When I played with Michael Jordan on the Olympic team, there was a huge gap between his ability and the ability of the other great players on that team. But what impressed me was that he was always the first one on the floor and the last one to leave." -- Steve Alford
"Before I'd get in the ring, I'd have already won or lost it on the road. The real part is won or lost somewhere far away from witnesses - behind the lines, in the gym and out there on the road, long before I dance under those lights." -- Muhammad Ali
"I hated every minute of training, but I said, 'Don't quit. Suffer now and live the rest of your life as a champion." -- Muhammad Ali
"Only winners are truly alive. Winning is living. Every time you win, you're reborn. When you lose, you die a little." -- George Allen
"Winning is the science of being totally prepared." George Allen
"Losers never know why they are losing. They will mention injuries, the officiating, the weather and bad breaks." -- George Allen
"Excellence is not an act, but a habit." -- Aristotle
"Don't go to the grave with life unused." -- Bobby Bowden
"The masters all have the ability to discipline themselves to eliminate everything except what they are trying to accomplish." -- Dale Brown
"It takes just as little time to see the positive side of life as it does the negative side." -- Jimmy Buffet
"When you stop giving and offering something to the rest of the world, it's time to turn out the lights." -- George Burns
"What distinguishes winners from losers is that winners concentrate at all times on what they can do, not on what they can't do. If a guy is a great shooter but not a great skater, we tell him to think only about the shot, the shot, the shot - never about some other guy outskating him. The idea is to remember your successes." -- Bob Butera, former president of the New Jersey Devils hockey team
"Any fool can criticize, condemn, and complain - and most fools do." -- Dale Carnegie
"The man who goes farthest is generally the one who is willing to do and dare. The sure-thing boat never gets far from shore." -- Dale Carnegie
"If we don't change the direction we're going, we're likely to end up where we're headed." -- Chinese Proverb
"You've got to love like you'll never get hurt. You've got to dance like there's nobody watching. You've got to come from the heart if you want it to work." -- Susanna Clarke
"The difference between a hero and an also-ran is the guy who hangs on for one last grasp." -- Paul Dietzel
"If you can dream it, you can do it." -- Walt Disney
"Opportunity is missed by most people bacause it is dressed in overalls and looks like work." -- Thomas Edison
"Imagination is more important than knowledge." -- Albert Einstein
"Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result." -- Albert Einstein
"Setting an example is not the main means of influencing another; it is the only means." -- Albert Einstein
"Only a life lived for others is a life worthwhile." -- Albert Einstein
"Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm." -- Ralph W. Emerson
"The biggest thing that I felt basketball could do for me was help me get a good education." -- Julius Erving
"Failure is the opportunity to begin again, more intelligently."-- Henry Ford
"The things which hurt, instruct." -- Ben Franklin
"We must all hang together, else we shall all hang separately." -- Ben Franklin
"Nobody who ever gave their best effort regretted it." -- George Halas
"You have to motivate yourself through pride. You must push yourself mentally and physically. A lot of people say John Havlicek never gets tired. Well, I get tired, it's just a matter of pushing myself. I say to myself 'He's as tired as I am, who is going to win the mental battle?"' -- John Havlicek
"Without winners, there would be no civilization." -- Woody Hayes
"Opportunity... often it comes in the form of misfortune, or temporary defeat." -- Napoleon Hill
"Your big opportunity may be right where you are now." -- Napoleon Hill
Lou Holtz
"Everybody is looking for instant success, but it doesn't work that way. You build a successful life one day at a time." -- Lou Holtz
"If you are bored with life, if you don't get up every morning with a burning desire to do things - you don't have enough goals." -- Lou Holtz
"You live up - or down - to your expectations." -- Lou Holtz
"Ability is what you're capable of doing. Motivation determines what you do. Attitude determines how well you do it." -- Lou Holtz
