better if they keep at it.”– Ted Williams

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

405. “I’d say handling people is the most important thing you can do as a coach. I’ve found every time I’ve gotten into trouble with a player, it’s because I wasn’t talking to him enough.”

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

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

408. “I have to leave the games now if the announcer says something I don’t agree with. I’m thinking, ‘Peyton, it is not healthy to be all worked up before a game.’” — Peyton Manning

409. “Erase the word ‘failure’ from your vocabulary. No case is ever truly closed, and no challenge is ever over.” – Mary Lou Retton

410. “Somebody gives you an opportunity, say yes to it. So what if you fail? you won’t know if you fail or succeed unless you try.” —Ann Meyers

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

412. “Some medals are pinned to your soul, not to your jacket.”— Gino Bartali

413. “Pain is temporary. Quitting lasts forever.” – Lance Armstrong

414. “Sports creates complicated men, proud enough to refuse to admit their mistakes, but humble enough always to put their team first.” — Fredrik Backman

415. “Always work hard, never give up, and fight until the end because it’s never really over until the whistle blows.” —Alex Morgan

416. “From what we get, we can make a living; what we give, however, makes a life.” – Arthur Ashe

417. “Every team requires unity. A team has to move as one unit, one force, with each person understanding and assisting the roles of his or her teammates. If your team doesn’t do this, whatever the reason, it goes down in defeat. You win or lose as a team, as a family.”

418. “Setbacks motivate me.” — Lindsey Vonn (Credit: Wikimedia Commons)

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

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

421. “The secret of winning football games is working more as a team, less as individuals. I play not my 11 best, but my best 11.” – Knute Rockne

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

423. “My motto has always been that you can’t say, ‘Oh, it won’t happen to me.’ You have to say ‘That can happen to me.’ So always be aware that things can happen.” — Venus Williams (Credit: Sascha Wenninger, Flickr)

424. “Even if you’re on the right track, you’ll get run over if you just sit there.” — Will Rogers

425. “You don’t win with X’s and O’s. What you win with is people.”

426. “If you are humble, nothing can touch you. Neither praise or disgrace because you know who you are.”

427. No team understood better than the championship Chicago Bulls that selflessness is the soul of teamwork.

428. “Far more coaches fail to achieve success because they lack ability to develop team culture rather than because they lack good direction or knowledge of the game.”

429. “Everybody’s got plans… until they get hit.” – Mike Tyson

430. “A Champion, is one who will accept a defeat graciously, and a victory with humility.”

431. “No one knows what to say in the loser’s locker room.” — Muhammad Ali

432. “Failure is only the opportunity to begin again more intelligently.”

433. “You can’t beat the person who never gives up.”

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

435. “You’re never a loser until you quit trying.”– Mike Ditka

436. “A winner never whines.”

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

438. “It isn’t the mountains ahead to climb that wear you out, it’s the pebble in your shoe.” Muhammad Ali

439. “You never know if you can actually do something against all odds until you actually do it.” – Abby Wambach

440. On vision and goals.

441. Instill the discipline to tell the truth. It’s a waste of time to deal with anything less than the truth.

442. “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

443. “One man practicing sportsmanship is far better than 50 preaching it.” —Knute Rockne

444. “Football games are generally won by the boys with the greatest desire.” — Bear Bryant

445. “Just be patient. Let the game come to you. Don’t rush. Be quick, but don’t hurry.” – Earl Monroe

446. “Act as if it was, and it will be.”― Lailah Gifty Akita

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

448. Built to Last: The Secret Behind Top 10 Brand Taglines [Infographic]

449. “The way a team plays as a whole determines its success.” – Babe Ruth

450. “Courage doesn’t mean you don’t get afraid. Courage means you don’t let fear stop you.” – Bethany Hamilton

451. Integrity is nothing more than doing the right thing no matter who’s watching you.

452. “It’s not the will to win, but the will to prepare to win that makes the difference.” Bear Bryant

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

454. “Your basketball goals should be out of reach, but never out of sight.” Felicity Luckey

455. When people leave, thank them for doing a great job and wish them well. Hold no grudges.

456. “The growth mindset says all of these things can be developed. All – you, your partner, and the relationship – are capable of growth and change.” – Carol Dweck

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

458. “When I was a young coach I used to say, “Treat everybody alike.” That’s bull. Treat everybody fairly.”

