Here are the best motivational athletic quotes from some of the greatest and most accomplished athletes in history, including Michael Johnson, Carl Lewis, Mark Spitz, Michael Jordan, Usain Bolt, Emil Zatopek, Muhammad Ali, and many more.
Emotions in sport are important and can be created by a simple phrase that has a lot of meaning. They don't do magic, but they can help you persevere and get through the toughest moments of competition and practice.
You may also be interested in these sports phrases, these basketball or soccer phrases.
-Success for an athlete is achieved with many years of hard work and dedication.-Michael Diamond.
-Champions are not made in gyms. Champions are made of something they have inside.-Muhammad Ali.
-If you have been able to get here, you are able to move on.
-An athlete cannot run with money in his pockets. He must run with hope in his heart and dreams in his head.-Emil Zatopek.
-Everything depends on the trip, not the result.-Carl Lewis.
-The best motivation always comes from the inside.-Michael Johnson.
-If you fail to prepare, you are prepared to fail.-Mark Spitz.
-You can not set any limits, there is nothing impossible.-Usain Bolt.
-There has never been a great athlete who has died without knowing what pain is.-Bill Bradley.
32-Desire is the most important factor for the success of any athlete.-Willie Shoemaker.
The best athletes in the world are those who are willing to push themselves more than anyone else, and go through more pain than anyone else.-Ashley ML
-My attitude is that if I find a weakness, I will turn it into a strength.-Michael Jordan.
-When you have the spirit of an athlete, you have an illusion for life.-Max Popper.
-Success is not an accident. It is hard work, perseverance, learning, sacrifice and most importantly, love for what you do or are learning to do.-Pelé.
-You have to train your mind just like you train your body.-Bruce Jenner.
Athletics should reduce stress, not increase it.-Mark Allen.
-Each strike brings me closer to the next home run.-Babe Ruth.
-Love is to play each game as if it were the last.-Michael Jordan.
-It is difficult to beat a person who never gives up.-Babe Ruth.
-I hated every minute of training but I said: don't give up. Suffer now and live the rest of your life as a champion.-Muhammed Ali.
-If you only give 90% in training, you will only give 90% in the important moments.-Michael Owen.
-The will to win is important, but the will to prepare is vital.-Joe Paterno.
-A champion is someone who gets up when he can't.-Jack Dempsey.
-You can not get much in life if you only work the days when you feel good.-Jerry West.
-The quality of a person's life is directly proportional to their commitment to excellence, regardless of their field of activity.-Vince Lombardi.
-A man practicing sportsmanship is much better than fifty who preach it.-Knute Rockne.
-To discover your true potential you must first find your own limits and then you have to have the courage to overcome them.-Picabo Street.
-Every day I go to bed convinced that nobody has been able to train better than me ”-. S. Coe.
-Athletic skills are acquired after a long period of time and after countless hours of practice.-Zig Ziglar.
35-Persistence can turn failure into an extraordinary achievement.-Matt Biondi.
-Giving something less than the best you have is to sacrifice a gift.-Steve Prefontaine.
-It is not the will to win that matters, everyone has it. It is the will to prepare that matters.-Paul "Bear" Bryant.
-Don't let what you can not do interfere with what you can do.-John Wooden.
-Set your goals high, and do not stop until you achieve them.-Bo Jackson.
-Today I will do what others do not, for tomorrow I will get what others cannot.-Jerry Rice.
-People ask me why I run. I tell them: Why did you stop running? -Jeremy Wariner.
-Each one of us has fire in his heart for something. It is our goal in life, to find it and keep it on.-Mary Lou Retton.
-Make sure your worst enemy does not live between your two ears.-Laird Hamilton.
-Never give up. Failure and rejection are only the first step to success.-Jim Valvano.
-A champion is afraid of losing. Everyone else is afraid of winning.-Billie Jean King.
-Winning means that you are willing to go further, work harder and give more than anyone else.-Vince Lombardi.
-The challenges make life interesting. Overcoming them is what makes life have meaning.-Ralph Waldo Emerson.
-If you train hard, you will not only be tough, you will also be difficult to overcome.-Hershel Walker.
