Top 50 Wayne Gretzky Quotes (2024 Update)

1. “You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.”

— Wayne Gretzky

Featured in: Inspirational Entrepreneurship Quotes

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

— Wayne Gretzky

3. “The day I stop giving is the day I stop receiving. The day I stop learning is the day I stop growing. You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.”

— Wayne Gretzky

4. “Procrastination is one of the most common and deadliest of diseases and its toll on success and happiness is heavy.”

— Wayne Gretzky

Featured in: Procrastination Quotes

5. “Only one thing is ever guaranteed, that is that you will definitely not achieve the goal if you don’t take the shot.”

— Wayne Gretzky

6. “Maybe it wasn’t the talent the Lord gave me-maybe it was the passion.”

— Wayne Gretzky

7. “No matter who you are, we’re creatures of habit. The better your habits are, the better they will be in pressure situations.”

— Wayne Gretzky

8. “Not doing it is certainly the best way to not getting it.”

— Wayne Gretzky

9. “The highest compliment that you can pay me is to say that I work hard every day, that I never dog it.”

— Wayne Gretzky

10. “The only shot I ALWAYS miss, is the one I don’t take!”

— Wayne Gretzky

11. “You’ll never catch me bragging about goals, but I’ll talk all you want about my assists.”

— Wayne Gretzky

12. “One hundred percent of shots not taken don’t go in.”

— Wayne Gretzky

13. “I heard people say, ‘Why would he want to do this?’ My answer is ‘Why not?’ It is what I love. It’s what I know.”

— Wayne Gretzky

14. “I don’t think any one person will ever be bigger than the game.”

— Wayne Gretzky

15. “Hockey is a unique sport in the sense that you need each and every guy helping each other and pulling in the same direction to be successful.”

— Wayne Gretzky

16. “The greatest thing about playing obviously is winning, and you can’t replace that experience with anything.”

— Wayne Gretzky

17. “I played everything. I played lacrosse, baseball, hockey, soccer, track and field. I was a big believer that you played hockey in the winter and when the season was over you hung up your skates and you played something else.”

— Wayne Gretzky

18. “The Power of WHO provides great lessons about how to succeed in business and in life. If you surround yourself with quality people and great friends, the sky’s the limit.”

— Wayne Gretzky

19. “Most people marry their mother. I married my father.”

— Wayne Gretzky

20. “I knew at a young age, whether I was playing baseball or hockey or lacrosse, that my teammates were counting on me, whether it be to strike the last batter out in a baseball game or score a big goal in a hockey game.”

— Wayne Gretzky

21. “People talk about skating, puck handling and shooting, but the whole sport is angles and caroms, forgetting the straight direction the puck is going, calculating where it will be directed, factoring in all the interruptions. Basically, my whole game is angles.”

— Wayne Gretzky

22. “There’s no perfect coach in the world. Coaches are human, too. Mistakes are made. But, fundamentally, if you’re sound, you eliminate as many mistakes as possible.”

— Wayne Gretzky

23. “I don’t like my hockey sticks touching other sticks, and I don’t like them crossing one another, and I kind of have them hidden in the corner. I put baby powder on the ends. I think it’s essentially a matter of taking care of what takes care of you.”

— Wayne Gretzky

24. “I have absolutely no complaints about my life. But people think I got handed everything, all this kind of fell in my lap, that I was just God-gifted with all this talent. I wanted people to realize it’s a lot tougher than just waking up one day and you’re in the NHL.”

— Wayne Gretzky

25. “One of the key qualities that you need to be a great hockey player is fantastic anticipation and feel for the game – if you know where the puck is going before it is hit, that is half the battle.”

— Wayne Gretzky

26. “I think sports for kids is the greatest thing in the world because it teaches you how to share, about winning and losing and pressure. But I don’t think you should force your kid to become a professional athlete.”

— Wayne Gretzky

27. “If I had to pick three players to start a franchise, I’d choose Hasek, Peter Forsberg and Eric Lindros.”

— Wayne Gretzky

28. “He brings something special. I don’t know what it is, but if you ask him, you couldn’t understand his answer.”

— Wayne Gretzky

29. “I couldn’t beat people with my strength; I don’t have a hard shot; I’m not the quickest skater in the league. My eyes and my mind have to do most of the work.”

— Wayne Gretzky

30. “It’s an honour and a thrill and a privilege just to play in the NHL.”

— Wayne Gretzky

31. “When I was 5 and playing against 11-year-olds, who were bigger, stronger, faster, I just had to figure out a way to play with them.”

— Wayne Gretzky

32. “It’s just amazing how many companies suddenly want you to hold up their products after you’ve held up the Stanley Cup.”

— Wayne Gretzky

33. “A lot of times, I can turn and pass without even looking.”

— Wayne Gretzky

34. “When I broke into professional hockey at 17 I was told that I was too small and too slow and I wouldn’t make the NHL. Now it’s kind of flip-flopped and the sense is I can’t be a good coach because I was a great athlete.”

— Wayne Gretzky

35. “When emotions are high, things are said, things are done. Ultimately, these players want to play. I know too many of them love the game too much.”

— Wayne Gretzky

36. “People in general want to build somebody up and then try to knock them down. They always root for the underdog.”

— Wayne Gretzky

37. “Thankfully, in my youth I had the best financial advisor a son could ask for: my dad Walter. When I got that first signing bonus in 1978, Dad took my cheque, announced, ‘This is what we’re going to do,’ and bought an annuity with it.”

— Wayne Gretzky

38. “Skating alone is an art. Doing it on a substance? I don’t know. That’s got to be tough.”

— Wayne Gretzky

39. “At the end of the day everybody lost. We almost crippled our industry. It was very disappointing what happened.”

— Wayne Gretzky

40. “I wasn’t naturally gifted in terms of size and speed; everything I did in hockey I worked for, and that’s the way I’ll be as a coach.”

— Wayne Gretzky

41. “Listen, everything I have in my life is because of the NHL and because of hockey, and I love the game and I loved every minute of being a player, I loved coaching, I loved being involved in the NHL.”

— Wayne Gretzky

42. “It’s kind of ironic when I broke in at 17, I was told I was too small, too slow and I wouldn’t make the NHL.”

— Wayne Gretzky

43. “Hullie’s a lot like a garbage can. You step on the pedal with your foot and the top opens up.”

— Wayne Gretzky

44. “Everything I did in hockey, I worked for.”

— Wayne Gretzky

45. “By no means could I play at the level of these kids who play in the NHL now but as 50-year-olds go, I feel really good and I feel blessed that I’m still healthy.”

— Wayne Gretzky

46. “Growing up, I was always the small guy.”

— Wayne Gretzky

47. “My kids are no different than anyone else’s – they tend to disagree with everything I say!”

— Wayne Gretzky

48. “We’re in a tough situation because of teenage children, and then we have a 2-year-old and a 5-year-old, so my family and my responsibilities is sort of a juggle.”

— Wayne Gretzky

49. “I’m very proud of our NHL players. I think they all handle themselves extremely well and they all work really hard.”

— Wayne Gretzky

50. “And people who know me would tell you that away from hockey I’m really not that competitive.”

— Wayne Gretzky