This post contains affiliate links

In my last quotes post, 100 Awesome Quotes for Your White Board, I wrote about how we use quotes in our classroom to prompt copywork, writing assignments, and critical thinking. That list of quotes is more general, but today I thought I'd start a whole new series of quotes posts that follow a theme.

Sports quotes are great motivators that go beyond the classroom or homeschool white board. Write them on tags that accompany your team's trophies, in Christmas cards for your coaches, and on your screensaver.

As someone who educates my kids at home, we use quotes on the white board during our group teaching time. You can read more about how we do that here: Creating a Circle Time That Works For You

100 Awesome Quotes About Sports

1. 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

2. One man practicing sportsmanship is far better than 50 preaching it. -Knute Rockne

3. Somewhere behind the athlete you’ve become and the hours of practice and the coaches who have pushed you is a little girl who fell in love with the game and never looked back… play for her. -Mia Hamm

4. Never give up, never give in, and when the upper hand is ours, may we have the ability to handle the win with the dignity that we absorbed the loss. -Doug Williams

5. If you aren't going all the way, why go at all? -Joe Namath

6. Persistence can change failure into extraordinary achievement. -Matt Biondi

7. There may be people that have more talent than you, but there's no excuse for anyone to work harder than you do. -Derek Jeter

8. Set your goals high, and don't stop till you get there. -Bo Jackson

9. Champions keep playing until they get it right. -Billie Jean King

10. It’s not the will to win that matters—everyone has that. It’s the will to prepare to win that matters. -Paul "Bear" Bryant

11. A good hockey player plays where the puck is. A great hockey player plays where the puck is going to be. -Wayne Gretzky

12. You can’t put a limit on anything. The more you dream, the farther you get. -Michael Phelps

13. The difference between the impossible and the possible lies in a person's determination. -Tommy Lasorda

14. The more difficult the victory, the greater the happiness in winning. -Pele

15. Make sure your worst enemy doesn't live between your own two ears. -Laird Hamilton

16. If you have everything under control, you're not moving fast enough. -Mario Andretti

17. If you fail to prepare, you're prepared to fail. -Mark Spitz

18. Start where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can. –Arthur Ashe

19. Always make a total effort, even when the odds are against you. -Arnold Palmer

20. What makes something special is not just what you have to gain, but what you feel there is to lose. -Andre Agassi

21. Remember this. Hold on to this. This is the only perfection there is, the perfection of helping others. This is the only thing we can do that has any lasting meaning. This is why we're here. -Andre Agassi

22. A trophy carries dust. Memories last forever. -Mary Lou Retton

23. It's not whether you get knocked down; it's whether you get up. -Vince Lombardi

24. It isn't the mountains ahead to climb that wear you out; it's the pebble in your shoe. -Muhammed Ali

25. One man can be a crucial ingredient on a team, but one man cannot make a team. -Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

26. “The only way to prove that you’re a good sport is to lose.” – Ernie Banks

27. During my 18 years I came to bat almost 10,000 times. I struck out about 1,700 times and walked maybe 1,800 times. You figure a ballplayer will average about 500 at bats a season. That means I played seven years without ever hitting the ball. -Mickey Mantle

28. When you’re riding, only the race in which you’re riding is important. -Bill Shoemaker

29. You are never really playing an opponent. You are playing yourself, your own highest standards, and when you reach your limits, that is real joy. -Arthur Ashe

30. Number one is just to gain a passion for running. To love the morning, to love the trail, to love the pace on the track. And if some kid gets really good at it, that’s cool too. -Pat Tyson

31. 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

32. Baseball is the only field of endeavor where a man can succeed three times out of ten and be considered a good performer. -Ted Williams

33. Without self-discipline, success is impossible, period. -Lou Holtz

34. The five S’s of sports training are: stamina, speed, strength, skill, and spirit; but the greatest of these is spirit. -Ken Doherty

35. When you’ve got something to prove, there’s nothing greater than a challenge. -Terry Bradshaw

36. Do you know what my favorite part of the game is? The opportunity to play. -Mike Singletary

37. You find that you have peace of mind and can enjoy yourself, get more sleep, and rest when you know that it was a one hundred percent effort that you gave–win or lose. -Gordie Howe

38. I’ve learned that something constructive comes from every defeat. -Tom Landry

39. Show me a guy who's afraid to look bad, and I'll show you a guy you can beat every time. -Lou Brock

40. 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

41. Just keep going. Everyone gets better if they keep at it. -Ted Williams

42. 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

43. If you can't outplay them, outwork them. -Ben Hogan

44. If you can believe it, the mind can achieve it. -Ronnie Lott

45. People ask me what I do in winter when there’s no baseball. I’ll tell you what I do. I stare out the window and wait for spring. -Rogers Hornsby

46. Push yourself again and again. Don't give an inch until the final buzzersounds. -Larry Bird

47. Most people never run far enough on their first wind to find out they’ve got a second. -William James

48. What do do with a mistake: recognize it, admit it, learn from it, forget it. -Dean Smith

49. If at first you don’t succeed, you are running about average. -M.H. Alderson

50. I hated every minute of training, but I said, “Don’t quit. Suffer now and live the rest of your life as a champion. -Muhammed Ali

