150+ Motivational Quotes For Athletes & Famous Athletes Sayings
Motivational Quotes for Athletes
“Make each day your masterpiece.” —John Wooden
“Without self-discipline, success is impossible, period.” —Lou Holtz
“It ain’t over ’til it’s over.” —Yogi Berra
“If you can’t outplay them, outwork them.” —Ben Hogan
“Persistence can change failure into extraordinary achievement.” —Matt Biondi
“Nobody who ever gave his best regretted it.” —George Halas
“The harder the battle, the sweeter the victory.” —Les Brown
“You’re never a loser until you quit trying.” —Mike Ditka
“It’s all about the journey, not the outcome.” —Carl Lewis
“Hard work beats talent when talent doesn’t work hard.” —Tim Notke
“Champions keep playing until they get it right.” —Billie Jean King
“Nobody beats Vitas Gerulaitis 17 times in a row.” —Vitas Gerulaitis
“You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.” —Wayne Gretzky
“It’s hard to beat a person who never gives up.” —Babe Ruth
“A champion is someone who gets up when he can’t.” —Jack Dempsey
“If you aren’t going all the way, why go at all?” —Joe Namath
“It’s not whether you get knocked down; it’s whether you get up.” —Vince Lombardi
“If you are afraid of failure you don’t deserve to be successful!” —Charles Barkley
“To give any less than your best is to sacrifice a gift.” —Steve Prefontaine
“He who is not courageous enough to take risks will accomplish nothing in life.” —Muhammad Ali
“It is not the size of a man but the size of his heart that matters.” —Evander Holyfield
“I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.” —Michael Jordan
“Run when you can, walk if you have to, crawl if you must; just never give up.” —Dean Karnazes
“What makes something special is not just what you have to gain, but what you feel there is to lose.” —Andre Agassi
“I’d like to thank everyone who voted for me. And the one guy who didn’t vote for me, thank you, too.” —Shaquille O’Neal
“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
“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
“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
Motivational Quotes For Athletes on Success
“The path to success is to take massive, determined action.” —Tony Robbins
“Success is what happens after you have survived all of your disappointments.” —Unknown
“Success is the sum of small efforts repeated day-in and day-out.” —Robert Collier
“When you find your why, you find a way to make it happen.” —Eric Thomas
“Successful people are not gifted; they just work hard, then succeed on purpose.” —G.K. Nielson
“Success doesn’t just come and find you, you have to go out and get it.” —Unknown
“When you want to succeed as bad as you want to breathe, you will be successful.” —Eric Thomas
“Success seems to be connected with action. Successful people keep moving. They make mistakes, but they don’t quit.” —Conrad Hilton
“Your true success in life begins only when you make the commitment to become excellent at what you do.” —Brian Tracy
“You were born to win. But to be a winner, you must plan to win, prepare to win, and expect to win.” —Zig Ziglar
“Success is no accident. It is hard work, perseverance, learning, studying, sacrafice, and most of all, love of what you are doing or learning to do.” —Pele
Motivational Quotes for Athletes to Get Through Hard Times
“If you get tired, learn to rest, not quit.” —Unknown
“Hardships often prepare ordinary people for an extraordinary destiny.” —C.S. Lewis
“When you feel like quitting think about why you started.” —Unknown
“A problem is a chance for you to do your best.” —Duke Ellington
“There are no mistakes, only lessons. Growth is a process of trial and error.
“Tough people are not born. They’re made when there’s no one there to dry their tears.” —Unknown
“Strength doesn’t come from what you can do. It comes from overcoming the things you once thought you couldn’t.
“The road to athletic greatness is not marked by perfection, but the ability to constantly overcome adversity and failure.
“Hard times don’t create heroes. It is during the hard times when the ‘hero’ within us is revealed.” —Bob Riley
“I’m not telling you it is going to be easy, I’m telling you it’s going to be worth it.” —Art Williams
Short Motivational Quotes For Athletes
“Success trains. Failure complains.” —Unknown
“Look in the mirror. That’s your competition.” —Unknown
“Pain is temporary. Quitting lasts forever.” —Lance Armstrong
“It’s not about perfect. It’s about effort.” —JIllian Michaels
“It never gets easier. You just get better.” —Jordan Hoechlin
“The sweat. The time. The devotion. It pays off.” —Unknown
“The harder the battle. The sweeter the victory.” —Les Brown
“Tough times don’t last. Tough people do.” —Robert H. Schuller
“If you believe it, the mind can achieve it.” —Ronnie Lott
“Focus on your goal. Don’t look in any direction but ahead.” —Unknown
Motivational Quotes For Athletes on Courage & Confidence
“Confidence comes from discipline and training.” —Robert Kiyosaki
“With confidence you have won before you have started.” —Marcus Garvey
“If you are afraid of failure, you don’t deserve to be successful.” —Charles Barkley
“Failure will never overtake me if my determination to succeed is strong enough.” —Og Mandino
“All our dreams can come true, if we have the courage to pursue them.” —Walt Disney
“The best way to gain self-confidence is to do what you are afraid to do.” —Swati Sharma
“The miracle isn’t that I finished. The miracle is that I had the courage to start.” —John Bingham
“Courage is taking those first steps toward your dreams even if you can’t see the path ahead.” —Unknown
“You don’t have to be great to start. But you do have to start to be great.” —Zig Ziglar
“Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts. ― Winston S. Churchill
“Strength doesn’t come from what you can do. It comes from overcoming the things you once thought you couldn’t.” —Rikki Rogers
Motivational Quotes For Athletes about Overcoming Fear
“Fear is temporary. Regret is forever.”
