SPECIAL REPORT: THE 301 GREATEST MOTIVATIONAL QUOTES OF ALL TIME Compiled and Edited by Rob Gilbert, Ph.D. Department of Exercise Science and Physical Education Montclair State University 1. Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss, you ll be among the stars. 2. If it is to be, it is up to me. 3. The will to win is not nearly as important as the will to prepare to win. 4. Things work out best for those who make the best of the way things work out. 5. It s the start that stops most people. 6. Losers make promises. Winners keep commitments.
7. If you don t stretch your limits, you ll set your limits. 8. The only place success comes before work is in the dictionary. 9. Others can stop temporarily. You are the only one who can do it permanently. 10. Nothing great was ever accomplished without enthusiasm. 11. The pain is temporary. The pride is forever. 12. To be the best you must beat the best. 13. Winners are like teabags you never see their true strength until they re in hot water. 14. I skate to where the puck is going to be, not to where it has been. Wayne Gretzky, Pro hockey player 15. If I miss three days of practice, my audience knows it. If I miss two days, my critics know it. If I miss one day, I know it. Ignace Paderewski, Pianist 16. Losers visualize the penalties of failure. Winners visualize the rewards of success. Dr. Rob Gilbert 17. Noah started building the ark before it started raining.
18. It s all right to have butterflies in your stomach, just get them to fly in formation. 19. Don t wait to get motivated to do something. Do something and then you ll get motivated. 20. If you were on trial for living the life of a winner, would the jury have enough evidence to convict you? 21. You drift toward the rocks; you sail toward success, and if there is no wind -- row! 22. It s not how you start, it s how you finish. 23. Do what you re doing while you re doing it. 24. Do your work with your whole heart and you will succeed there s so little competition. Elbert Hubbard, Author 25. The difference between ordinary and extraordinary is that little extra. 26. People are like ten-speed bikes most of us have gears we never use. 27. To be a champion, you have to believe in yourself when no one else will. Sugar Ray Robinson, Boxer
28. Your mind is like a parachute it only works when it s open. 29. Winners are not passionate because they are successful. They are successful because they are passionate. 30. Winners have formed the habit of doing things losers don t like to do. 31. If you don t climb the mountain, you ll never see the view. 32. Learn from the past. Live in the present. Plan for the future. 33. No guts, no glory. 34. You are not your past. You are your potential. 35. Second things first will never work as well as first things first. 36. What do you want: Reasons or results? 37. Winners look for ways things can be done. Losers look for reasons they can t. 38. Play like a champion today. Sign in the Notre Dame football locker room 39. Fake it until you make it!
40. Ability will get you to the top. Character will keep you there. 41. How to avoid criticism: Say nothing; do nothing; be nothing. 42. You can t build a reputation on what you re going to do. Henry Ford, Founder, Ford Motor Company 43. Practice does not make perfect. Practice makes permanent. Only perfect practice makes perfect. 44. Do or do not there is no try. Yoda in The Empire Strikes Back 45. If better is possible, good is not enough. 46. Good, better, best, Never ever rest. Until your good gets better And your better gets best. 47. When your heart is in your dreams, no request is too extreme. Jiminy Cricket 48. Conquer your bad habits or they will conquer you. 49. Do it.
Do it right. Do it right now! 50. What losers call failure, winners call feedback. 51. You are stronger than your fears and better than your failures. 52. If you fail to prepare, you are preparing to fail. 53. Enthusiasm is contagious start an epidemic. 54. To become you must overcome. 55. A single reason why you can do something is worth a hundred reasons why you can t. 56. It s impossible to learn what you think you already know. 57. The only limitations you have are the ones you set for yourself. 58. Motivation is what gets you started, habit is what keeps you going. 59. Your last mistake is your best teacher. 60. The time to fix the roof is when the sun is shining. 61.
