Top 200 Athlete Quotes (2025 Update)

1. “If you quit once, it becomes a habit. Never quit.”

— Michael Jordan

Also featured in: Perseverance Quotes, Goal Quotes, Discipline Quotes, Attitude Quotes

2. “I’ve missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games. 26 times, I’ve been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.”

— Michael Jordan

Also featured in: Success Quotes, Inspirational Quotes, Perseverance Quotes, Failure Quotes

3. “Every strike brings me closer to the next home run.”

— Babe Ruth

Also featured in: Positive Quotes, Perseverance Quotes, Motivational Quotes for Success, Friday Motivational Quotes

4. “Champions aren’t made in gyms. Champions are made from something they have deep inside them – a desire, a dream, a vision. They have to have the skill, and the will. But the will must be stronger than the skill.”

— Muhammad Ali

Also featured in: Success Quotes, Inspirational Quotes, Persistence Quotes, Goal Quotes

5. “My attitude is that if you push me towards something that you think is a weakness, then I will turn that perceived weakness into a strength.”

— Michael Jordan

Also featured in: Motivational Quotes, Quotes About Strength, Attitude Quotes

6. “I’ve wrestled with alligators, I’ve tussled with a whale. I done handcuffed lightning and thrown thunder in jail. You know I’m bad. Just last week, I murdered a rock, injured a stone, hospitalized a brick. I’m so mean, I make medicine sick.”

— Muhammad Ali

Also featured in: Quotes About Strength, Funny Quotes, Confidence Quotes, Action Quotes

7. “You can practice shooting eight hours a day, but if your technique is wrong, then all you become is very good at shooting the wrong way. Get the fundamentals down and the level of everything you do will rise.”

— Michael Jordan

Also featured in: Motivational Workout Quotes, Greatness Quotes, Practice Quotes

8. “There is no substitute for hard work. Always be humble and hungry.”

— Dwayne Johnson

Also featured in: Persistence Quotes, Hard Work Quotes, Motivational Quotes for Work, Career Development Quotes

9. “You always have to be on edge. You always have to take every practice, every game, like it is your last.”

— Kobe Bryant

Also featured in: Focus Quotes, Work Ethic Quotes, Passion Quotes, Practice Quotes

10. “Inside of a ring or out, ain’t nothing wrong with going down. It’s staying down that’s wrong.”

— Muhammad Ali

Also featured in: Never Give Up Quotes, Giving Up Quotes, Loss Quotes

11. “It’s the lack of faith that makes people afraid of meeting challenges, and I believe in myself. He who is not courageous enough to take risks will accomplish nothing in life. I figured that if I said it enough, I would convince the world that I really was the greatest.”

— Muhammad Ali

Also featured in: Confidence Quotes, Self-Belief Quotes, Fighting Quotes

12. “I really think a champion is defined not by their wins but by how they can recover when they fall.”

— Serena Williams

Also featured in: Recovery Quotes, Mental Strength Quotes, Resilience Quotes, Loss Quotes

13. “I play to win, whether during practice or a real game. And I will not let anything get in the way of me and my competitive enthusiasm to win.”

— Michael Jordan

Also featured in: Winning Quotes, Competition Quotes, Sports Quotes

14. “People just don’t understand how obsessed I am with winning.”

— Kobe Bryant

Also featured in: Winning Quotes, Competition Quotes, Sports Quotes

15. “I am the greatest. I said that even before I knew I was. Don’t tell me I can’t do something. Don’t tell me it’s impossible. Don’t tell me I’m not the greatest. I’m the double greatest.”

— Muhammad Ali

Also featured in: Confidence Quotes, Self-Esteem Quotes, Self-Love Quotes

16. “I’ll do whatever it takes to win games, whether it’s sitting on a bench waving a towel, handing a cup of water to a teammate, or hitting the game-winning shot.”

— Kobe Bryant

Also featured in: Sports Quotes, Grind Quotes, Basketball Quotes

17. “A good hockey player plays where the puck is. A great hockey player plays where the puck is going to be.”

— Wayne Gretzky

Also featured in: Epic Quotes, Sports Quotes

18. “No matter how good you get you can always get better, and that’s the exciting part.”

— Tiger Woods

Also featured in: Growth Mindset Quotes, Lifelong Learning Quotes, Mastery Quotes

19. “The vision of a champion is bent over, drenched in sweat, at the point of exhaustion, when nobody else is looking.”

— Mia Hamm

Also featured in: Motivational Quotes for Women, Grit Quotes, Motivational Workout Quotes, Soccer Quotes

20. “Winners never quit and quitters never win.”

— Vince Lombardi

Also featured in: Inspirational Entrepreneurship Quotes, Perseverance Quotes, Goal Quotes

21. “The difference between a successful person and others is not a lack of strength, not a lack of knowledge, but rather a lack in will.”

— Vince Lombardi

Also featured in: Positive Quotes, Success Quotes, Perseverance Quotes, Motivational Quotes for Success

22. “Success isn’t owned. It’s leased. And rent is due every day.”

— J. J. Watt

Also featured in: Motivational Quotes, Goal Quotes, Hard Work Quotes, Interesting Quotes

23. “There's no talent here, this is hard work. This is an obsession. Talent does not exist, we are all equal as human beings. You could be anyone if you put in the time. You will reach the top, and that is that. I am not talented, I am obsessed.”