51. Continuous effort — not strength or intelligence — is the key to unlocking our potential.” -Liane Cardes

52. It is not the size of a man but the size of his heart that matters. -Evander Holyfield

53. Good is not good when better is expected. -Vin Scully

54. The will to win is important, but the will to prepare is vital. -Joe Paterno

55. You were born to be a player. You were meant to be here. This moment is yours. -Herb Brooks

56. Your biggest opponent isn't the other guy. It's human nature. -Bobby Knight

57. What you lack in talent can be made up with desire, hustle, and giving 110 percent all the time. -Don Zimmer

58. Never let the fear of striking out get in your way. -Babe Ruth

59. The principle is competing against yourself. It’s about self-improvement, about being better than you were the day before. -Steve Young

60. There are only two options regarding commitment. You're either IN or you're OUT. There is no such thing as life in-between. -Pat Riley

61. The road to Easy Street goes through the sewer. -John Madden

62. Never let your head hang down. Never give up and sit down and grieve. Find another way. -Satchel Paige

63. A champion is someone who gets up when he can't. -Jack Dempsey

64. Nobody who ever gave his best regretted it. -George Halas

65. You're never a loser until you quit trying. -Mike Ditka

66. Stubbornness usually is considered a negative; but I think that trait has been a positive for me. -Cal Ripken, Jr.

67. You miss 100 percent of the shots you don't take. -Wayne Gretzky

68. When you win, say nothing, when you lose, say less. -Paul Brown

69. Never give up! Failure and rejection are only the first step to succeeding. -Jim Valvano

70. 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

71. Gold medals aren’t really made of gold. They’re made of sweat, determination, and a hard-to-find alloy called guts. -Don Gable

72. The highest compliment that you can pay me is to say that I work hard every day, that I never dog it. -Wayne Gretzky

73. 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. -Venus Williams

74. Adversity cause some men to break; others to break records. -William A. Ward

75. Wisdom is always an overmatch for strength. -Phil Jackson

76. I love the winning, I can take the losing, but most of all I love to play. -Boris Becker

77. What do do with a mistake: recognize it, admit it, learn from it, forget it. -Dean Smith

78. I play each point like my life depends on it. -Rafael Nadal

79. Victory is in having done your best. If you've done your best, you've won. -Bill Bowerman

80. I don't plan on being disappointed. We plan on being really good, and obviously we plan on winning. -Gregg Troy

81. You’ve got to get to the stage in life where going for it is more important than winning or losing. -Arthur Ashe

82. 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

83. Never put an age limit on your dreams. -Dara Torres

84. Nothing is impossible. With so many people saying it couldn’t be
done, all it takes is an imagination. -Michael Phelps

85. If you think you can’t, you won’t, and if you think you can, you will.’ When I’m tired at practice, I tell myself that I’m not tired, and I can push through. If you tell yourself you’re tired or if you tell yourself you’re sick, your body is going to follow the mind. -Kellie Wells

86. The mark of great sportsmen is not how good they are at their best, but how good they are at their worst. -Martina Navratilova

87. Failure I can live with. Not trying is what I can’t handle! –Sanya Richards-Ross

88. You’ve got to look for tough competition. You’ve got to want to beat the best. –Grete Waitz

89. As simple as it sounds, we all must try to be the best person we can:
by making the best choices, by making the most of the talents we’ve been given. –Mary Lou Retton

90. My motto is: I’m alive, so that means I can do anything. –Venus Williams

91. Be a good team mate – when you help a team mate you are in a sense helping yourself. Take pride in making good passes. -Igor Milanovic

92. Go into the sport because you have fun doing it, not because of ‘what ifs’ and dreams of gold medals. That way, no matter what happens, you win. – Shannon Miller

93. Some of the world’s greatest feats were accomplished by people not smart enough to know they were impossible. -Doug Larson

94. There’s always a point where you get knocked down. But I draw on what I’ve learned on the track: If you work hard, things will work out. -Lolo Jones

95. If you have made mistakes, even serious mistakes, you may have a fresh start any moment you choose, for this thing we call ‘FAILURE’ is not the falling down, but the staying down. -Mary Pickford

96. The only one who can tell you ‘you can’t’ is you. And you don’t have to listen. –Nike

97. Passion is a huge prerequisite to winning. It makes you willing to jump through hoops, go through all the ups and downs and everything in between to reach your goal. –Kerri Walsh

98. I don’t run away from a challenge because I am afraid. Instead, I run towards it because the only way to escape fear is to trample it beneath your foot. -Nadia Comaneci

99. You have to believe in the long term plan you have but you need the short term goals to motivate and inspire you. -Roger Federer

100. It Ain't over 'til it's over. -Yogi Berra

NEED WHITEBOARD SUPPLIES? I RECOMMEND THE FOLLOWING:

We use quotes in our homeschool during our group teaching time, or Circle Time. You can learn more about Circle Time by searching the site (on the home page) or purchasing my very helpful eBook, complete with printables for planning.

Click the image to learn more.

Featured