Tears will get you sympathy. Sweat will get you results. 62. Breakdowns lead to breakthroughs. 63. The best way to predict the future is to create it. 64. It s not what s happening around you. It s not what happening to you. What really matters is what s happening inside you. 65. Opportunities. Choices. Consequences. 66. A set-back is a set-up for a come-back. Willie Jolley, Professional speaker 67. If you want to get things that others will never get, you ll have to do things others will never do. 68. Character is what you do in the dark. 69. How you play the game shows something about your character. How you lose shows all of it. 70. Don t curse the darkness light a candle. 71. The Choice: Are you going to talk the talk or walk the walk?
72. It s what you learn after you know it all that counts. John Wooden, College basketball coach 73. Inch by inch, it s a cinch. Yard by yard, it might be hard. 74. It s your attitude more than your aptitude that ll determine your altitude. Zig Ziglar, Professional speaker 75. No Pain. No gain. 76. The Question: Are you willing to give up what you want now for what you want most? 77. What are you going to say: I m glad I did, or I wish I had? 78. If you don t know where you re going how are you ever going to get there? 79. Before you can do great things, you have to do small things in a great way. 80. The harder you work, the luckier you will get. 81. Every fighter has a plan until he gets hit.
Mike Tyson, Boxer 82. Patience has power. 83. Life is a marathon not a sprint. 84. One of these days is none of these days. 85. Don t watch the clock. Do what it does keep going. Sam Levenson, Comedian 86. Your past is not your future. 87. When you hit bottom you can bounce-back. 88. Becoming a champion is hard but it s not too hard. 89. You are 100% responsible for how you choose to respond to everything that happens in your life. 90 Be comfortable being uncomfortable. 91. Bring your body, your mind will follow. 92. It works if you work it. 93. What would hurt more:
To continue or to stop? 94. A year from today you will have wished you had started today. 95. Your attitude is more important than your circumstances. 96. If you fail to plan, you re planning to fail. 97. The important thing is to make the important thing the important thing. 98. Guarantee #1: It will be difficult. Guarantee #2: It will be worth it! 99. Your thoughts determine what you want. Your actions determine what you ll get. 100. If nothing changes, nothing changes. 101. The pain of discipline weighs ounces. The pain of regret weighs tons. 102. Comfort comes second. Commitment comes first. 103. When you choose the behavior, you are choosing the result.
104. Trying is lying. 105. There s a big difference between, I can t do it, and I can t do it yet. 106. Hang on until you catch on. 107. K A = 0 (Knowledge without Action equals Zero) 108. If you keep doing what you re always done, you ll keep getting what you ve always gotten. 109. DOn t wait. 110. Your focus is your future. 111. Winners lose more than losers lose because winners show up more than losers do. 112. I m building a fire every day in practice. On the day of competition, I light the match. 113. What could you achieve if you acted as if it were impossible to fail? 114. Nothing negative will come from being positive. Nothing positive will come from being negative. Dr. Rob Gilbert 115. Be intense
without being tense. 116. Do what you have to do, when you have to do it, whether you like it or not no matter what! 117. If you can t do the little things well, how will you ever do the big things great? 118. Never, never, never quit. Winston Churchill, British Prime Minister 119. The greater the obstacle, the more the joy in overcoming it. 120. Three Steps for Success: 1. Make a commitment. 2. Make it public. 3. Make it happen. Frank Somma, Sales manager and professional speaker 121. Good times pass. Bad times pass. The commitment remains. 122. The harder I work, the better I perform. The better I perform, the better I feel. The better I feel, the more I like it. The more I like it, the harder I work. 123. Diligence is more important than intelligence. 124.
No one wants to hear about the labor pains, they just want to see the baby. 125. The hard times you go through will bring you the good things you ll have. 126. If at first you don t succeed try, try, try another way. 127. Not to decide is to decide. 128. Your worst loss might become your best learning experience. 129. A goal without actions is merely a wish. 130. Losers dream dreams. Winners stay awake and make them come true. 131. You must do the things you think you cannot do. 132. Whether you think you can or you think you can t, in either case, you re right. Henry Ford, Founder, Ford Motor Company 133. You can t think and hit at the same time. Yogi Berra, Pro baseball player 134. You can t drown in sweat. 135.