— Conor McGregor

Also featured in: Focus Quotes, Perseverance Quotes, Hard Work Quotes, Attitude Quotes

24. “If you always put limits on everything you do, physical or anything else, it will spread into your work and into your life. There are no limits. There are only plateaus, and you must not stay there, you must go beyond them.”

— Bruce Lee

Also featured in: Inspirational Quotes, Quotes About Strength, Goal Quotes, Attitude Quotes

25. “Some people want it to happen, some wish it would happen, and others make it happen.”

— Michael Jordan

Also featured in: Inspirational Quotes, Hard Work Quotes, Action Quotes

26. “You can keep going and your legs might hurt for a week, or you can quit and your mind will hurt for a lifetime.”

— Mark Allen

Also featured in: Perseverance Quotes, Quotes About Strength, Discipline Quotes, Motivational Quotes for Success

27. “Everybody has talent, but ability takes hard work.”

— Michael Jordan

Also featured in: Hard Work Quotes, Motivational Work Quotes, Work Ethic Quotes

28. “I’m going to show you how great I am!”

— Muhammad Ali

Also featured in: Success Quotes, Confidence Quotes, Attitude Quotes, Action Quotes

29. “If you don’t back it up with performance and hard work, talking doesn’t mean a thing.”

— Michael Jordan

Also featured in: Hard Work Quotes, Action Quotes, Motivational Work Quotes

30. “There is no way around the hard work. Embrace it.”

— Roger Federer

Also featured in: Persistence Quotes, Hard Work Quotes, Excellence Quotes, Effort Quotes

31. “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

Also featured in: Motivational Quotes, Courage Quotes, Perseverance Quotes

32. “I’m a firm believer in goal setting. Step by step. I can’t see any other way of accomplishing anything.”

— Michael Jordan

Also featured in: Positive Quotes, Goal Quotes, Discipline Quotes, Motivational Quotes for Success

33. “Always work hard, never give up, and fight until the end because it’s never really over until the whistle blows.”

— Alex Morgan

Also featured in: Motivational Quotes, Persistence Quotes, Hard Work Quotes, Winning Quotes

34. “At the end of the day you gotta feel some way. So why not feel unbeatable? Why not feel untouchable.”

— Conor McGregor

Also featured in: Confidence Quotes, Personality Quotes, Hard Hitting Quotes

35. “Life is meant to be a challenge, because challenges make you grow.”

— Manny Pacquiao

Also featured in: Optimistic Quotes, Short Inspiring Quotes, Challenges Quotes, Thursday Motivational Quotes

36. “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.”

— Muhammad Ali

Also featured in: Confidence Quotes, Change Quotes, Interesting Quotes

37. “The most important thing is to try and inspire people so that they can be great in whatever they want to do.”

— Kobe Bryant

Also featured in: Self-Esteem Quotes, Motivational Monday Quotes, Positive Motivation Quotes, Excellence Quotes

38. “Opportunities Don’t Come Knocking On The Door. They Present Themselves When You Knock The Door Down!”

— Greg Plitt

Also featured in: Opportunity Quotes, Quotes About Trying, Fitness Quotes, Determination Quotes

39. “Never give up, no matter what.”

— Louis Zamperini

Also featured in: Startup Quotes, Perseverance Quotes, Monday Morning Quotes, Wednesday Motivational Quotes

40. “Don’t make training easy. Make it harder so that you will get better.”

— Manny Pacquiao

Also featured in: Fighting Quotes, Practice Quotes, Fitness Quotes, Competition Quotes

41. “Greatness is a lot of small things done well. Day after day, workout after workout, obedience after obedience, day after day.”

— Ray Lewis

Also featured in: Hard Work Quotes, Excellence Quotes, Commitment Quotes, Greatness Quotes

42. “Every day of my life, I’m trying to find a different way to get better.”

— Ray Lewis

Also featured in: Quotes About Trying, Practice Quotes, Fitness Quotes, Football Quotes

43. “If you even dream of beating me you’d better wake up and apologize.”

— Muhammad Ali

Also featured in: Personality Quotes, Fighting Quotes, Being Strong Quotes

44. “My coach said I ran like a girl, I said if he could run a little faster he could too.”

— Mia Hamm

Also featured in: Funny Quotes, Inspirational Quotes for Women, Competition Quotes, Funny Yearbook Quotes

45. “There is always someone out there getting better than you by training harder than you.”

— Pelé

Also featured in: Practice Quotes, Fitness Quotes, Competition Quotes, Football Quotes

46. “Champions adjust and pressure is a privilege.”

— Billie Jean King

Also featured in: Motivational Quotes for Women, Victory Quotes, Competition Quotes

47. “I’m just ’bout that action boss.”

— Marshawn Lynch

Also featured in: Competition Quotes, Boss Quotes, Actions Speak Louder Than Words Quotes

48. “A champion is someone who gets up when he can’t.”

— Jack Dempsey

Also featured in: Quotes About Strength, Resilience Quotes, Fitness Quotes, Victory Quotes

49. “Motivation is not something I struggle with. I love playing football, I love being in training.”

— Lionel Messi

Also featured in: Dedication Quotes, Football Quotes

50. “You can’t be held captive by the fear of failure or the fear of what people may say.”

— Kobe Bryant

Also featured in: Believe in Yourself Quotes, Mental Strength Quotes, Obstacles Quotes