"Without self-discipline, success is impossible, period." Lou Holtz
"It's not my job to motivate players. They bring extraordinary motivation to our program. It's my job not to de-motivate them." -- Lou Holtz
"The biggest mistake an athlete can make is to be afraid to make one." -- L. Ron Hubbard
"Apply yourself. Get all the education you can, but then, by God, do something. Don't just stand there, make something happen." -- Lee Iacocca
"My religious beliefs teach me to feel as safe in battle as in bed." -- Stonewall Jackson
"People who feel good about themselves produce great results." -- Spence Johnson
"If I had stood at the free-throw line and thought about 10 million people watching me on the other side of the camera lens, I couldn't have made anything. So I mentally tried to put myself in a familiar place. I thought about all those times I shot free throws in practice and went through the same motion, the same technique that I had used thousands of times. You forget about the outcome. You know you are doing the right things. So you relax and perform." -- Michael Jordan
"The starting point of all achievement is desire." -- Napoleon Hill
"Life is an exciting business and most exciting when lived for others." -- Helen Keller
"Only those who dare to fail greatly can ever achieve greatly." -- Senator Robert Kennedy
"There can be no deep disappointment where there is not deep love." -- Martin Luther King, Jr.
"The old law about an 'eye for an eye' leaves everybody blind." -- Martin Luther King, Jr.
Bob Knight
"I just love the game of basketball so much. The Game! I don't need the 18,000 people screaming and all the peripheral things. To me, the most enjoyable part is the practice and the preparation." -- Bobby Knight
"Learn to do things right and then do them right every time." -- Bobby Knight
"The successful warrior is the average man, with laser-like focus." -- Bruce Lee
"Always bear in mind that your resolution to succeed is more important than any other thing." -- Abraham Lincoln
"A man is about as happy as he makes up his mind to be." -- Abraham Lincoln
Vince Lombardi
"Success demands singleness of purpose." -- Vince Lombardi
"Man's finest hour is the moment when he has worked his heart out in good cause and lies exhausted on the field of battle - victorious." -- Vince Lombardi
"The harder you work, the harder it is to surrender." -- Vince Lombardi
"The achievements of an organization are the results of the combined effort of each individual." -- Vince Lombardi
"All right Mister, let me tell you what winning means - you're willing to go longer, work harder, give more than anyone else." -- Vince Lombardi
"The quality of a person's life is in direct proportion to his commitment to excellence, regardless of his chosen field of endeavor." -- Vince Lombardi
"You carry on no matter what are the obstacles. You simply refuse to give up - and, when the going gets tough, you get tougher. And, you win." -- Vince Lombardi
"Inches make a champion." -- Vince Lombardi
"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 a habit. Unfortunately, so is losing." -- Vince Lombardi
"It is time for us all to stand and cheer for the doer, the achiever - the one who recognizes the challenge and does something about it." -- Vince Lombardi
"The price of success is hard work, dedication to the job at hand, and the determination that whether we win or lose, we have applied the best of ourselves to the task at hand." -- Vince Lombardi
"The difference between a successful person and others is not a lack of strength, not a lack of knowledge, but rather in a lack of will." -- Vince Lombardi
"In great attempts it is glorious even to fail." -- Vince Lombardi
"Apart from an innate grasp of tactical concepts, a great coach must possess the essentials attributes of leadership which mold men into a cohesive, fighting team with an invincible will to victory." -- General Douglas MacArthur
"Youth is not entirely a time of life; it is a state of mind. Nobody grows old by merely living a number of years. People grow old by deserting their ideals. You are as young as your faith, as old as your doubts; as young as your self-confidence, as old as your fear; as young as your hope, as old as your despair." -- General Douglas MacArthur
"Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature?" (Matthew 6:27).
Keep your mind stayed on Christ. Keep your mind stayed on the things of God. Then you're going to experience His perfect peace.