I ve never lost a game in my life. Once in a while, time ran out on me. Bobby Lane, Pro football player 136. You miss 100 percent of the shots you never take. Wayne Gretzky, Pro hockey player 137. It s kind of fun to do the impossible. Walt Disney, Film and theme park entrepreneur 138. M.O.O.M.B.A. (My Only Obstacle May Be Attitude.) 139. I can. I will. I must. 140. Anytime. Anywhere. Anyone. 141. There s no such thing as a good loss and there s no such thing as a bad win. 142. Courage is doing what you re afraid to do. There can be no courage unless you re scared. Eddie Rickenbacker, Fighter pilot 143. You re biggest weakness can become your greatest strength. 144. Champions keep playing until they get it right. Billie Jean King, Pro tennis player 145. Durability is more important than ability. Buddy Ryan, Pro football coach
146. There are three types of people: Those who make things happen, those who watch things happen, and those who wonder what happened. 147. Will you stop being the person you have been so you can become the person you can be? 148. Good is best s worst enemy. 149. You don t drown by falling in water. You drown by staying there. 150. Commitment is a muscle use it or lose it. 151. Competence leads to confidence. 152. The best way to answer your critics: Win! 153. Dedication turns discipline into desire. Dr. Rob Gilbert 154. It s not supposed to be easy. 155. The hardest thing you ll ever do will be the best thing you ll ever do. Ken Carberry, Writer 156. The more you sweat in the gym, the less you ll bleed in the streets. Sign posted in a state police academy gym.
157. Difficult things take a long time. Impossible things take a little longer. 158. If you have a big enough why, you ll always find the how. Dr. Rob Gilbert 159. Pain is weakness leaving the body. United States Marine Corps slogan 160. Full effort is full victory. Gandhi, Indian nationalist leader 161. Actions speak louder than coaches. Speedo advertisement 162. Be consistently persistent. Dick Hannula, High school swimming coach and author 163. If you really want to be a champion, then the work is no problem. 164. There is no traffic jam on the extra mile. 165. Desire + Dedication + Direction = Determined Destiny 166. Doing a thing nearly right and doing it exactly right is the difference between failure and success. 167. Faith can move mountains. Doubt can create them. 168.
Fatigue makes cowards of us all. Vince Lombardi, Pro football coach 169. If you want to be a champion tomorrow, start acting like one today. Dr. Rob Gilbert 170. Train harder every day than your opponents will train any day. Alexander Karelin, World and Olympic champion wrestler 171. Go hard or go home. Speedo advertisement 172. If you do not consciously form good habits, you will unconsciously form bad ones. 173. Good enough never is. Debbi Fields (of Mrs. Fields cookies) 174. If you don t take the time to do it right, when will you find the time to do it over? 175. The best athlete doesn t win, the best-trained athlete does. 176. Only the mediocre are at their best at all times. 177. You are sitting on a goldmine. When are you going to start digging? 178. Luck follows preparation. 179.
Luck follows speed. Bear Bryant, College football coach 180. You don t have to be the star of the team in order to shine. 181. You can do what you want to do only after you do what you have to do. 182. There s no such thing as a free lunch. 183. When you help a teammate up the hill you ll find yourself closer to the top. Irv Furman, Professional speaker 184. The only time you run out of chances is when you stop taking them. Patti LaBelle, Singer 185. Anyone can buy a ticket to watch the bullfight. Very few are willing to jump over the fence and fight the bull. 186. The best team does not win as often as the team that plays together best. 187. I do not play my eleven best, I play my best eleven. Knute Rockne, College football coach 188. When you win, nothing hurts. Joe Namath, Pro football player 189.
