Top 90 Derek Jeter Quotes (2025 Update)

1. “There may be people who have more talent than you, but there’s no excuse for anyone to work harder than you do – and I believe that.”

— Derek Jeter

Featured in: Hard Work Quotes, Work Ethic Quotes, Commitment Quotes, Greatness Quotes, Practice Quotes

2. “I love it when people doubt me. It makes me work harder to prove them wrong.”

— Derek Jeter

Featured in: Doubt Quotes

3. “There’s responsibility, but there’s also accountability. You have to be accountable for your actions. You have to stand at your locker when things are going bad.”

— Derek Jeter

4. “The longer you wait to decide what you want to do, the more time you’re wasting. It’s up to you to want something so badly that your passion shows through in your actions. Your actions, not your words, will do the shouting for you.”

— Derek Jeter

5. “The last thing you want to do is finish playing or doing anything and wish you would have worked harder.”

— Derek Jeter

6. “Work hard, love what you do, put your best foot forward and never forget the kid in you.”

— Derek Jeter

7. “I’m not perfect; no one is perfect. Everyone makes mistakes. I think you try to learn from those mistakes.”

— Derek Jeter

8. “It doesn’t take any talent to play hard.”

— Derek Jeter

9. “When you put a lot of hard work into one goal and you achieve it, that’s a really good feeling.”

— Derek Jeter

10. “You don’t just accidentally show up in the World Series.”

— Derek Jeter

11. “Surround yourself with good people. People who are going to be honest with you and look out for your best interests.”

— Derek Jeter

12. “You know what I want to do? Wake up one weekend and not have to go anywhere and do nothing.”

— Derek Jeter

13. “You gotta have fun. Regardless of how you look at it, we’re playing a game. It’s a business, it’s our job, but I don’t think you can do well unless you’re having fun.”

— Derek Jeter

Featured in: Fun Quotes

14. “If you’re going to play at all, you’re out to win. Baseball, board games, playing Jeopardy, I hate to lose.”

— Derek Jeter

15. “Good teams make the playoffs, hot teams win the playoffs.”

— Derek Jeter

16. “Your image isn’t your character. Character is what you are as a person.”

— Derek Jeter

17. “I always take criticism as a challenge. It’s the way I’ve always looked at it.”

— Derek Jeter

18. “You have to take the good with the bad. Some players only talk to the press when they are doing good. When you’re doing bad you shouldn’t shy away from them and when doing good, don’t run up to them.”

— Derek Jeter

19. “I just think that your private life is private. What I do is obviously public, I get that. I get the fact that people are interested. I’m interested in a lot of people as well. I’ve just chosen to stay as private as possible.”

— Derek Jeter

20. “You have to be confident, if you’re not confident you might as well go home.”

— Derek Jeter

21. “It’s never over. You don’t want to be in the position to be down four runs in the ninth inning, but it’s not over until the last out.”

— Derek Jeter

22. “So many people are insanely busy nowadays, and it’s easy to say, ‘Ah, I’ll workout tomorrow.’ But you have to set aside a time and stick to that schedule.”

— Derek Jeter

23. “In order to lead people, you have to get to know them.”

— Derek Jeter

24. “God, I hope I wear this jersey forever.”

— Derek Jeter

25. “My parents always felt if I worked hard enough I could make any dream come true.”

— Derek Jeter

26. “When it was time for parent-teacher conferences, I remember that I was always embarrassed about what my parents would hear about me!”

— Derek Jeter

27. “That’s how you win – pitching and defense.”

— Derek Jeter

28. “My heroes, my dreams, and my future lay in Yankee Stadium. And they can’t take that away from me.”

— Derek Jeter

29. “I get nervous watching teammates. I get nervous for them. Late in the game, pressure situation, I’m nervous for them.”

— Derek Jeter

30. “Handle yourself like a professional on the field and you have one goal-and that’s to win.”

— Derek Jeter

31. “I think everyone is ticklish. You just gotta find the right spots.”

— Derek Jeter

32. “If you play well on the field, everything will take care of itself.”

— Derek Jeter

33. “I want to own a team one day. You know, that’s my next goal.”

— Derek Jeter

34. “My office is at Yankee stadium. Yes, dreams do come true.”

— Derek Jeter

35. “I go into every game thinking I’m going to be the hero. I have to, or I wouldn’t enjoy it.”

— Derek Jeter

36. “I went to school on Senior Skip Day.”

— Derek Jeter

37. “I think there’s something wrong with me – I like to win in everything I do, regardless of what it is. You want to race down the street, I want to beat you. If we’re playing checkers, I want to win. You beat me, it’s going to bother me. I just enjoy competition.”

— Derek Jeter

38. “I think it comes easy to work hard. I was always taught, don’t short-change yourself. Keep working to get better.”

— Derek Jeter

39. “Defense usually doesn’t make many headlines, but it goes a long way towards winning baseball games. There are a number of ways to make an impact during the course of a game, and playing solid, sound defense is one of them.”

— Derek Jeter

40. “My grandmother asks me to race down the street, I’m going to try to beat her. And I’ll probably enjoy it. Competitive to a fault, sometimes.”

— Derek Jeter

41. “I like to dance and sing when there’s no one around, but, if I’m out, I’m really shy about it. So it takes a lot to get me going, but I enjoy being around music.”

— Derek Jeter

42. “The great thing about being a Yankee is that youre always a Yankee.”

— Derek Jeter

43. “I looked up to my parents because they were very successful in what they wanted to do. I was lucky; I didn’t have to look far for role models.”

— Derek Jeter

44. “The only legacy I want is to be thought of as a winner.”

— Derek Jeter

45. “Our fans don’t want to see us win the Wild Card. They want to see us win the division.”

— Derek Jeter

46. “You’re playing a game, whether it’s Little League or Game 7 of the Word Series. It’s impossible to do well unless you’re having a good time. People talk about pressure. Yeah, there’s pressure. But I just look at it as fun.”

— Derek Jeter

Featured in: Fun Quotes

47. “My best vacation is somewhere I could hide, somewhere warm and not a lot of people around.”

— Derek Jeter

48. “Winning is one of the most special moments. Every time I take the field it’s a special moment. The fans are the ones that make it special. Because that’s what we do it for.”

— Derek Jeter

49. “I think when things linger, that’s when they become a distraction. I don’t want any distractions.”

— Derek Jeter

50. “I have the greatest job in the world. Only one person can have it. You have shortstops on other teams – I’m not knocking other teams – but there’s only one shortstop on the Yankees.”

— Derek Jeter