Quotes about sport
page 6

“For myself, I would much prefer to be stuck with Kentucky in the NCAA Tournament, than stuck with George Bush in the White House. It is the difference between losing your wallet at a cock fight and losing all your credit cards forever, along with your job and your house and your ability to earn enough money to pay off your sports-gambling debts or even a six-pack on game day...”

Hunter S. Thompson (1937–2005) American journalist and author

"What's Better Than the Tournament?' (18 March 2004)
2000s

Money, Game, Fight, Housing

“Humor is properly the exponent of low things; that which first renders them poetical to the mind. The man of Humor sees common life, even mean life, under the new light of sportfulness and love; whatever has existence has a charm for him. Humor has justly been regarded as the finest perfection of poetic genius. He who wants it, be his other gifts what they may, has only half a mind; an eye for what is above him, not for what is about him or below him. Now, among all writers of any real poetic genius, we cannot recollect one who, in this respect, exhibits such total deficiency as Schiller. In his whole writings there is scarcely any vestige of it, scarcely any attempt that way. His nature was without Humor; and he had too true a feeling to adopt any counterfeit in its stead. Thus no drollery or caricature, still less any barren mockery, which, in the hundred cases are all that we find passing current as Humor, discover themselves in Schiller. His works are full of labored earnestness; he is the gravest of all writers.”

Thomas Carlyle (1795–1881) Scottish philosopher, satirical writer, essayist, historian and teacher

1820s, Critical and Miscellaneous Essays (1827–1855)

Love, Life, Making love, Way

“It's a scientific-cum-sporting murder proposition with enough guns at last to account for the birds, and the Hun is having a very sickly time of it. He has the erroneous idea that he is being hurt, whereas he won't know what real pain means for a long time. I almost begin to hope that when we have done with him there will be very little Hun left.”

Rudyard Kipling (1865–1936) English short-story writer, poet, and novelist

Letter to L. C. Dunsterville, September 1916. Quoted in Lord Birkenhead, Rudyard Kipling. London : Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1978 (p.271).

Pain, Hope, Idea, Bird

“For the amoral herd that fears boredom above all else, everything becomes entertainment. Sex and sport, politics and the arts are transformed into entertainment… Nothing is immune from the demand that boredom be relieved.”

Merold Westphal (1940)

but without personal involvement, for mass society is a spectator society

p. 50
Kierkegaard’s Critique of Reason and Society (1992)

Fear, Art, Sex

“Only on the sports field are the British an alien tribe.”

Tony Abbott (1957) Australian politician

Source: Leader of the Opposition (2009-2015), Battlelines book, (2013), p.8.

“Commerce, Opulence, Luxury, Effeminacy, Cowardice, Slavery: these are the stages of national degradation. We are in the fourth; and, I beg the reader to consider, to look into history, to trace states in their fall, and then say how rapid is the latter part of the progress! Of the symptoms of effeminacy none is so certain as a change from athletic and hardy sports, or exercises, to those requiring less bodily strength, and exposing the persons engaged in them to less bodily suffering; and when this change takes place, be assured that national cowardice is at no great distance, the general admiration of deeds of hardihood having already been considerably lessened.”

William Cobbett (1763–1835) English pamphleteer, farmer and journalist

‘Boxing’, Political Register (10 August 1805), p. 197
1800s

Exercises, History, Suffering, Change

“I mean no disrespect to any of our current climate at all, but I have been an actor for almost two decades now, and this is a dream come true to be able to create a network comedy that just makes people laugh…What I love about comedy is that, like music, sports and food, it brings us all together.”

Kal Penn (1977) American actor and civil servant

On his show Sunnyside in “Kal Penn Talks Putting A Twist On Immigration Narrative With ‘Sunnyside’ & Chances For Another ‘Harold And Kumar’ Movie” https://deadline.com/2019/09/kal-penn-sunnyside-nbc-immigration-comedy-harold-and-kumar-1202743466/ in Deadline (2019 Sep 26)

Love, People, Making love, Food

“Tackle football is a body-mind sport; flag football is a mind-body sport.”

Warren Farrell (1943) author, spokesperson, expert witness, political candidate

Source: The Boy Crisis (2018), pp. 253

Football

“Pick-up sports are excellent preparation for entrepreneurship.”