It s not whether you get knocked down, it s whether you get up. Vince Lombardi, Professional football coach 190. Sweat is the cologne of accomplishment. Haywood Hale Broun, Sportswriter 191. The secret to getting ahead is getting started. 192. A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. Lao Tzu, Chinese philosopher 193. The purpose of life is to discover your gifts. The meaning of life comes from giving your gifts away. Dr. David Viscott, Psychiatrist and author 194. Be quick but do not hurry. John Wooden, College basketball coach 195. Luck is when preparation meets opportunity. 196. T.E.A.M. = Together Everyone Achieves More 197. T.E.A.M. = Total Effort from All Members 198. Practice like you want to compete and you ll compete like you practice. Dr. Rob Gilbert 199. Obstacles are what you see when you take your eyes off the goal. 200. Nothing can stop the man with the right mental attitude
from achieving his goal. Nothing on earth can help the man with the wrong mental attitude. Thomas Jefferson, Third President of the U.S. 201. H.O.P.E. = Hold On Possibilities Exist Jim Berry, Writer 202. If you take the take the best team and the worst team and line them up, you will find very little physical differences. You will find much bigger mental and emotional differences. 203. Take all defeats as temporary setbacks. Get disappointed, but don t get discouraged. 204. The road to success is always under construction. 205. You get what you give. 206. When you get right down to it, nothing will happen until you get right down to it. 207. Losers do what they want to do. Winners do what they have to do. 208. Winning tells something about your character. Losing tells everything. 209. Never change a winning game. Always change a losing one. Bill Tilden, Pro tennis player 210. It s impossible to steal second base and keep your foot on first.
211. Don t mistake activity for achievement. If you re in a rocking chair, you might be moving -- but you re not going anywhere. 212. Be a thermostat, not a thermometer. Act; don t just react. Coach Ed Agresta, Professional speaker 213. Don t count the days, make the days count. Coach Ed Agresta, Professional speaker 214. A winners never quits and a quitter never wins. 215. Determination is often the difference between victory and defeat. 216. Success requires more backbone than wishbone. 217. Success is not getting there, but earning the right to be there. 218. If you do not live it, you do not believe it. 219. Attitude is everything. 220. Success is an attitude get yours right! 221.
No rebounds, no rings. Pat Riley, Professional basketball coach 222. Winning is Step #2. Wanting to win is Step #1. 223. There s a big difference between positive thinking and positive believing. 224. Just do it. Nike advertisement 225. The minute you quit is the moment you fail. 226. The athlete who says, It can t be done, will be passed by the one who is doing it. 227. The future belongs to those who prepare for it. 228. The height of your success is determined by the depth of your belief. 229. The hardest thing about climbing the ladder of success is getting through the crowd at the bottom. 230. The great thing in this world is not so much where we are, but in what direction we are moving. Oliver Wendell Holmes, Supreme Court Justice 231. Here is a test to find whether your mission on earth is finished:
If you re alive, it isn t. Richard Bach, Author 232. One can never consent to creep when one feels an impulse to soar. Helen Keller, Educator and author 233. Always listen to experts. They ll tell you what can t be done and why. Then do it. Robert Heinlein, Author 234. Somewhere in the world there is someone training when you are not. When you race him, he will win. Tom Fleming, Marathon runner and track coach 235. To give anything less than your best is to sacrifice the gift. Steve Prefontaine, Long distance runner 236. Nothing is too good to be true. 237. Working together works. 238. You have to think anyway, so why not think big? Donald Trump, Business executive 239. If you can dream it, you can do it. Walt Disney, Film and theme park entrepreneur 240. The first and most important thing about goals is having one.
