Inspirational Sports Quotes
Quotes motivate, inspire, encourage, and allow you to reflect on different perspectives of life. They can also encourage you to pursue your dreams, empower you to achieve your goals, or help you overcome your fears.
Below is our collection of inspiring quotes directed at athletes, coaches, and others who are looking for inspiration, motivation, or encouragement. They are about achieving goals, building teams, finding passion, revealing character, and finding the true lessons of sports. Take a few moments to read some and reflect on how it may apply to you or your team.
“Sports remain a great metaphor for life’s more difficult lessons. It was through athletics that many of us first came to understand that fear can be tamed; that on a team the whole is more than the sum of its parts; and that the ability to be heroic lies, to a surprising degree, within.” —Susan Casey
“In our lives we will encounter many challenges, and tomorrow we face one together. How we accept the challenge and attack the challenge head on is only about us–no one can touch that. If we win or lose this weekend, it will not make a difference in our lives. But why we play and how we play will make a difference in our lives forever.” —Beth Anders
“What I’ve learned in my years as a competitive wheelchair athlete is this–what separates a winner from the rest of the pack is not raw talent or physical ability; instead, it is the drive and dedication to work hard every single day, and the heart to go after your dream, no matter how unattainable others think it is.” —Linda Mastandrea
“The Most Important Thing I Know About the Spirit of Sport… It instills in us the ability to recognize and appreciate the talents of others as well as the gifts we have been given and the ability to work with others as a team. It also allows us to face the challenge of competition, learn from our successes and failures, altogether making us true champions in life.” —Dr. Dot Richardson
“The glory of sport comes from dedication, determination and desire. Achieving success and personal glory in athletics has less to do with wins and losses than it does with learning how to prepare yourself so that at the end of the day, whether on the track or in the office, you know that there was nothing more you could have done to reach your ultimate goal.” —Jackie Joyner-Kersee
“Win or lose you will never regret working hard, making sacrifices, being disciplined or focusing too much. Success is measured by what we have done to prepare for competition.” —John Smith
“The spirit of sports gives each of us who participate an opportunity to be creative. Sports knows no sex, age, race or religion. Sports gives us all the ability to test ourselves mentally, physically and emotionally in a way no other aspect of life can. For many of us who struggle with ‘fitting in’ or our identity–sports gives us our first face of confidence. That first bit of confidence can be a gateway to many other great things!” —Dan O’Brien
“Whether I fail or succeed shall be no man’s doing but my own. I am the force; I can clear any obstacle before me or I can be lost in the maze. My choice; my responsibility; win or lose, only I hold the keys to my destiny.” —Elain Maxwell
“When all is said and done, it’s not the shots that won the championship that you remember, but the friendships you made along the way.” —Unknown
“The glory of sport is born at the moment when the game and the person become one, when all the complexity of one’s life finds a moment to emerge in the game.” —Timothy Shriver, Ph.D.
“Victory isn’t defined by wins or losses, it is defined by effort. If you can truthfully say, ‘I did the best I could, I gave everything I had,’ then you’re a winner.” —Wolfgang Schadler
“I think a lot of our team commitment is a silent understanding that each one of us has poured our life into what we’re doing.” —Claire Carver-Dias
“If you don’t have time to do it right, when will you have time to do it over?” – John Wooden
“Victory isn’t defined by wins or losses. It is defined by effort. If you can truthfully say, ‘I did the best I could, I gave everything I had,’ then you’re a winner.” – Wolfgang Schadler
“Those who truly have the spirit of champions are never wholly happy with an easy win. Half the satisfaction stems from knowing that it was the time and the effort you invested that led to your high achievement.” —Nicole Haislett
“To accomplish great things, we must not only act, but also dream; not only plan, but also believe.” – Anatole France
“The best way out is always through.” – Robert Frost
“The roots of true achievement lie in the will to become the best that you can become.” -Harold Taylor
