Game Day Inspiration: 50 Motivational Quotes to Fuel Your Spirit

"I’ve missed more than 9,000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games. Twenty-six 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

"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

"You dream. You plan. You reach. There will be obstacles. There will be doubters. There will be mistakes. But with hard work, with belief, with confidence and trust in yourself and those around you, there are no limits."

- Michael Phelps

"Winning isn’t everything, but wanting to win is."

- Vince Lombardi

"It doesn’t matter if you fall short; it is never a failure to go after your goals with everything you’ve got."

- Michael Phelps

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

- Serena Williams

"A champion is simply someone who did not give up when they wanted to."

- Tom Landry

"I am going to outwork everybody because no one was going to give me anything."

- Dawson Knox

"When you don’t give up, you cannot fail."

- Adrian Peterson

"your job is to constantly look for the reasons why you can achieve your dreams."

- Shannon Miller

"Life is ten percent what happens to you and ninety percent how you respond to it."

- Charles Swindoll

"Never say never because limits, like fears, are often just illusions."

- Michael Jordan

"You'll never know what you're capable of until you take that first step and just go for it."

- Natasha Hastings

"There may be people that have more talent than you, but there's no excuse for anyone to work harder than you."

- Derek Jeter

"I really think a champion is defined not by their wins, but how they can recover when they fall."

- Serena Williams

"As you walk down the fairway of life you must smell the roses, for you only get to play one round."

- Ben Hogan

"We don't want to tell our dreams, we want to show them."

- Cristiano Ronaldo

"If you go around being afraid, you're never going to enjoy life. You have only one chance, so you've got to have fun."

- Lindsey Vonn

"The rewards are going to come, but my happiness is just loving the sport and having fun performing."

- Jackie Joyner-Kersee

"The secret of winning football games is working more as a team, less as individuals. I play not my 11 best, but my best 11."

- Knute Rockne

"Never let the fear of striking out get in your way."

- Babe Ruth

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

- Kobe Bryant

"Nothing can stop you and nothing can define you."

- Adeel Alam

"The wall is your mind playing tricks on you. You just need to say, 'One more step, I can do this. I have more in me.' You'll be so proud of yourself once you push past your threshold."

- Kerri Walsh

"The best motivation always comes from within."

- Michael Johnson

"Champions aren't made in the gyms. Champions are made from something they have deep inside them -- a desire, a dream, a vision."

- Muhammad Ali

"Adversity causes some men to break; others to break records."

- William Arthur Ward

"Winners, I am convinced, imagine their dreams first. They want it with all their heart and expect it to come true. There is, I believe, no other way to live."

- Joe Montana

"If you do the bare minimum, expect bare minimum results. You want to be great, work to be great."

- J.J. Watt

"When people told me I wasn’t going to make it, I listened to the one person who told me I was: me."

- Shannon Sharpe

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

- Muhammad Ali

"Difficulties in life are intended to make us better, not bitter."

- Dan Reeves

"There is only one way to succeed in anything…and that is to give it everything."

- Vince Lombardi

"No matter the circumstances you may be going through, just push through it."

- Ray Lewis

"If you can't accept losing, you can't win."

- Vince Lombardi

"You must not only have competitiveness but ability, regardless of the circumstance you face, to never quit."

- Abby Wambach

"Every champion was once a contender that didn’t give up."

- Gabby Douglas

"Don’t be afraid of failure. This is the way to succeed."

- LeBron James

"If something stands between you and your success, move it. Never be denied."

- Dwayne Johnson

"No one ever drowned in sweat."

- Lou Holtz

"Nobody who ever gave his best regretted it."

- George S. Halas

"Today I will do what others won't, so tomorrow I can accomplish what others can't."

- Jerry Rice

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

- Alex Morgan

"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

"It's not the will to win that matters. It's the will to prepare to win that matters."

- Paul "Bear" Bryant

"The only place success comes before work is in the dictionary."

- Vince Lombardi

"Football is like life. It requires perseverance, self-denial, hard work, sacrifice, dedication, and respect for authority."

- Vince Lombardi

"Success is no accident. It is hard work, perseverance, learning, studying, sacrifice, and most of all, love of what you are doing."

- Javier Báez

"It’s not the will to win that matters—everyone has that. It’s the will to prepare to win that matters."

- Paul Bryant

"I knew what I wanted to accomplish, and I knew how much work it took to achieve those goals. I then put in the work and trusted in it."

- Kobe Bryant

"Don’t count the days; make the days count."

- Muhammad Ali

"Believe in yourself and all that you are. Know that there is something inside you that is greater than any obstacle."

- Christian D. Larson

"The only one who can tell you 'you can’t win' is you, and you don’t have to listen."

- Jessica Ennis-Hill

"Victory is in having done your best. If you’ve done your best, you’ve won."