"Personnel determines the potential of the team. Vision determines the direction of the team. Work ethic determines the preparation of the team. Leadership determines the success of the team." -- John C. Maxwell
"The higher you want to climb, the more you need leadership. The greater the impact you want to make, the greater your influence needs to be. Whatever you will accomplish is restricted by your ability to lead others." -- John C. Maxwell
"The secret of our success is found in our daily agenda." -- John C. Maxwell
"The happiest people are those who have harvested their time in others. The unhappiest people are those who wonder how the world is going to make them happy." -- John C. Maxwell
"Courage and initiative come when you understand your purpose in life." -- John C. Maxwell
"When we trust God, He can make the ordinary extraordinary!" -- John C. Maxwell
"Our attitude is the primary force that will determine whether we succeed or fail." -- John C. Maxwell
"Nothing is as hard as it looks; everything is more rewarding than you expect; and if anything can go right it will and at the best possible moment." -- John C. Maxwell
"A big man is one who makes us feel bigger when we are with him." -- John C. Maxwell
"God wants to be our partner throughout life. Too often we are tempted to either carry the entire load ourselves or give everything to God and do nothing. God doesn't like either strategy. Sometimes He moves before us and sometimes after us - but He doesn't move without us. Without God... we cannot. Without us... God will not." -- John C. Maxwell
"The difference between ordinary and extraordinary is that little extra." -- John C. Maxwell
"I am a big believer in the 'mirror test'. All that matters is if you can look in the mirror and honestly tell the person you see there, that you've done your best." -- John McKay
"The one strongest, most important idea in my game of golf - my cornerstone - is that I want to be the best. I wouldn't accept anything less than that. My ability to concentrate and work toward a goal has been my greatest asset." -- Jack Nicklaus
"Achievement is largely the product of steadily raising one's levels of aspiration . . and expectation." -- Jack Nicklaus
"It is impossible to excel at something you don't enjoy." -- Jack Nicklaus
"If you think you are beaten, you are,
If you think that you dare not, you don't,
If you'd like to win, but you think you can't,
It's almost certain you won't.
If you think you'll lose, you've lost,
For out in the world you'll find,
Success begins with a fellow's will,
It's all in the state of mind.
If you think you are outclassed, you are,
You've got to think high to rise,
You've got to be sure of yourself before
You can ever win a prize.
Life's battles don't always go
To the stronger or faster man,
But soon or late the man who wins
Is the man who thinks he can."
-- Arnold Palmer
"I found this sandbank by the Pearl River near my hometown, Columbia, Mississippi. I laid out a course of 65 yards or so. Sixty-five yards on sand is like 120 on turf. But running on sand helps you make your cuts at full speed. I try to pick the heat of the day to run in, but sometimes that sand will get so hot you can't stand in one place. It'll blister your feet. You get to the point where you have to keep pushing yourself. You stop, throw up and push yourself again. There's no one around to feel sorry for you." -- Walter Payton
"Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your request be made known to God" (Philippians 4:6).
I challenge you the next time you have the opportunity to worry, choose not to worry, but pray about that situation.
"But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus" (Philippians 3:13,14).
"The first and best victory is to conquer self." -- Plato
"As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he" (Proverbs 23:7).
You cannot live a positive life with a negative mind. And many times the problems that we face are created from wrong thinking patterns that actually produce the problems.
"Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart" (Psalm 37:4).
We need to quit worrying about what other people will think and start being more concerned about what God thinks.
"Be gracious to me, O God, according to Thy loving kindness; according to the greatness of Thy compassion blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin" (Psalm 51:1,2).