-Some choose the comfort of their therapist's office, others go to the pub on the corner for a beer, but I prefer to run as my therapy.-Dean Karnazes.
-Age is not a barrier. It is a limitation that you put in your mind.-Jackie Joyner-Kersee.
-The difference between the impossible and the possible lies in the determination of a person.-Tommy Lasorda.
-Run when you can, walk if you have to, crawl if you must; Just do not give up.-Dean Karnazes.
-The victory is in having done the best possible. If so, you have won.-Bill Bowerman.
-Success is not permanent and failure is not fatal.-Mike Ditka.
-He who does not have enough courage to take risks, will not achieve anything in life.-Muhammad Ali.
-The more difficult the victory, the more happiness there is in winning.-Pele.
-The pain is temporary but the victory is forever.-Jeremy H.
-If you can not accept losing, you can not win.-Vince Lombardi.
-Talent is never enough. With few exceptions, the best players are those who work the most.-Magic Johnson.
-Never underestimate the power of dreams and the influence of the human spirit. The potential for greatness lives within us.-Wilma Rudolph.
-The ability can take you to the top, but it takes character to stay there.-John Wooden.
-Remember, if you're not giving all your heart, someone else will. And when you meet him, he will win.
-There is no glory in practice, but without practice there is no glory.
-It is not the size of a man that matters, but the size of his heart.-Evander Holyfield.
-Adversity breaks some men, others break records.-William A. Ward.
-Without self-discipline, success is impossible.-Lou Holtz.
-It's not about whether they knock you down. It's about if you get up.-Vince Lombardi.
-Always make a total effort, even when the odds are against you.-Arnold Palmer.
-If he does not challenge you, he will not change you.-Fred Devito.
The will is a muscle that needs exercise, just like the muscles of the body.-Lynn Jennings.
-A trophy will carry dust. Memories last forever.-Mary Lou Retton.
-To be successful, you have to find something to hold onto, something that motivates you, something that inspires you.-Tony Dorsett.
-A year from now you will wish you had started today.
-If you have everything under control, you do not move fast enough.-Mario Andretti.
-I have learned that something constructive comes from every defeat.-Tom Landry.
-Never look down. Never give up and cry. Find another way.-Satchel Paige.
-If you are afraid of failing, you do not deserve to be successful.-Charles Barkley.
-You are not a loser until you stop trying.-Mike Ditka.
-You and your opponent want the same. The only thing that matters is who works the hardest to get it.
-You don't get what you want. You get what you work for.
-When I lose all my excuses is when I start to get results.
-The difficulties of life are meant to make us better, not worse.
-You shouldn't want to be perfect. He who is perfect cannot improve.-Ashley ML
-Some people dream of being successful, others get up early to achieve it.
-The pain you feel today will become the strength you will feel tomorrow.
-What to do with a mistake: recognize it, admit it, learn from it and forget it.-Dean Smith.
-Everything is practical.-Bill Shankley.
-There is always a choice before leaving.
-Somewhere behind the athlete you have become, the hours of practice and the coaches who have put pressure on you, there is a boy who fell in love with the game and who never looked back. Play for her.-Mia Hamm.
-Have fun and learn something.-Stanley Gordon West.
-To stop is to win and rest is also part of victory.-Annie F. Downs.
-When you are a professional athlete, you get paid millions of dollars to do something that is not only fun but is also physical activity and is great.-AD Aliwat.
The best athletes have, in addition to ability, certain qualities: they direct their lives with dignity, with integrity, with courage and with modesty.-Donald Bradman.
- Winning is not everything. Wanting to win yes.-Vince Lombardi Jr.
-The miracle is not that it is over. The miracle is that he had the courage to start.-John Bingham.
-I never cared about the score, only the game.-Mae West.
-Running is not a sport for pretty boys. It is sweat in your hair and blisters on your feet.-Paul Maurer.
-Sports do not build your character: they make you know your true self.-Heywood Broun.
-I have never lost a game, I just ran out of time.-Michael Jordan.
-Winning is a habit. Unfortunately, so is losing.-Vince Lombardi Jr.
-If you can not be better than them in the game, at least be better than them in training.-Ben Hornsby.
-Never let the fear of making a strike not let you play.-Babe Ruth.