- Bill Bowerman

"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

"Success is where preparation and opportunity meet."

- Bobby Unser

"You have to expect things of yourself before you can do them."

- Michael Jordan

"Hard work beats talent when talent doesn’t work hard."

- Tim Notke

"If you fail to prepare, you’re prepared to fail."

- Mark Spitz

"Don’t lose faith in your dreams, keep fighting for what you love, and if you always give everything you have, you’ll be happy no matter what the outcome."

- Lindsey Vonn

"You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take."

- Wayne Gretzky

"Do you want to know what my favorite part of the game is? The opportunity to play."

- Mike Singletary

"The more difficult the victory, the greater the happiness in winning."

- Pele

"Trust that you can get back up and not give in. Ever."

- Patrick Willis

"You have to remember that the hard days are what make you stronger. The bad days make you realize what a good day is. If you never had any bad days, you would never have that sense of accomplishment!"

- Aly Raisman

"To go out there and prove what I can do has taught me a lot about who I am. We can push ourselves further. We always have more to give."

- Simone Biles

"It's not whether you get knocked down, it's whether you get back up."

- Vince Lombardi

"When you don't give up, you cannot fail."

- Adrian Peterson

"I am grateful for all my victories, but I am especially grateful for my losses, because they only made me work harder."

- Muhammad Ali

"I may win and I may lose, but I will never be defeated."

- Emmitt Smith

"It’s not whether you get knocked down; it’s whether you get up."

- Vince Lombardi

"I don’t want to be the next Michael Jordan, I only want to be Kobe Bryant."

- Kobe Bryant

"I am a member of a team, and I rely on the team, I defer to it and sacrifice for it, because the team, not the individual, is the ultimate champion."

- Mia Hamm

"Continuous effort—not strength or intelligence—is the key to unlocking our potential."

- Liane Cardes

"Just believe in yourself. Even if you don’t pretend that you do and, and some point, you will."

- Venus Williams

"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

"If you want to be happy, set a goal that commands your thoughts, liberates your energy, and inspires your hopes."

- Andrew Carnegie

"Persistence can change failure into extraordinary achievement."

- Arnold Palmer

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

- Steve Young

"When you fall, get right back up. Just keep going, keep pushing it."

- Lindsey Vonn

"I always try to start out with some type of goal. Then I work backward and think of what I need to do to get there and give myself smaller goals that are more immediate."

- Kristi Yamaguchi

"The way a team plays as a whole determines its success. You may have the greatest bunch of individual stars in the world, but if they don’t play together, the club won’t be worth a dime."

- Babe Ruth

"Talent wins games, but teamwork and intelligence win championships."

- Michael Jordan

"I love to compete. That’s the essence of who I am."

- Tiger Woods

"The battles that count aren’t the ones for gold medals. The struggles within yourself — the invisible, inevitable battles inside all of us — that’s where it’s at."

- Jesse Owens

"However great your dedication, you never win anything on your own."

- Rafael Nadal

"Champions keep playing until they get it right."

- Billie Jean King

"The difference between the impossible and the possible lies in a person’s determination."

- Tommy Lasorda

"Winners never quit and quitters never win."

- Vince Lombardi

"You control your own wins and losses."

- Maria Sharapova

"You don’t win by being good. You win with hard work and sacrifice. Without that, skill is just potential."

- Bobby Orr

"You have to keep your goal in mind and never lose sight of it."

- George Foreman

"Don’t make excuses. When you have decided to do something, do it. No excuses. Then you are self-disciplined."

- Eliud Kipchoge

"For me it’s the challenge — the challenge to try to beat myself and do better than I did in the past. I try to keep in mind not what I have accomplished but what I have to try to accomplish in the future."

- Jackie Joyner-Kersee

"I have tried to keep on with my striving because this is the only hope I have of ever achieving anything worthwhile and lasting."

- Arthur Ashe

"One man can be a crucial ingredient on a team, but one man cannot make a team."

- Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

"If you work hard and you play well, all those critics quiet themselves pretty quickly."

- Peyton Manning

"To succeed…You need to find something to hold on to, something to motivate you, something to inspire you."

- Tony Dorsett

"A team is where a boy can prove his courage on his own. A gang is where a coward goes to hide."

- Mickey Mantle

"You don't play against opponents, you play against the game of basketball."

- Bobby Knight

"But effort? Nobody can judge that because effort is between you and you."

- Ray Lewis

"A life of frustration is inevitable for any coach whose main enjoyment is winning."

- Chuck Noll

"It's not pressure unless you are not prepared."

- Colin Kaepernick

"Do you know what my favorite part of the game is? The opportunity to play."

- Mike Singletary

"It's a round ball and a round bat, and you got to hit it square."

- Pete Rose

"Don't tell me how rocky the sea is, just bring the ship in."

- Lou Holtz

"God gets you to the plate, but once you're there you're on your own."

