Inspirational Sports Quotes to Kick off Your Year
It's a new year—the next 12 months are a veritable blank slate, primed with new goals and new opportunities that will make 2014 jealous, because you and 2015 are super-tight bros who do amazing things together.
Sure, by June you may have unfriended that back-stabbing hater, 2015, and begging for 2014 to take you back, but the point is as of right now, the new year is all about unlimited potential.
And if you need a little nudge to get inspired—or even if you don't—few things can get you pumped up and ready to do big things like some of the most iconic quotes of sports history.
Motivation is the lifeblood of competition, so history is filled with powerful words said by sports legends who knew how to get the best out of people.
These are inspirational sports quotes to kick off your year.
On the True Measure of a Man
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"It’s not whether you get knocked down; it’s whether you get up.
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—Legendary NFL coach Vince Lombardi
On Age Being Nothin' but a Number
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"Age is a question of mind over matter. If you don’t mind, it doesn’t matter.
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—Hall of Fame pitcher Satchel Paige
On Putting in the Time Necessary to Achieve
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"There are no office hours for champions.
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—Former NCAA football coach Paul Dietzel
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On Taking Chances
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"You miss 100 percent of the shots you don't take.
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—NHL Hall of Fame great Wayne Gretzky
On Not Taking Work Home with You
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"I never took the game home with me. I always left it in some bar.
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—Retired MLB pitcher Bob Lemon
On When It's OK to Run Your Mouth
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"When you win, saying nothing. When you lose, say less.
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—NFL Hall of Fame coach Paul Brown
On Turning a Negative into a Positive
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"Fans don’t boo nobodies.
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—MLB Hall of Fame great Reggie Jackson
On Why 'They' Aren't Always Right
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"They say that nobody is perfect. Then they tell you practice makes perfect. I wish they’d make up their minds.
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—NBA Hall of Fame big man Wilt Chamberlain
On Never Giving Up Your Dreams
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"Be a dreamer. If you don’t know how to dream, you’re dead.
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—Former NCAA basketball coach Jim Valvano
On Premature Assumptions
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"Sometimes that light at the end of the tunnel is a train.
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—NBA Hall of Fame great Charles Barkley
On Going Hard or Not Going at All
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"If you aren’t going all the way, why go at all?
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—NFL Hall of Famer Joe Namath
On Consistency and Practice, Man, Practice
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"One day of practice is like one day of clean living. It doesn’t do you any good.
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–Former NCAA basketball coach Abe Lemons
On Battling Through Adversity
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"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.
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—MLB Hall of Fame great Hank Aaron
On Prioritizing the Stuff That Matters:
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"Ninety percent I’ll spend on good times, women and Irish whiskey. The other 10 percent I’ll probably waste.
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—Former MLB pitcher Tug McGraw
On What Really Matters
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"A trophy carries dust. Memories last forever.
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—Olympic gymanstics gold medalist Mary Lou Retton
On the Value of Playing Conservatively
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"When in doubt, punt.
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—Legendary coach John Heisman
On the Limitations of Beauty
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"So I’m ugly. So what? I never saw anyone hit with his face.
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—MLB Hall of Fame New York Yankee Yogi Berra
On Not Relying on Ability Alone
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"Ability is a poor man’s wealth.
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—Legendary coach John Wooden
On Walking the Walk Before Talking the Talk
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"It ain’t bragging if you can do it.
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—Hall of Fame pitcher Dizzy Dean
On What Separates the Weak from the Strong
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"Pressure can burst a pipe, or pressure can make a diamond.
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—Retired NBA player Robert Horry
On Not Living in the Past
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"It’s not what you did last year. It’s what you’re going to do this year. That’s more important.
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—Aging Los Angeles Angels slugger Albert Pujols
On Never Giving Up
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"You’re never a loser until you quit trying.
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—NFL Hall of Fame curmudgeon Mike Ditka
On Giving 100 Percent 100 Percent of the Time
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"Somebody once asked me if I ever went up to the plate trying to hit a home run. I said, ‘Sure, every time.’
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—Hall of Fame New York Yankee Mickey Mantle
On Why If You Aren't First, You're Second...not Last
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"It doesn’t bother me. I was also my wife’s second choice, and we’ve been married for 25 years.
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—Former NCAA basketball coach Billy Tubbs
On Opinions That Matter (And Those That Don't)
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"I don’t care what people think. People are stupid.
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—Hall of Fame baller Charles Barkley
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