Here is our latest collection of the best inspirational sports quotes!
All athletes need motivation and constant reminders to be at their best during both practice and gameplay. Why?
Because it’s so easy to relax, fall off and fall back. Even when you love what you do!
Most people cannot relate to the extreme work ethic it takes to be an athlete, and as we all know, a few words can go a long way in life.
When we hear about some of the most successful athletes and sports stars, they were also master motivators. These athletes were experts at motivating their team to go beyond all previous limits, sending them and their teammates into a new territory to achieve the highest levels of performance.
And more times than not, the team listens and responds! Jordan! Kobe! Wayne! Ray Lewis! Just to name a few, are all master motivators.
We searched the web for the best inspirational sports quotes we could find to inspire athletes of all ages, to be the best they can be, on and off the court/field/gym.
Enjoy these wonderful motivational sports quotes for athletes!
Inspirational Sports Quotes For Athletes Who Want To Level Up
1. “Only he who can see the invisible can do the impossible.” – Frank L. Gaines
2. “The man who has no imagination has no wings.” – Muhammad Ali
3. “Today, you have 100% of your life left.” – Tom Landry
4. “A trophy carries dust. Memories last forever.”
5. “Age is no barrier. It’s a limitation you put on your mind.” – Jackie Joyner-Kersee
6. “The only way to prove that you’re a good sport is to lose.”
7. “I always felt that my greatest asset was not my physical ability, it was my mental ability.” – Bruce Jenner
8. “There may be people that have more talent than you, but there’s no excuse for anyone to work harder than you do.”
9. “One man practicing sportsmanship is far better than 50 preaching it.”
Also read these motivational golf quotes.
Inspirational sports quotes for athletes looking for beast mode
10. “Champions keep playing until they get it right.” – Billie Jean King
11. “It is not the size of a man, but the size of his heart that matters.” – Evander Holyfield
12. “Always make a total effort, even when the odds are against you.” – Arnold Palmer
13. “The more difficult the victory, the greater the happiness in winning.” – Pele
14. “If it doesn’t challenge you, it won’t change you.” – Fred Devito,
Also see these motivational Simone Biles quotes for the powerful Olympian, in you.
15. “Victory is in having done your best. If you’ve done your best, you’ve won.” – Billy Bowerman
16. “An athlete cannot run with money in his pockets. He must run with hope in his heart and dreams in his head.”– Emil Zatopek
17. “You have to expect things of yourself before you can do them.” – Michael Jordan
18. “There are only two options regarding commitment. You’re either IN or you’re OUT. There is no such thing as life in-between.”
19. “You were born to be a player. You were meant to be here. This moment is yours.” – Herb Brooks
Don’t forget to also read these inspirational coaching quotes that will motivate your team to the next level.
Motivational sports quotes for athletes from legends
20. “The key is not the will to win. Everybody has that. It is the will to prepare to win that is important.” – Bobby Knight
21. “I don’t plan on being disappointed. We plan on being really good, and obviously, we plan on winning.” – Gregg Troy
22. “A champion is afraid of losing. Everyone else is afraid of winning.” – Billie Jean King
23. “If you are afraid of failure, you don’t deserve to be successful!” – Charles Barkley
24. “Today I will do what others won’t, so tomorrow I can accomplish what others can’t.” – Jerry Rice
You might also like our list of the best baseball quotes for the inner child.
Inspirational sports quotes from Hall of Fame athletes
25. “You might not be able to out think, our market or outspend your competition, but you can outwork them.” – Lou Holt,
26. “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
27. “What do you do with a mistake: recognize it, admit it, learn from it, forget it.” – Dean Smith
28. “I’ve failed over & over & over again in my life & that is why I succeed.” – Michael Jordan
29. “You can’t get much done in life if you only work on the days when you feel good.” – Jerry West
30. “I’ve got a theory that if you give 100% all the time, somehow things will work out in the end.” – Larry Bird
31. “It’s hard to beat a person who never gives up.” “Heroes get remembered, but legends never die.” – Babe Ruth
32. “Do not let what you can not do interfere with what you can do.” – John Wooden
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Sports quote for athletes about perseverance
33. “If you have everything under control, you’re not moving fast enough.” – Mario Andretti
34. “You can’t put a limit on anything. The more you dream, the farther you get.”
35. “Procrastination is one of the most common and deadliest of diseases, and its toll on success and happiness is heavy.” – Wayne Gretzky
36. Once you learn to quit, it becomes a habit. – Vince Lombardi
37. “Talent is God given. Be humble. Fame is man-given. Be grateful. Conceit is self-given. Be careful.” – John Wooden
38. “I hated every minute of training, but I said, ‘Don’t quit. Suffer now and live the rest of your life as a champion.’”
39. “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
40. “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.”
41. “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,
42. “Gold medals aren’t really made of gold. They’re made of sweat, determination, and a hard-to-find alloy called guts.”
43. “The highest compliment that you can pay me is to say that I work hard every day, that I never dog it.”
Inspirational sports quotes from winners
44. “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
45. “Adversity causes some men to break; others to break records.”
46. “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
47. “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. ”
If you’re enjoying these quotes, you’ll love our collection of attitude quotes that will set you up for success.
48. “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.”