- Ted Williams

"In baseball and in business, there are three types of people. Those who make it happen, those who watch it happen, and those who wonder what happened."

- Tommy Lasorda

"Every kid around the world who plays soccer wants to be Pelé. I have a great responsibility to show them not just how to be like a soccer player, but how to be like a man."

- Pele

"I skate to where the puck is going to be, not where it’s been."

- Wayne Gretzky

"You can learn a line from a win and a book from defeat."

- Paul Brown

"I never left the field saying I could have done more to get ready and that gives me peace of mind."

- Peyton Manning

"Ability is what you're capable of doing. Motivation determines what you do. Attitude determines how well you do it."

- Lou Holtz

"The only limit to our realization of tomorrow is our doubts of today."

- Franklin D. Roosevelt

"What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us."

- Ralph Waldo Emerson

"In a growth mindset, challenges are exciting rather than threatening. So rather than thinking, oh, I’m going to reveal my weaknesses, you say, wow, here’s a chance to grow."

- Carol Dweck

"When you lose, talk little. When you win, talk less."

- Tom Brady

"Every day is an opportunity disguised as a challenge."

- Tiki Barber

"Leadership is a matter of having people look at you and gain confidence. If you're in control, they're in control."

- Tom Landry

"You have to perform at a consistently higher level than others. That's the mark of a true professional."

- Joe Paterno

"Success isn't owned, it's leased. And rent is due every day."

- J.J. Watt

"The man on top of the mountain didn't fall there."

- Vince Lombardi

"The most valuable player is the one who makes the most players valuable."

- Peyton Manning

"It doesn’t matter what people say about me. I weather the storm."

- Terrell Owens

"You can’t always be the best. You have to remember that everyone makes mistakes sometimes."

- Aly Raisman

"Self-praise is for losers. Be a winner. Stand for something. Always have class, and be humble."

- John Madden

"Set your goals high, and don't stop till you get there."

- Gale Sayers

"Winning isn’t getting ahead of others. It’s getting ahead of yourself."

- Roger Staubach

"When you're good at something, you'll tell everyone. When you're great at something, they'll tell you."

- Walter Payton

"Each day I work on getting better, and even the bad days have something good that comes out of them."

- Katie Ledecky

"Losing is a learning experience. It teaches you humility. It teaches you to work harder. It’s also a powerful motivator."

- Yogi Berra

"You can’t win together if you don’t work together."

- Joe Paterno

"To the young: work, work, work, and then work some more."

- Ed Reed

"Good things come to those who work!"

- Greg Dortch

"If you can’t outplay them, outwork them."

- Ben Hogan

"Believe me, the reward is not so great without the struggle."

- Wilma Rudolph

"You’re playing a game, whether it’s Little League or Game 7 of the World 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

"Experience is a hard teacher because she gives the test first, the lesson afterward."

- Vernon Sanders Law

"When somebody tells me I cannot do something, that’s when I do it."

- Gertrude Ederle

"It's not the size of the dog in the fight, but the size in the fight of the dog."

- Archie Griffin

"When you've got something to prove, there's nothing greater than a challenge."

- Terry Bradshaw

"Failures are finger posts on the road to achievement."

- Charles F. Kettering

"If what you did yesterday seems big, you haven't done anything today."

- Lou Holtz

"Effort will never be questioned."

- Jalen Hurts

"If you think you’re done, you always have at least 40 percent more."

- Lauren Crandall

"I’ve learned that something constructive comes from every defeat."

- Tom Landry

"It is action that creates motivation."

- Steve Backley

"You should never stay at the same level. Always push yourself to the next."

- Marnelli Dimzon

"I’m a firm believer in that you play the way you practice."

- Larry Bird

"Being nervous is not something you should be ashamed of. Nervous means you care, you really want to do well."

- Paula Creamer

"In the end, it’s the effort that matters. The rest is beyond your control."

- Maria Sharapova

"I always felt that my greatest asset was not my physical ability, it was my mental ability."

- Bruce Jenner

"Life begins at the end of your comfort zone."

- Neale Donald Walsch

"As athletes, we have ups and downs. Unfortunately, you can't pick the days they come on."

- Deena Kastor

"Success isn't measured by money or power or social rank. Success is measured by your discipline and inner peace."

- Mike Ditka

"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

"I have yet to be in a game where luck was involved."

- Urban Meyer

"You cannot make progress with excuses."

- Cam Newton

"Sports serve society by providing vivid examples of excellence."

- George F. Will

"Embrace the new, no matter how uncomfortable, and make it work for you."

- Alex Smith

"Football is a game of controlled anger. It is a game of retribution. It’s about will."

- Brian Dawkins

"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

"They say discipline and dedication and respect are the key factors, but patience is a virtue that is absolutely essential!"

- Ria Ramnarine

"Leadership, like coaching, is fighting for the hearts and souls of men and getting them to believe in you."