Warren Farrell (1943) author, spokesperson, expert witness, political candidate

Source: The Boy Crisis (2018), pp. 94

“Withstanding hardships is a sort of sport. You can’t control how life plays, but you can control your defensive strategy.”

Isaac Mashman (2000) businessman, speaker

Life

“It is impossible for me to express my loathing and horror of the practice men have of killing things for pastime so-called 'hunting,' or 'sport. No one but a barbarian can engage in such pursuits, or can look upon them or know of them without pain and indignation. It makes me want to fight and cry whenever I think of them. And when I see men engaged in such execrable activities (the crippling, killing, and terrifying of whole communities of innocent and happy beings, shooting them down in cold blood, and with hellish enthusiasm), my feeling is that I must stop them at all hazards. And there have been times, when I have come upon men engaged in these fiendish doings, when I would have shot them down if I had been armed, the enormity of their crimes has come over me with such vividness and power.”

J. Howard Moore (1862–1916)

Source: The New Ethics (1907), The Perils of Over-population, pp. 157–158

Men, Pain, Happiness, Making love

“German sport has only one task: to strengthen the character of the German people, imbuing it with the fighting spirit and steadfast camaraderie necessary in the struggle for its existence.”

Joseph Goebbels (1897–1945) Nazi politician and Propaganda Minister

Source: April 23, 1933. https://www.ushmm.org/information/press/press-kits/traveling-exhibitions/nazi-olympics/historical-quotes

People, Fight

“An ideal is a port toward which we resolve to steer. We may not reach it. The mere fact that our goal is definitely located does not suffice to conduct us thither. But surely we shall thus stand a better chance of making port in the end than if we drift about aimlessly, the sport of winds and tides, without having decided in our own minds in what direction we ought to bend our course.”

Felix Adler (1851–1933) German American professor of political and social ethics, rationalist, and lecturer

Section 6 : Higher Life
Life and Destiny (1913)

Making love, Chance

“We have to understand what sports is and what sports isn't and I think if we do that in the right way sports can come back appropriately that's what we want sports to come back appropriate and I think that's what the governor was eluding to this summer.”

Larry Baer (1957) MLB Executive

SF Giants CEO Larry Baer weighs in on MLB returning without fans https://abc7news.com/sf-giants-when-does-baseball-season-start-mlb-date-new-rules/6195145/, ABC 7 News (May 19, 2020)

Way, Understanding, Thinking, Summer

“Now Sundays are good days to go shopping, to go out, to play sports.”

Pablo Galimberti (1941) Roman Catholic bishop of Salto

“Privatization” of the faith in Uruguay criticized by bishop https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/12158/privatization-of-the-faith-in-uruguay-criticized-by-bishop (March 26, 2008)

“The essential is to go on squirming forever at the end of the line, as long as there are waters and banks and ravening in heaven a sporting god to plague his creatures, per pro his chosen shits.”

Samuel Beckett book The Unnamable

The Unnamable (1954)

God, Water

“Inter-racial sports destroy the senses of uniqueness and value necessary to racial survival.”

David Lane (white nationalist) (1938–2007) American white supremacist, convicted felon

Revolution by Number

Sense

“Campaigns are normally very, very social. Politics is absolutely a team sport. And doing all of these campaign activities from separate homes and not being able to gather … it’s far more challenging to feed off each other's energy, even on the Zoom call.”

Bowinn Ma (1985) Canadian politician

North Shore News https://www.nsnews.com/news/north-van-lonsdale-incumbent-ma-not-making-any-predictions-1.24226696, North Shore News: North Van-Lonsdale incumbent Ma not making any predictions, October 24, 2020

Home

“Why do I continue getting daily pliability? Because I want to play football for as long as possible. I love my sport. I love my teammates. I love what i do... to me, sustained peak performance means doing what i want to do, and what I love to do, for as long as I can.”

Tom Brady (1977) American football quarterback

The TB12 Method (2017) p. 73

Love, Football

“Uncle, whose inventive brains
kept evolving aeroplanes,
fell from an enormous height
upon my garden lawn last night.
Flying is a fatal sport,
uncle wrecked the tennis court.”