Pat Riley
"Failure isn't so bad if it doesn't attack the heart. Success is all right if it doesn't go to the head." -- Grantland Rice
"Great teamwork is the only way to reach our ultimate moments, and create breakthroughs that define our careers and fulfill our lives." -- Pat Riley
"Commitment to the team - there is no such thing as in-between, you are either in or out." -- Pat Riley
"You can only receive what you're willing to give." -- Pat Riley
"The truth of the matter is that there's nothing you can't accomplish if: (1) You clearly decide what it is that you're absolutely committed to achieving, (2) You're willing to take massive action, (3) You notice what's working or not, and (4) You continue to change your approach until you achieve what you want, using whatever life gives you along the way." -- Anthony Robbins
"Leadership, like coaching, is fighting for the hearts and souls of men and getting them to believe in you." -- Eddie Robinson
"The road to happiness lies in two simple principles: find what interests you and that you can do well, and put your whole soul into it - every bit of energy and ambition and natural ability you have." -- John D. Rockefeller III
Knute Rockne
"Leaders are like eagles... they don't flock. You'll find them one at a time." -- Knute Rockne
"Courage means being afraid to do something, but still doing it." -- Knute Rockne
"Even if you are on the right track, you'll get run over if you just sit there." -- Will Rogers
"He who makes no mistakes makes no progress." -- President Theodore Roosevelt
"I have discovered that you can go from nowhere to somewhere, from nothing to something, from a nobody to a somebody, from an empty person to a fulfilled one, if you have faith in God." -- Robert H. Schuller
"The only place where your dream becomes impossible is in your own thinking." -- Robert H. Schuller
"Always look at what you have left. Never look at what you have lost." -- Robert H. Schuller
"Whatever you do today, do it better tomorrow." -- Robert Schuller
"A life spent in making mistakes is not only more honorable but more useful than a life spent doing nothing." -- George Bernard Shaw
"Every time I stepped on the field, I believed my team was going to walk off the winner, somehow, someway." -- Roger Staubach
"Spectacular achievements come from unspectacular preparation." -- Roger Staubach
"You've got to think about big things while you're doing small things, so that all the small things go in the right direction." -- Alvin Toffler
"Keep away from people who belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you too can become great." -- Mark Twain
"The best way to cheer yourself up is to cheer everybody else up." -- Mark Twain
"Most battles are won before they are fought" -- Sun Tzu
Jim Valvano
"To me, there are three things we all should do every day. We should do this every day of our lives. Number one is laugh. You should laugh every day. Number two is think. You should spend some time in thought. Number three is, you should have your emotions moved to tears, could be happiness or joy." -- Jim Valvano
"There are 86,400 seconds in a day. It's up to you to decide what to do with them." -- Jim Valvano
"I want to help every cancer patient I can now. I don't know if I can handle that, but it's the only conceivable good that can come out of this." -- Jim Valvano
"My hobby is my work. I love it so much, it is not work." -- Dick Vermeil
"If you don't invest much of yourself, then defeat doesn't hurt very much and winning isn't very exciting." -- Dick Vermeil
"Nothing is more harmful to the service, than the neglect of discipline; for that discipline, more than numbers, gives one army superiority over another." -- George Washington
If it is to be, it is up to me." -- Frosty Westering
How a man plays the game shows something of his character; how he loses shows all of it." -- Frosty Westering
"Sometimes you have to lose major golf championships before you can win them. It's the price you pay for maturing. The more times you can put yourself in pressure situations, the more times you compete, the better off you are." -- Tom Watson
Johnny Unitas
"There is a difference between conceit and confidence. A quarterback has to have confidence. Conceit is bragging about yourself. Confidence means you believe you can get the job done. I have always believed that I could get the job done." -- Johnny Unitas
"Make each day your masterpiece. You have control over that." -- John Wooden
"Confidence comes from being prepared." -- John Wooden
"Loyalty is very important when things get a little tough, as they often do when the challenge is great. Loyalty is a powerful force in producing one's individual best and more so in producing a team's best." -- John Wooden
"Things turn out best for the people who make the best of the way things turn out." -- John Wooden
"It's not so important who starts the game but who finishes it." -- John Wooden
"You'll always have everything in life that you want if you help enough people get what they want." -- Zig Ziglar
