Sportsmanship Quotes

“Talent wins games, but teamwork and intelligence wins championships.”
― Michael Jordan

“Games give you a chance to excel, and if you're playing in good company you don't even mind if you lose because you had the enjoyment of the company during the course of the game.”
― Gary Gygax

“It's because you absolutely love the sport.”
― Nastia Liukin

“After I hit a home run I had a habit of running the bases with my head down. I figured the pitcher already felt bad enough without me showing him up rounding the bases.”
― Mickey Mantle

“From time to time in the years to come, I hope you will be treated unfairly, so that you will come to know the value of justice. I hope that you will suffer betrayal because that will teach you the importance of loyalty. Sorry to say, but I hope you will be lonely from time to time so that you don’t take friends for granted.

I wish you bad luck, again, from time to time so that you will be conscious of the role of chance in life and understand that your success is not completely deserved and that the failure of others is not completely deserved either. And when you lose, as you will from time to time, I hope every now and then, your opponent will gloat over your failure. It is a way for you to understand the importance of sportsmanship. I hope you’ll be ignored so you know the importance of listening to others, and I hope you will have just enough pain to learn compassion. Whether I wish these things or not, they’re going to happen. And whether you benefit from them or not will depend upon your ability to see the message in your misfortunes.”
― John Roberts

“We old athletes carry the disfigurements and markings of contests remembered only by us and no one else. Nothing is more lost than a forgotten game.”
― Pat Conroy

“Tennis taught me to take chances, to take life as it comes. To hit every ball that comes to me no matter how hard it looks, to give it my best shot.”
― Thisuri Wanniarachchi

“In most sports, like in tennis, love means nothing.”
― Wyatt Allen

“She detested rows and scenes, but enjoyed quietly pitting her cool will against opposition. It amused her; and when she was defeated, she withdrew in good order and lost interest in the campaign. She had little or no sporting spirit. Bloody battles to the death bored her, nor did she like other people to win.”
― Stella Gibbons, Cold Comfort Farm

“Bowing low, he gave a last confident nod toward home plate, the kind that said, 'You know kid, I'm Danny Dragoon. I pitch fire, and you can't hit fire. No one can.”
― Anthony Trendl, My Biggest Game: A Baseball Story: A Bluster County Tale

“A SPORTSMAN DOESN'T FIGHT HE WILL SEE YOU IN THE COURT”
― Vineet Raj Kapoor

“There's a code of honor in sports, Guerin believed. You do not deliberately embarrass your opponent or set records outside the normal flow of the game. The Warriors were breaking a code.”
― Gary M. Pomerantz, Wilt, 1962: The Night of 100 Points and the Dawn of a New Era

“This ad in the middle was placed by some arm of the G-5-to-be, trying to round up a few 're-education' experts. Vital, vital stuff. Teach the German Beast about the Magna Carta, sportsmanship, that sort of thing, eh? Out inside the works of some neurotic Bavarian cuckoo clock of a village, were-elves streaking in out of the forests at night to leave subversive handbills at door and window—'Anything!' Roger groping back to his narrow quarters, 'anything at all's better than this. . . .”
― Thomas Pynchon, Gravity’s Rainbow

“RUN when you can, WALK if you have to, CRAWL if you must.
JUST NEVER GIVE UP”
― Dean Karnazes

“The geese were quick to enjoy themselves, once the sense of alarm had subsided and the spirit of fun took hold. Geese, Marika learned, are typically a serious lot; but after being brought into the game, they become quite committed and surprisingly sportsman-like.”
― Marti Healy, The Secret Child

“I have always given respect to my opponents in cricket and in life and got back respect from them in cricket and in life.”
― Avijeet Das

“Warriors respect each other. They give dignity to each other either in a win or in a defeat. I have always given respect to my opponents in cricket and in life, and got back respect from them in cricket and in life.”
― Avijeet Das

“Let us keep the rivalry in sports, but not hate each other in life.”
― Avijeet Das

“The art of true sportsmanship is not only shaped by winning, but by being able to embrace defeat, respect and participating with integrity.”
― Wayne Chirisa

“If you cannot win, lose with style”
― Aegelis

“Sportsmanship is not how you play when you're winning, it's how you behave when you're not.”
― Wayne Chirisa

“Great athletes chase victory, but greater ones uplift the game itself.”
― Wayne Chirisa

“The scoreboard measures the result, sportsmanship measures the person.”
― Wayne Chirisa

“Respect for your opponent is the highest respect you can show your own game.”
― Wayne Chirisa

“True sportsmanship is leaving the arena with your character more intact than your record.”
― Wayne Chirisa

“In every match, your skill earns applause, but your conduct earns legacy.”
― Wayne Chirisa

“Sportsmanship turns competition into connection, and rivalry into mutual respect.”
― Wayne Chirisa

“What you win fades with time, how you win echoes far longer.”
― Wayne Chirisa

“The mark of a champion isn't just talent, it's humility in victory and grace in defeat.”
― Wayne Chirisa

“Athletic greatness may inspire fans, but sportsmanship inspires generations.”
― Wayne Chirisa