Harry Graham (1874–1936) British writer

Uncle
Ruthless Rhymes for Heartless Homes (1899)

Flying, Night

“To the greatest fans and the greatest sport in the world, thank you! Thank you for all the wonderful memories. This is the hardest decision I’ve ever made, but I’m at peace with it. Chase your dreams, work hard, and watch what happens. Good bye boxing.”

Manny Pacquiao (1978) Filipino boxer, basketball player, singer and politician, dancer.

Manny Pacquiao announcing his retirement from boxing, September 29, 2021. https://twitter.com/MannyPacquiao/status/1443063035627651078

World, Peace, Dreams, Decision

“Sports brings people together. People in all of our countries are tired of ideological differences, of going back into the past all the time.”

Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović (1968) President of Croatia

"AP Interview: Croatian leader says Trump, Putin key to peace" in Associated Press https://apnews.com/article/7a9da0dd58174bca9a02c9f4d12595bd (15 July 2018)

People, Time, Past, Country

“The sport of running will teach you how to master and control your will-power.”

Mwanandeke Kindembo (1996) Congolese author

“I never excelled at one sport or had a very strong passion for anything other than wrestling and bodybuilding.”

Dave Bautista (1969) American actor and professional wrestler

unsourced

Strong, Passion

“After winning MMA world championship, I will be retired to professional sports.”

Reza Goodary (1988) Mixed martial artist

Source: One of the factors of my success has been and is away from the margins of sports. After winning MMA world championship, I will be retired to professional sports. https://www.borna.news/fa/tiny/news-1256573 BORNA News, (November 4, 2021)

World

“Tennis is only a sport, and we don’t intend to get involved in politics.”

Peng Shuai (1986) Chinese female tennis player (1986-)

Source: "Cross-strait tennis partners 'forced' to talk politics" in South China Morning Post https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1278632/cross-strait-tennis-partners-forced-talk-politics (9 July 2013)

“We have to get back to life. I mean, you might look at the sporting events that are … all three sports are playing now including basketball, which is inside. Nobody seems to be having super-spreader events. I mean, you know, it was great. It was so much fun having a pandemic but, you know, buh-bye.”

Bill Maher (1956) American stand-up comedian

Source: Sen. Chris Coons and Caitlin Flanagan, Natural Immunity, (2021)

Life

“I'm a legend in this sport. If you don't believe me, ask me.”

Bobby Heenan (1944–2017) American professional wrestler, professional wrestling commentator and manager

Misc.

“[T]he risk of these sports, and the supposed manliness of facing that risk, is generally put forth as one of their merits. Now I may be very blind and mean-spirited, but the manly sport of foxhunting seems to me not to be manly at all, but to be at once cowardly and fool hardy. It is cowardly as regards the cruelty practised on a victim which cannot defend himself by tormentors who, as far as the victim is concerned, are perfectly safe. It is foolhardy as risking men's lives for no adequate cause. It is manly, it is something much better than manly, when a man sacrifices or risks his life in a good cause. But I can see nothing manly, nothing in any way praiseworthy, in a man risking his life in a bad cause or in no cause at all. When a fox-hunter is suddenly cut off in the midst of his cruelties, I can see nothing in his end at all resembling the end of the martyr who dies for his religion or of the hero who dies for his country. I believe I am unfashionable in thinking so, but I cannot help it.”

Edward Augustus Freeman (1823–1892) English historian (1823-1892)

Source: 'The Morality of Field Sports', The Fortnightly Review (October 1869), quoted in E. A. Freeman, The Morality of Field Sports (1874), p. 24

Life, Men, Religion, Fools

“We've seen a parade of multinational corporations, financial institutions, Hollywood actors, and even American sports superstars joining a shameless stampede to see who can pander most effectively to a regime that is the reigning world champion of predatory economic behavior, human rights abuses, and even genocide.”

