As quoted in The Olympian (1984) by Peter L. Dixon, p. 210
Context: The important thing in the Olympic Games is not to win, but to take part; the important thing in Life is not triumph, but the struggle; the essential thing is not to have conquered but to have fought well. To spread these principles is to build up a strong and more valiant and, above all, more scrupulous and more generous humanity.
“There are more important things in life than winning or losing a game.”
“Relationships are the most important thing in life, and friends are part of that.”
Micah Sparks, Chapter 9, p. 132
2000s, Three Weeks with My Brother (2004)
reported in Jonathan Wilson (Eurosport, 24 March 2016), Johan Cruyff's legacy? The whole of modern football http://www.eurosport.co.uk/football/johan-cruyff-s-legacy-the-whole-of-modern-football_sto5368491/story.shtml.
Source: Like Water for Chocolate
“The important thing in our process, however, is to play the game,”
1970s, Remarks on Being Reelected (1972)
Context: The important thing in our process, however, is to play the game, and in the great game of life, and particularly the game of politics, what is important is that on either side more Americans voted this year than ever before, and the fact that you won or you lost must not keep you from keeping in the great game of politics in the years ahead, because the better competition we have between the two parties, between the two men running for office, whatever office that may be, means that we get the better people and the better programs for our country.
“The important thing is to know how to take all things quietly.”
As quoted in Treasury of the Christian Faith : An Encyclopedic Handbook of the Range and Witness of Christianity (1949) by Stanley Irving Stuber and Thomas Curtis Clark, p. 807