“Your largest fear carries your greatest growth.”
“Don’t let your fear decide your future.” —Shalane Flanagan
“Everything you’ve ever wanted is on the other side of fear.” —George Addair
“Adversity causes some men to break; others to break records.” —William Arthur Ward
“Make sure your worst enemy doesn’t live between your own two ears.” —Laird Hamilton
“Do the thing you fear most and the death of fear is certain.” —Mark Twain
“I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it.” —Nelson Mandela
“When you fear your struggles, your struggles consume you. When you face your struggles, you overcome them.”
“There is only one thing that makes a dream impossible to achieve: the fear of failure.” —Paulo Coelho
“Believe in yourself. You are braver than you think, more talented than you know, and capable of more than you imagine.” —Roy T. Bennett
Motivational Quotes For Athletes about Hard Work
“The harder the battle. The sweeter the victory.” —Les Brown
“Losers quit when they’re tired. Winners quit when they’ve won.” —Unknown
“Hard work beats talent when talent doesn’t work hard.” —Tim Notke
“Skill is only developed by hours and hours of work.” —Usain Bolt
“The trophy is earned in the hours that no one is watching.” —Unknown
“If you can’t stop thinking about it, don’t stop working for it.” —Unknown
“Push yourself because no one else is going to do it for you.” —Unknown
“You don’t want to look back and know you could have done better.” —Unknown
“If you don’t sacrifice for what you want, what you wants becomes the sacrifice.”
“Results happen over time, not overnight. Work hard, stay consistent, and be patient.” —Unknown
“Continuous effort — not strength or intelligence — is the key to unlocking our potential.” —Liane Cardes
“Good, better, best. Never let it rest. Until your good is better and your better is best.” —Tim Duncan
“There will be obstacles. There will be doubters. There will be mistakes. But with hard work, there are no limits.” —Unknown
“There may be people that have more talent than you, but theres no excuse for anyone to work harder than you.” —Derek Jeter
Motivational Short Quotes for Athletes Playing Sports
“A winner never stops trying.” —Tom Landry
“Without self-discipline, success is impossible.” —Lou Holtz
“Winners never quit and quitters never win.” —Vince Lombardi
“Sports does not build character. They reveal it.” —Heywood Broun
“Passion first and everything will fall into place.” —Holly Holm
“Champions keep playing until they get it right.” —Billie Jean King
“A champion needs a motivation above and beyond winning.” —Pat Riley
“A champion is someone who gets up when he can’t.” —Jack Dempsey
“Kill them with success and bury them with a smile.” —Usain Bolt
“I’ve never lost a game. I just ran out of time.” —Michael Jordan
Perseverance Quotes For Athletes Playing Sports
“The comeback is always stronger than the setback.
“Believe you can and you’re halfway there.” —Theodore Roosevelt
“Nobody who ever gave his best regretted it.” —George Halas
“It’s hard to beat a person who never gives up.
“You don’t get what you wish for. You get what you work for.” —Unknown
“To be the best, you must be able to handle the worst.” —Wilson Kanadi
“Victory is always possible for the person who refuses to stop fighting.” —Napoleon Hill
“Don’t try to be perfect. Just try to be better than you were yesterday.
“The difference between the impossible and the possible lies in a person’s determination.” —Tommy Lasorda
“Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.” —Confucius
“If you don´t fall, how are you going to know what getting up feels like? – Stephen Curry
“Whenever you feel like giving up, think of all the people that would love to see you fail.