Tom Tiffany (1957) American businessman and politician

Exclusive—Rep. Tom Tiffany: Time for U.S. to Recognize Reality by Recognizing Taiwan https://www.breitbart.com/asia/2021/12/02/exclusive-rep-tom-tiffany-time-for-u-s-to-recognize-reality-by-recognizing-taiwan/ (2 December 2021)

World, Behavior

“Above all, I believe sports have given me the God´s gift of ease to relate to people. It is very easy for me to be with people of any age, social condition or circumstance. Sports helps you not to have barriers. This has helped me a lot in the priesthood. In the second place, I would say that in sports, one works as a team. One person doesn't win, the whole team does. Moreover, I have played basketball especially. This also leads one to see the need to be organized. Each one has to give his best. The leader is not the one who carries a plan forward. He is the one who creates conditions in such a way that each one can give the best of himself. He is not the one in front carrying the flag. This is also very important in the priesthood and the episcopate. In the third place, as in sports, it is very important to know how to struggle. Life, for a man who wants to be loyal in the Church today, is a real struggle. Today we cannot say that the Church is synonymous with success — on the contrary.”

Juan Luis Cipriani Thorne (1943) Catholic cardinal

Source: From Basketball Player to Cardinal https://zenit.org/2001/02/27/from-basketball-player-to-cardinal/ (27 February 2001)

Life, God, People, Age

“How much grit do you think you've got?
Can you quit a thing that you like a lot?
You may talk of pluck; it's an easy word,
And where'er you go it is often heard;
But can you tell to a jot or guess
Just how much courage you now possess?You may stand to trouble and keep your grin,
But have you tackled self-discipline?
Have you ever issued commands to you
To quit the things that you like to do,
And then, when tempted and sorely swayed,
Those rigid orders have you obeyed?Don't boast of your grit till you've tried it out,
Nor prate to men of your courage stout,
For it's easy enough to retain a grin
In the face of a fight there's a chance to win,
But the sort of grit that is good to own
Is the stuff you need when you're all alone.How much grit do you think you've got?
Can you turn from joys that you like a lot?
Have you ever tested yourself to know
How far with yourself your will can go?
If you want to know if you have grit,
Just pick out a joy that you like, and quit.It's bully sport and it's open fight;
It will keep you busy both day and night;
For the toughest kind of a game you'll find
Is to make your body obey your mind.
And you never will know what is meant by grit
Unless there's something you've tried to quit.”

Edgar Guest (1881–1959) American writer

Source: Just Folks (1917), On Quitting

Men, Game, Courage, Business

“I'm good at being self-critical. I've also been told that I'm good at taking up new sports. I'm a fast learner and pick things up very quickly.”

Benedict Cumberbatch (1976) English actor and film producer

"The 5-minute Interview: Benedict Cumberbatch, Actor" in The Independent https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/profiles/the-5minute-interview-benedict-cumberbatch-actor-779150.html (7 February 2008)

“I am a professional athlete and pressure is a part of every professional sport. It will be a dream come true for me if I could defeat the Chinese on my way to a medal, so if there’s pressure, there’s also incentive.”

Sania Nehwal (1990) Indian badminton player

"Saina Nehwal Interview: Sportskeeda Exclusive" https://www.sportskeeda.com/badminton/saina-nehwal-interview-sportskeeda-exclusive (19 April 2012)

Dreams, Way, Parting

“Are you getting bored doing interviews? That's work. It's the most responsible, representative and solemn work there is — like sport. Anyone who does not aim for the Olympic Games or championships should not be in the sports industry.”

Vladimir Zhirinovsky (1946–2022) Russian politician and political activist

"Zhirinovsky: 'Europe, you shall tremble!'" in DW News https://www.dw.com/en/zhirinovsky-europe-you-shall-tremble/a-42923191 (11 March 2018)

Game

“In life you don’t ‘half-ass’ things. So I thought; I want to fight, why not do the most brutal sport in the world?”

Dave Leduc (1991) Canadian Lethwei fighter (born 1991)

Leduc talking about Lethwei in A royal portrait: Dave Leduc https://thebodylockmma.com/lethwei/a-royal-portrait-dave-leduc-king-of-lethwei/ (July 30, 2019) <br class="br">On Lethwei

Life, World, Fight

“In games and sports, winning is one thing that is very important. However, maintaining the spirit of sportsmanship is far more important than just getting a win.”

Titon Rahmawan

Game

Quotes about sport page 6

Quotes about sport
page 6