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More inspirational sports quotes
49. “A champion needs a motivation above and beyond winning.” – Pat Riley
50. “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
51. “If you think it’s hard to meet new people, try picking up the wrong golf ball.” – Jack Lemmon
52. “Finding good players is easy. Getting them to play as a team is another story.” – Casey Stengel
53. “It’s not whether you get knocked down; it’s whether you get up.”— Vince Lombardi
54. “When you’re riding, only the race in which you’re riding is important.” – Bill Shoemaker
55. “Never say never because limits, like fears, are often just an illusion.” – Michael Jordan
56. “In the end, the game comes down to one thing: man against man. May the best man win.” ― Sam Huff
57. “Do you know what my favorite part of the game is? The opportunity to play.”― Mike Singletary
58. “One man practicing sportsmanship is far better than 50 preaching it.” – Knuth Rockne
Inspirational sports quotes to give you motivation
59. “Winning isn’t everything, but wanting to win is.” – Vince Lombardi
60. “The difference between the impossible and the possible lies in a man’s determination.” – Tommy Lasorda
If you’re enjoying these quotes, make sure to read our collection of determination quotes to help you keep moving forward.
61. “The principle is competing against yourself. It’s about self-improvement, about being better than you were the day before.” – Steve Young
62. “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
63. “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
64. “Show me a gracious loser, and I’ll show you a failure.” – Knuth Rockne
65. “Winning isn’t everything, but it beats anything that comes in second.” – Paul Bryant
66. “Just be patient. Let the game come to you. Don’t rush. Be quick, but don’t hurry.” – Earl Monroe
67. “Nothing is black-and-white, except for winning and losing, and maybe that’s why people gravitate to that so much.” – Steve Nash
68. “You miss 100 percent of the shots you don’t take.”– Wayne Gretzky
69. “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
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Inspirational sports quotes to help you develop a winning attitude
70. “It’s just a job. Grass grows, birds fly, waves pound the sand. I beat people up.” – Muhammad Ali
71. “Don’t measure yourself by what you have accomplished, but by what you should have accomplished with your ability.” – John Wooden
72. “Competitive sports are played mainly on a five-and-a-half inch court, the space between your ears.” – Bobby Jones
73. “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
74. “You can’t win unless you learn how to lose.” – Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
75. “An athlete cannot run with money in his pockets. He must run with hope in his heart and dreams in his head.”
– Emil Zatopek
76. “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
77. “Hard work beats talent when talent doesn’t work hard.” – Tim Notke
78. “Passion first and everything will fall into place.” – Holly Holm
If you’re enjoying these quotes, make sure to read our collection of passion quotes expressing the love of things you’re interested in.
79. “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
80. “I don’t have to wait for nobody, I move when I wanna move.” – Floyd May weather
Sports quotes about confidence and winning
81. “Most talented players don’t always succeed. Some don’t even make the team. It’s more what’s inside.”– Brett Favre
82. “Show me a guy who’s afraid to look bad, and I’ll show you a guy you can beat every time.”– Lou Brock
83. “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
84. “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
85. “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
86. “If you train hard, you’ll not only be hard, you’ll be hard to beat.”– Herschel Walker
87. “If you can believe it, the mind can achieve it.”– Ronnie Lott
88. “If you don’t have confidence, you’ll always find a way not to win.”– Carl Lewis
89. “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
90. “Without self-discipline, success is impossible, period.”– Lou Holtz
91. “Just keep going. Everybody gets better if they keep at it.”– Ted Williams
If you’re enjoying these quotes, make sure to read our collection of keep pushing quotes about moving forward.
92. “Push yourself again and again. Don’t give an inch until the final buzzer sounds.”– Larry Bird
93. “The will to win is important, but the will to prepare is vital.”– Joe Paterno
94. “Never let your head hang down. Never give up and sit down and grieve. Find another way.”– Satchel Paige
95. “You’re never a loser until you quit trying.”– Mike Ditka
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Sports quotes to elevate your perspective
96. “I’ve never lost a game. I just ran out of time.” — Michael Jordan
97. “Don’t give up. Don’t ever give up.” – Jim Valvano
98. “Winning solves everything.” — Tiger Woods
If you’re enjoying these quotes, make sure to check out our collection of Tiger Woods quotes for a successful future.
99. “Life is gonna throw you curve balls and it’s how you deal with them and your attitude and your work ethic.” – Kerri Strug
100. “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
101. “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
If you’re enjoying these quotes, make sure to check out our collection of imagination quotes that will inspire you to unleash the untapped treasures in your mind.
102. “Losing feels worse than winning feels good.” — Vin Scully
103. “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
104. “It ain’t over till it’s over.” – Yogi Berra
105. “The most rewarding things you do in life are often the ones that look like they cannot be done.” – Arnold Palmer
Sports quotes that will inspire you to win in the game of life
106. “Victory is fleeting. Losing is forever.” — Billie Jean King
107. “Some may have more talent than you, but there is no excuse for anyone working harder than you do.” – John Tavares
108. “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
109. “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
110. “Winning is the most important thing in my life, after breathing. Breathing first, winning next.”— George Steinbrenner
111. “A good hockey player plays where the puck is. A great hockey player plays where the puck is going to be.” – Wayne Gretzky
112. “When you win, say nothing. When you lose, say less.” — Paul Brown
113. “Watch your actions, they become your habits. Watch your habits, they become your character.” – Vince Lombardi
114. “If you aren’t going all the way, why go at all?” – Joe Namath
115. “What makes something special is not just what you have to gain, but what you feel there is to lose.” – Andre Agassi
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