“I think that the good and the great are only separated by the willingness to sacrifice.” —Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
“Perseverance is the hard work you do after you get tired of doing the hard work you already did.” —Newt Gingrich
“The five S’s of sports training are: stamina, speed, strength, skill, and spirit; but the greatest of these is spirit.” —Ken Doherty
Excuses Quotes For Athletes
“Excuses will always be there for you. Opportunity won’t.” —Unknown
“Are your excuses more important than your dreams? – Unknown
“Success is what comes after you stop making excuses.” —Luis Galarza
“An excuse is nothing more than a self-imposed roadblock.” —C.C. Chapman
“Excuses. They are for people who don’t want it bad enough.” —Unknown
“Excuses are the nails used to build the house of failure.” —Unknown
“Your excuses are just the lies your fears have sold you.” —Robin Sharma
“You can have results or you can have your excuses. You cannot have both.” —Unknown
“Instead of feeding myself excuses why I can’t, I give myself reasons why I can.” —Unknown
“If it is important to you, you will find a way. If not, you’ll find an excuse.” —Unknown
“Excuses are the tools with which persons with no purpose in view build for themselves great monuments of nothing.” —Steven Grayhm
Character Quotes For Athletes
“It is not the mountain we conquer, but ourselves.” —Sir Edmund Hillary
“The pain you feel today, will be the strength you feel tomorrow.” —Unknown
“A champion is afraid of losing. Everyone else is afraid of winning.” —Unknown
“You will never always be motivated. You have to learn to be disciplined.” —Unknown
“The only way to prove that you’re a good sport is to lose.” —Ernie Banks
“Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.” —Confucius
“Be strong when you are weak, brave when you are scared, and humble when you are victorious.” —Unknown
“My attitude is if you push me towards a weakness, I will turn that weakness into a strength.” —Michael Jordan
“Ability is what you are capable of doing. Motivation determines what you do. Attitude determines how well you do it.” —Unknown
“Show me a guy who’s afraid to look bad, and I’ll show you a guy you can beat every time.” —Lou Brock
“The five S’s of sports training are: stamina, speed, strength, skill, and spirit; but the greatest of these is spirit.” —Ken Doherty
“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
“You cannot afford to live in potential for the rest of your life; at some point, you have to unleash the potential and make your move.” —Eric Thomas
“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
Great Motivational Quotes For Athletes
“Believe you can and you’re halfway there.” —Theodore Roosevelt
“You are the only one who can limit your greatness.” —Unknown
“Every champion was once a contender that refused to give up.” —Rocky Balboa
“We may encounter many defeats but we must not be defeated.” —Maya Angelou
“Never stop trying. Never stop believing. Never give up. Your day will come.” —Unknown
“You have to be at your strongest when you’re feeling at your weakest.” —Unknown
“It’s not whether you get knocked down. It’s whether you get back up.” —Vince Lombardi
“Strength does not come from physical capacity. It comes from an indomitable will.” —Mahatma Gandhi
“The only person you are destined to become is the person you decide to be.” —Ralph Waldo Emerson
“Your talent is God’s gift to you. What you do with it is your gift back to God.” —Unknown
Best Motivational Quotes From Famous Athletes
“Champions keep playing until they get it right.” —Billie Jean King
“Don’t be afraid of failure. This is the way to succeed.” —LeBron James
“It is more difficult to stay on top than to get there.” —Mia Hamm
“The only person who can stop you from reaching your goals is you.” —Jackie Joyner-Kersee
“It doesn’t matter what you’re trying to accomplish. It’s all a matter of discipline.” —Wilma Rudolph
“If something stands between you and your success, move it. Never be denied.” —Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson
“It’s going to be a journey. It’s not a sprint to get in shape.” —Kerri Walsh Jennings
“You must not only have competitiveness but ability, regardless of the circumstance you face, to never quit.” —Abby Wambach
“Just believe in yourself. Even if you don’t pretend that you do and, and some point, you will.” —Venus Williams
“If you persevere long enough, if you do the right things long enough, the right things will happen.” —Manon Rheaume
“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
“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
Motivational Quotes From Famous Athletes
“Champions keep playing until they get it right.” —Billie Jean King
“Don’t be afraid of failure. This is the way to succeed.” —LeBron James
“It is more difficult to stay on top than to get there.” —Mia Hamm
“The only person who can stop you from reaching your goals is you.”—Jackie Joyner-Kersee
“It’s going to be a journey. It’s not a sprint to get in shape.”—Kerri Walsh Jennings
“It doesn’t matter what you’re trying to accomplish. It’s all a matter of discipline.” —Wilma Rudolph
“If something stands between you and your success, move it. Never be denied.” —Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson
“You must not only have competitiveness but ability, regardless of the circumstance you face, to never quit.”—Abby Wambach
“Just believe in yourself. Even if you don’t pretend that you do and, and some point, you will.”—Venus Williams
“If you persevere long enough, if you do the right things long enough, the right things will happen.” —Manon Rheaume
“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
“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