-Many people say that I am the best female soccer player in the world. I do not think so, and because of that, maybe one day it will be.-Mia Hamm.
-I discovered that to be a good athlete you have to worry about what happens to the ball even if you are not in possession of it.-Haven Kimmel.
-Football is like life. It requires perseverance, hard work, sacrifice, dedication, and respect for authority.-Vince Lombardi Jr.
-In the dust of defeat, as well as on the laurels of victory, glory can be found if one gave the best of oneself.-Eric Liddell.
-Stay true to yourself and listen to your inner voice. It will guide you through your dreams.-James Ross.
-A champion is one who gets up when he can no longer move forward.-William Harrison Dempsey.
-You have to give 100% in the first half of the game. If that's not enough, then in the second half you have to give what is left.-Yogi Berra.
-Always keep your mind open and your heart compassionate.-Phil Jackson.
-Everyone has fire, but only champions know how to light the spark.-Amit Ray.
-Sport teaches you to have character, it teaches you to follow the rules, to know what it feels like to win or lose. Sport teaches you about life.-Billie Jean King.
-You don't want to just defeat the team. You want to leave a lasting impression on him so that he never wants to see your face again.-Mia Hamm.
-The champions keep playing until they achieve it.-Billie Jean King.
-Athletes are born winners, not losers. The faster you understand this, the faster you can adopt a winning attitude and become successful.-Charles R. Sledge Jr.
-Apart from sport, only war and catastrophe can create this sense of national unity.-Simon Kuper.
-Life is a challenge and each challenge makes you grow.-Manny Pacquiao.
-Work on your weaknesses until they become your strengths.-Knute Rockne.
-I am the best there is, the best there has been and the best there will be.-Bret Hart.
-Don't look back, someone could be overtaking you.-Leroy Satchel Paige.
-The strong do not win. He who wins is strong.-Frank Beckenbauer.
-I do not do it for the media attention, I do not do it for the sponsors, or for the money.-Nastia Liukin.
-Excellence and perfection are the result of striving to be the best.-Pat Riley.
-Do you know what my favorite part of the game is? The opportunity to play.-Mike Singletary.
-In reality, gold medals are not made of gold. They are made of sweat, determination, and a hard-to-find alloy called guts.-Dan Gable.
-Tennis taught me to take advantage of opportunities, to accept life as it comes, to hit every ball that comes my way no matter how difficult it seems and to give my best.-Thisuri Wanniarachchi.
-All negative things, pressure, obstacles, challenges, are an opportunity to grow.-Kobe Bryant.
-There are no environments in which you are only going to win, because life is not like that.-Bobby Orr.
-If a team intimidates you physically and you let them do it, then they won.-Mia Hamm.
-I never smile when I have a bat in my hand. That's when I have to be serious.-Hank Aaron.
-A life training only for 10 seconds.-Jesse Owens.
-Much of the success in football is in the mind. You must believe that you are the best and then make sure you are.-Bill Shanky.
-I have always thought that records were made to be broken.-Michael Schumacher.
-When I go out to the field, nothing is a joke for me. It does not seem appropriate to walk around with a smile on my face.-Hank Aaron.
-I'm playing. I'm here. I will keep fighting until they tell me that they no longer love me.-Steve Nash.
-You never forget your victories and your defeats in this sport. You never forget.-Brad Alan Lewis.
-What are six minutes of pain compared to the pain you will feel for the next six months or the next six years? -Brad Alan Lewis.
-If you have confidence, then you have patience. Confidence is everything.-Ilie Nastase.
-Sports are for all people.-Pierre de Coubertin.
-The strength of the team is each member. The strength of each member is the team.-Phil Jackson.
-The winner in sports not only has physical abilities, he also has unique mental abilities.-Sunday Adelaja.
-Run and transform. Transform and run. Run to succeed in the outside world. Transform yourself to be able to continue in the inner world.-Sri Chinmoy.
-The glory is to be happy. Glory is not winning here or winning there. It is enjoying when you are practicing, every day, enjoying when you work hard, when you try to improve yourself.-Rafael Nadal.
-I usually have positive thoughts and I think that is what has helped me in difficult moments in life.-Roger Federer.