459. “The ultimate goal should be doing your best and enjoying it.” – Peggy Fleming

460. “To be a leader, you have to make people want to follow you, and nobody wants to follow someone who doesn’t know where he is going.” — Joe Namath, former New York Jets quarterback

461. “Every champion was once a contender that refused to give up.” – Rocky Balboa

462. “Don’t be afraid of failure. This is the way to succeed.” —LeBron James

463. “You might not be able to outthink, out market or outspend your competition, but you can outwork them.” – Lou Holtz

464. “Seek opportunities to show you care. The smallest gestures often make the biggest difference.” – John Wooden

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

466. “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 winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.” Michael Jordan

467. “For me, winning isn’t something that happens suddenly on the field when the whistle blows and the crowds roar. Winning is something that builds physically and mentally every day that you train and every night that you dream.” — Emmitt Smith

468. “Believe me; the reward is not so great without the struggle.” — Wilma Rudolph, Sprinter

469. “Today, you have 100% of your life left.” – Tom Landry

470. “It’s not about perfect. It’s about effort.” – Jillian Michaels

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

472. “I found out that if you are going to win games, you had better be ready to adapt.”

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

474. “Innovation involves anticipation. It is having a broad base of knowledge on your subject and an ability to see where the end game is headed. Use all your knowledge to get their first. Set the trend and make the competition counter you.”

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

476. “Today I will do what others won’t, so tomorrow I can accomplish what others can’t.” – Jerry Rice

477. On doing.

478. “The best motivation always comes from within.”

479. “If you don’t fall, how are you going to know what getting up feels like?” – Stephen Curry

480. “Difficulties in life are intended to make us better, not bitter.” - Dan Reeves, Former NFL athlete and head coach

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

482. “You will never get the best out of anyone professionally unless you understand what motivates and makes them tick personally as a human being.” – Rasheed Ogunlaru

483. “Victory is in having done your best. If you’ve done your best, you’ve won.” – Billy Bowerman

484. “The more I have been involved in Football, the more I realize that individual talent is minimized or maximized by the environment those blokes go into.”

485. On setting the example of believing in yourself.

486. Communication skills are just as important as technical skills.

487. “The road to Easy Street goes through the sewer.” – John Madden

488. “I’ve failed over & over & over again in my life & that is why I succeed.” – Michael Jordan

489. “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

490. “The only place that success comes before work is in the dictionary.” Vince Lombardi

491. “If you come in second, you’re just the first loser!” — Tiger Woods

492. “I don’t look at myself as a basketball coach. I look at myself as a leader who happens to coach basketball.” ~ Mike Krzyzzewski

493. “Let honesty and integrity define your character.”

494. “I tell the kids, somebody’s gotta win, somebody’s gotta lose. Just don’t fight about it. Just try to get better.” – Yogi Berra

495. Losing is a lens through which you can see yourself more clearly and experience in the blood and bones the transient nature of life.

496. On the key to natural leadership.

497. “A failure isn’t a failure if it prepares you for success tomorrow.” – Lolo Jones

498. “Success is peace of mind which is a direct result of self-satisfaction in knowing you did your best to become the best you are capable of becoming.”

499. “It is not in the stars to hold our destiny but in ourselves.” – William Shakespeare

500. “To succeed…You need to find something to hold on to, something to motivate you, something to inspire you.”

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

502. “Your basketball goals should be out of reach, but never out of sight.” – Felicity Luckey

503. “Don’t let people tell you that you can’t do something.” – Laurie Hernandez

504. “Winning isn’t everything, it’s the only thing. If you can shrug off a loss, you can never be a winner!”

505. “In the end, the game comes down to one thing: man against man. May the best man win.” ― Sam Huff

506. “Winners never quit and quitters never win.” — Vince Lombardi

507. “What makes the difference between a great player and just a normal player is dedication, work, commitment.” — Thierry Henry

508. “Some may have more talent than you, but there is no excuse for anyone working harder than you do.” – John Tavares

509. “It’s going to be a journey. It’s not a sprint to get in shape.” —Kerri Walsh Jennings

510. “Sport should be in your Blood/Veins, Not in the Joints or Bones.” ― Binoy Boban

511. “Set realistic goals, keep re-evaluating, and be consistent.” – Venus Williams

512. “Impossible is just a big word thrown around by small men who find it easier to live in the world they’ve been given than to explore the power they have to change it. Impossible is not a fact. It’s an opinion. Impossible is not a declaration. It’s a dare. Impossible is potential. Impossible is temporary. Impossible is nothing.” – Muhammad Ali

513. “Some people say I have attitude – maybe I do…but I think you have to. You have to believe in yourself when no one else does – that makes you a winner right there. ” – Venus Williams

514. “No one ever won a game by resigning.” – Ksawery Tartakower

515. “Moment of victory is much too short to live for that and nothing else.” – Martina Navratilova

516. “Set your goals high and don’t stop til you get there.” Bo Jackson

517. “You control your own wins and losses.” – Maria Sharapova

518. “There are no shortcuts to building a team each season. You build the foundation brick by brick.”