Geoffrey Albert 241. A painter paints with her hand. An artist paints with her hand and mind. The master paints with her hand and mind through her heart. 242. I can accept failure. Everyone fails at something. But I can t accept not trying. Michael Jordan, Professional basketball player 243. A person can succeed at anything at which he has unlimited enthusiasm. Charles Schwab, Financier 244. Everyone wants to go to heaven. No one wants to die. Everyone wants to win. No one wants to go to practice. 245. Perfection is not attainable. But if we chase perfection, we can catch excellence. Vince Lombardi, Pro football coach 246. The time is always right to do the right thing. Linda Maxwell, Author 247. A goal without a deadline is just a wish. Joe Montana, Pro football player 248. No one can go back and start a new beginning,
but anyone can start now and make a new ending. 249. It does not matter what you can do. It matters what you will do. 250. G.O.Y.A. = Get Off Your Anatomy 251. Hang on for that extra second and a miracle will happen. 252. Insanity is when you keep doing the same thing, but you expect a different result. 253. When love and skill work together, expect a masterpiece. 254. If I say No today, I ll be saying, What if? for the rest of my life. Tom Stephens, Salesman 255. If you re on fire with enthusiasm, you ll never burn out. Dr. Rob Gilbert 256. If you fall fall forward. 257. Practice. Eat. Sleep. Practice. Boris Becker, Pro tennis player 258. When you re wrestling a gorilla, you don t stop when you get tired. You stop when the gorilla gets tired. 259.
Ordinary people can do extraordinary things under extraordinary circumstances. 260. Intensity for immensity. 261. Teamwork makes the dream work. 262. If you want to know what your priorities are look at how you spend your time. 263. A team of sheep led by a lion will always defeat a team of lions led by a sheep. 264. Luck is the residue of skill. Branch Rickey, Baseball executive 265. Forget mistakes. Forget failures. Forget everything except what you re going to do now and do it. Today is your lucky day. William Durant, Founder, General Motors 266. The outcome is determined by your outlook. 267. Make pain your ally. The more familiar you become with it, the easier it is to manage. Sign in Boston College football weight room 268. Great dancers are not great because of their technique they are great because of their passion. Martha Graham, Dancer and choreographer
269. The past does not equal the future. 270. Do the thing that is hard to do and the power will come. Stan Kellner, Coach, author and speaker 271. Pressure usually represents opportunities. Jimmy Connors, Pro tennis player 272. You may not win, but at least NEVER GIVE IN. 273. Fall seven times. Get up eight. Japanese proverb 274. The pain of the ball hitting the floor is greater than the pain of the body hitting the floor. Maria Nolan. High school volleyball coach 275. Don t write a check with your mouth that you can t cash with your body. 276. Always remember that Goliath was a 40-point favorite over little David. Shug Jordan, College football coach 277. There is no I in team. 278. The First Rule of Cross Country Skiing: If you want to fly like a bird, you ll have to work like a dog. 279. A diamond is a chunk of coal that made good under pressure.
280. Success is how high you bounce after you hit bottom. General George Patton, U.S. Army 281. The difference between a successful person and others is not a lack of strength, not a lack of knowledge, but a lack of will. Vince Lombardi, Pro football coach 282. Life s Greatest Tragedy: When, late in life, the you-that-could-have-been meets the you-that-is. 283. Hard work never killed anyone but why take chances! 284. There are three types of athletes: #1. Those who are willing and able. #2.Those who are able and not willing. #3. Those who are not able and not willing. 285. How much time you put in is not nearly as important as what you put into the time. 286. Accept the challenges so that you may feel the exhilaration of victory. General George Patton, U.S. Army 287. Nobody who gave his best ever regretted it. George Halas, Pro football coach 288. I m just a ballplayer with one ambition, and that is to give all I got to help my ball club win.
I ve never played any other way. Joe DiMaggio, Pro baseball player 289. If you can t win your race, make sure the guy ahead of you breaks the record. Steve Prefontaine, Long-distance runner 290. Don t quit before the miracle! 291. DOn t quit. 292. On the day of victory, no one is tired. 293. Human beings are slaves to their bad habits. 294. Don t let fear interfere. 295. A hurricane: Many individual raindrops cooperating. 296. Listen. Understand. Encourage. Bob Danzig, Professional speaker and author 297. Feelings aren t facts. 298. F.E.A.R.= False Expectations Appearing Real 299. A.B.C. = Always Behave Confidently 300. You become what you think about most of the time. 301. It ain t over til it s over.
Yogi Berra, Pro baseball player