- Eddie Robinson

"The difference between the old ballplayer and the new ballplayer is the jersey. The old ballplayer cared about the name on the front. The new ballplayer cares about the name on the back."

- John Madden

"The only way to prove that you’re a good sport is to lose."

- Ernie Banks

"Even while they teach, men learn."

- Seneca the Younger

"To do things you've never done before, you have to do things you've never done before."

- Sean Payton

"To begin, begin."

- Peter Nivio Zarlenga

"True disputants are like true sportsmen: their whole delight is in the pursuit."

- Alexander Pope

"Relax? How can anybody relax and play golf? You have to grip the club, don't you?"

- Ben Hogan

"Concentration is a fine antidote to anxiety."

- Jack Nicklaus

"Slump? I ain't in no slump. I just ain't hittin."

- Yogi Berra

"I was told over and over again that I would never be successful, that I was not going to be competitive and the technique was simply not going to work. All I could do was shrug and say "We'll just have to see.""

- Dick Fosbury

"What other people may find in poetry or art museums, I find in the flight of a good drive."

- Arnold Palmer

"Wisdom is always an overmatch for strength."

- Phil Jackson

"A good hockey player plays where the puck is. A great hockey player plays where the puck is going to be."

- Wayne Gretzky

"If we could have just screwed another head on his shoulders, he would have been the greatest golfer who ever lived."

- Ben Hogan

"I never criticize a player until they are first convinced of my unconditional confidence in their abilities."

- John Robinson

"Know yourself and you will win all battles."

- Lao Tzu

"Nobody can make you feel inferior without your consent."

- Eleanor Roosevelt

"Let me never fall into the vulgar mistake of dreaming that I am persecuted whenever I am contradicted."

- Ralph Waldo Emerson

"Confidence comes not from always being right but from not fearing to be wrong."

- Peter T. McIntyre

"If we all did the things we are capable of doing, we would literally astound ourselves."

- Thomas Alva Edison

"You owe it to yourself to be the best you can possibly be - in baseball and in life."

- Pete Rose

"The road to Easy Street goes through the sewer."

- John Madden

"Even if you are on the right track, you will get run over if you just sit there."

- Will Rogers

"Nothing will work unless you do."

- Maya Angelou

"Sweat is the cologne of accomplishment."

- Heywood Hale Broun

"Good, better, best. Never let it rest. Until your good is better and your better is best."

- Tim Duncan

"Strength does not come from physical capacity. It comes from an indomitable will."

- Mahatma Gandhi

"Toughness is in the soul and spirit, not in muscles."

- Alex Karras

"Tough times never last, but tough people do."

- Robert Schuller

"I figure practice puts your brains in your muscles."

- Emil Zatopek

"When I step onto the court, I don't have to think about anything. If I have a problem off the court, I find that after I play, my mind is clearer and I can come up with a better solution. It's like therapy. It relaxes me and allows me to solve problems."

- Michael Jordan

"The ideal attitude is to be physically loose and mentally tight."

- Arthur Ashe

"My thoughts before a big race are usually pretty simple. I tell myself: Get out of the blocks, run your race, stay relaxed. If you run your race, you'll win... channel your energy. Focus."

- Carl Lewis

"Mental will is a muscle that needs exercise, just like muscles of the body."

- Lynn Jennings

"Luck? Sure. But only after long practice and only with the ability to think under pressure."

- Babe Didrikson Zaharias

"A crust eaten in peace is better than a banquet partaken in anxiety."

- Aesop

"Money was never a big motivation for me, except as a way to keep score. The real excitement is playing the game."

- Donald Trump

"It’s not whether you get knocked down, it’s whether you get up."

"Great things come from hard work and perseverance."

"The strength within you is greater than any challenge ahead."

"The game isn't over until you've given it your all."

"Push yourself because no one else is going to do it for you."

"Every champion was once a contender who refused to give up."

"Pain is temporary, but pride is forever."

"Just believe in yourself. Even if you don’t, pretend that you do and, at some point, you will."

"Play with passion and purpose."

"The game is won in the mind before it’s won on the field."

"Every play is a chance to prove yourself."

"Your dedication defines your success."

"Winning is a habit; success is a choice."

"Commit to the process and the results will follow."

"Don’t practice until you get it right. Practice until you can’t get it wrong."

"Success is earned one practice at a time."

"Focus on your goals, not the obstacles."

"Believe in the power of your dreams and fight to achieve them."

"Leave everything on the field; no regrets."

"Your greatest opponent is yourself; challenge your limits."

"Rise above the challenge and shine."

"Effort and courage are not enough without purpose and direction."

"One day you won't be an athlete anymore. You won't have that training before competition. You won't have those long bus rides with your teammates anymore. One day you won't be an athlete anymore. You'll just have memories of one."