519. “Nothing will work unless you do.”

520. The true measure of a star is the ability to make the people around him look good.

521. “The man who has no imagination has no wings.” – Muhammad Ali

522. “There may be people that have more talent than you, but there’s no excuse for anyone to work harder than you do.”

523. “Soccer forces life to move on. There’s always a new match. A new season. There’s always a dream that everything can get better. It’s a game of wonders.” – Fredrik Backman

524. “Failure is never quite as frightening as regret.”

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

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

527. “You have to expect things of yourself before you can do them.” – Michael Jordan

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

529. “Football is nothing without fans.” Jack Stein

530. “You have to remember that the hard days are what make you stronger. The bad days make you realize what a good day is. If you never had any bad days, you would never have that sense of accomplishment!” —Aly Raisman

531. “Talent wins games, but teamwork and intelligence wins championships.”

532. “Passion first and everything will fall into place.” – Holly Holm

533. “Nobody who ever gave his best regretted it.” – George S. Halas

534. When a problem arises I try to read the situation as accurately as possible and respond spontaneously to whatever’s happening

535. “Overpower. Overtake. Overcome.” —Serena Williams

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

537. “It’s what you learn, after you know it all, that counts.”

538. “A good sport can be contrasted with someone who tries to ‘win at all costs’.” ― Nick Hunter

539. Only a man who knows what it is like to be defeated can reach down to the bottom of his soul and come up with the extra ounce of power it takes to win when the match is even.

540. “I mean, it’s not important what kind of pants you were; it’s how you wear them.” – Ronnie Lott

541. Live everyday as if it were your last because someday you're going to be right.

542. “My motto was always to keep swinging. Whether I was in a slump or feeling badly or having trouble off the field, the only thing to do was keep swinging.” —Hank Aaron

543. “No matter the circumstances that you may be going through, just push through it.” —Ray Lewis

544. “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.”— Billie Jean King

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

546. “At one point in your life you either have the thing you want or the reasons why you don’t.” – Andy Roddick

547. “Rather than focusing on the obstacle in your path, focus on the bridge over the obstacle.” – Mary Lou Retton

548. “Erase the word ‘failure’ from your vocabulary.” — Mary Lou Retton, Gymnast

549. “I’ve had to learn to fight all my life – got to learn to keep smiling. If you smile things will work out.” – Serena Williams

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

551. “I don’t count my situps. I only start counting once it starts hurting. ” -Muhammad Ali

552. “Coaches have to watch for what they don’t want to see and listen to what they don’t want to hear.”

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

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

555. “Practice doesn’t make perfect. Perfect practice makes perfect.”

556. “I’ve never left the field saying, ‘I could’ve done more to get ready,’ and that gives me peace of mind.” — Peyton Manning

557. “Gold medals aren’t really made of gold. They’re made of sweat, determination, and a hard-to-find alloy called guts.”– Dan Gable

558. “No matter how involved you are in what you do, no matter how many hours a week you devote to your career pursuits, you must always remember that your family is your primary team.”

559. “My motto has always been that you can’t say, ‘Oh, it won’t happen to me.’ You have to say ‘That can happen to me.’ So always be aware that things can happen.” — Venus Williams, Tennis Player

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

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

562. “First master the fundamentals.”

563. “In a growth mindset, challenges are exciting rather than threatening. So rather than thinking, oh, I’m going to reveal my weaknesses, you say, wow, here’s a chance to grow.” —Carol Dweck

564. “In baseball and in business, there are three types of people. Those who make it happen, those who watch it happen, and those who wonder what happened.” ~ Tommy Lasorda

565. “You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.” Wayne Gretzky

566. You have to trust your inner knowing. if you have a clear mind and an open heart, you won’t have to search for direction. Direction will come to you.

567. “My motto was always to keep swinging. Whether I was in a slump or feeling badly or having trouble off the field, the only thing to do was keep swinging.” – Hank Aaron

568. “You don’t play against opponents, you play against the game of basketball.” – Bobby Knight

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

570. People want to be on a team. They want to be part of something bigger than themselves. They want to be in a situation where they feel that they are doing something for the greater good.

571. “Victory is fleeting. Losing is forever.” — Billie Jean King

572. “Ability may get you to the top, but it takes character to keep you there.” – John Wooden

573. “You must not only have competitiveness but ability, regardless of the circumstance you face, to never quit.” —Abby Wambach

574. “Leadership is something you earn, something you’re chosen for. You can’t come in yelling, ‘I’m your leader!’ If it happens, it’s because the other guys respect you.” — Ben Roethlisberger, Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback

575. On respect and true leadership.

576. “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

577. “Whatever your situation might be, set your mind to whatever you want to do and put a good attitude in it, and I believe you will succeed. You are not going to get anywhere just sitting on your butt and moping around.” — Bethany Hamilton, Surfer

578. “You’ve got to be confident when you’re competing. You’ve got to be a beast.” —Gabby Douglas

579. “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.”

580. Service to others is the rent you pay for your room here on earth.

581. “I can’t stand...” — “Duuuuuuddddeee!” “Aw man, I hate when this happens,” I thought to myself. “There’s always one!” I’d just been promoted and someone who was my buddy, and still was my buddy but now worked for me, was going to have a hard time keeping things professional. It’s not that I felt…

582. “People thrive on positive reinforcement. They can take only a certain amount of criticism and you may lose them altogether if you criticize them in a personal way… you can make a point without being personal. Don’t insult or belittle your people. Instead of getting more out of them you will get less.”

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

584. “It’s not wanting to win that makes you a winner; it’s refusing to fail.” — Peyton Manning

585. “The real winners are the people who look at every situation with an expectation that they can make it work or make it better.”

586. “If you can’t win, make the one ahead of you break the record.” — John McKeithen

587. “In the field of sports you are more or less accepted for what you do rather than what you are.” — Althea Gibson

588. “Pain is only temporary but victory is forever.” ― Jeremy H

589. There are five fundamental qualities that make every team great: communication, trust, collective responsibility, caring, and pride. I like to think of each as a separate finger on the fist. Any one individually is important. But all of them together are unbeatable.

590. “All I know is, I don’t want to stop coaching, and I don’t want to stop winning, so we’re gonna break the record unless I die.” — Bear Bryant

591. “You win some, you lose some, and some get rained out, but you gotta suit up for them all.” —J. Askenberg

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

593. “I’m playing; I’m here. I’m going to fight until they tell me they don’t want me anymore.” —Steve Nash

594. “Fall down seven times, get up eight.” – Naoki Higashida

595. “Adversity causes some men to break; others to break records. ” — William Arthur Ward

596. “A good hockey player plays where the puck is. A great hockey player plays where the puck is going to be.” – Wayne Gretzky

597. “Success isn’t owned, it’s leased. And rent is due every day.“ – J.J. Watt

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

599. “The best and fastest way to learn a sport is to watch and imitate a champion.” — Jean-Claude Killy

600. “You wouldn’t have won if we’d beaten you.” – Yogi Berra

601. “Outstanding leaders go out of their way to boost the self-esteem of their personnel. If people believe in themselves, it’s amazing what they can accomplish.”

602. “You don’t just want to beat a team. You want to leave a lasting impression in their minds so they never want to see your face again.” ― Mia Hamm

603. “I don’t count my situps. I only start counting once it starts hurting.” — Muhammad Ali

604. “To me the beauty of teamwork is the beauty of our sport, where you have five acting as one. You become selfless.” – Coach Mike Krzyzewski

605. “Growing together is a beginning. Keeping together is progress. Working together is success.”

606. “So many people along the way, whatever it is you aspire to do, will tell you it can’t be done. But all it takes is imagination. You dream. You plan. You reach.” – Michael Phelps

607. “Stay focused. Your start does not determine how you’re going to finish.“ – Herm Edwards

608. “There is no getting around the fact that the moment you are at your very best is the moment you begin to become worse and worse. Others will come along who can run faster, jump higher, hit harder, and you will be forgotten. Your winning moment is dated to die.” – Charlie Higson

609. “It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change.”

610. “In many cases, people too often try to emulate someone specifically that may not be true to their character. Be true to your demeanor.”

611. “You don’t fight battles over peripheral issues. You fight battles over principles. You don’t want to always be drawing the line in the sand.”

612. “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

613. “Make sure that team members know they are working with you, not for you.”

614. “You have to have a real love of your sport to carry you through all the bad times.” — Nancy Greene

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

616. “I don’t have any ideas; my coaches have them. I just pass the ideas on and referee the arguments.” — Bear Bryant

617. “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

618. “Success is where preparation and opportunity meet.” – Bobby Unser

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

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

621. “You dream. You plan. You reach. There will be obstacles. There will be doubters. There will be mistakes. But with hard work, with belief, with confidence and trust in yourself and those around you, there are no limits.” —Michael Phelps

622. “Two cars parked side by side. One is a supercar, the other is an old family sedan. Both have the same potential until someone gets in to the supercar and drives it flat out. The coach can have the best strategy but unless its driven its potential means nothing.”

623. “When you go through a significant injury and have a major career change, you truly do go one year at a time, and you don’t look past what’s going on now, because you are not sure what’s going to happen. Tomorrow is not promised.” — Peyton Manning