Athletics Quotes

• Nothing good comes in life or athletics unless a lot of hard work has preceded the effort. Only temporary success is achieved by taking short cuts.

  Roger Staubach

  Life, Basketball, Hard Work

  53 Copy quote

• One of the great lessons I've learned in athletics is that you've got to discipline your life. No matter how good you may be, you've got to be willing to cut out of your life those things that keep you from going to the top.

  Bob Richards

  Motivational, Life Lesson, Athlete

  Bob Richards (2009). “The Heart of a Champion: Inspiring True Stories of Challenge and Triumph”, p.74, Revell

  46 Copy quote

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• Scientists have proven that it's impossible to long-jump 30 feet, but I don't listen to that kind of talk. Thoughts like that have a way of sinking into your feet.

  Carl Lewis

  Motivational, Feet, Long

  76 Copy quote

• In running it is man against himself, the cruelest of opponents. The other runners are not the real enemies. His adversary lies within him, in his ability with brain and heart to master himself and his emotions.

  Glenn Cunningham

  Sports, Running, Lying

  88 Copy quote

• Teamwork - everything is one. You can connect with the emptiness of all things. All things are empty.

  Frederick Lenz

  Teamwork, Health, Buddhism

  7 Copy quote

• If the chi is being wasted by useless activities, emotions and associations that drain us, then we don't have enough power when it comes time to perform.

  Frederick Lenz

  Health, Buddhism, Useless

  7 Copy quote

• The emptiness of play is when there is no self present. There is no one playing - there is only play itself taking place, perfect fluid motion.

  Frederick Lenz

  Health, Buddhism, Self

  7 Copy quote

• If all the members of a team have synchronized their energy and they have all subordinated their egos to success of the team, then we have a functioning unit. If we have a lot of hotshots who want attention, you won't really play that well.

  Frederick Lenz

  Team, Health, Buddhism

  7 Copy quote

• Instead of your ego directing you and making countless mistakes, allow yourself to be guided by the invisible principles of the universe within your action.

  Frederick Lenz

  Mistake, Health, Buddhism

  Frederick Lenz (1994). “Surfing the Himalayas: conversations and travels with Master Fwap”, Interglobal Seminars

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• The chi is the central energy or power that we use in physical expression. When the chi is flowing properly in our lives, we can be very adept athletically.

  Frederick Lenz

  Health, Buddhism, Expression

  7 Copy quote

• Eternity becomes more beautiful as we age, if we age well. If we age poorly, then we don't improve our minds; we don't refine all the aspects of our being.

  Frederick Lenz

  Beautiful, Health, Buddhism

  7 Copy quote

• We must respect the rights and properties of our fellowman. And then learn to play the game of life, as well as the game of athletics, according to the rules of society. If you can take that and put it into practice in the community in which you live, then, to me you have won the greatest championship.

  Jesse Owens

  Games, Play, Rights

  91 Copy quote

• It is easier to develop the mind through meditation than it is just through athletic practice. If you put the two together, it will be unbelievable.

  Frederick Lenz

  Health, Buddhism, Practice

  7 Copy quote

• Use the practice of mind and body; in order to make those moves perfectly, you have to pull your mind out of its mundane thoughts and awarenesses and bring it into the body movement.

  Frederick Lenz

  Moving, Health, Buddhism

  7 Copy quote

• If you are serious about sports and athletics then you need to begin the discipline of mind. With the power of mind, almost anything can be accomplished.

  Frederick Lenz

  Sports, Health, Buddhism

  7 Copy quote

• The most powerful force to maintaining a good immune system is the power of positive thinking and not allowing yourself to be unnecessarily drained emotionally by worries and fears.

  Frederick Lenz

  Powerful, Health, Positive Thinking

  10 Copy quote

• When you can become completely impassive in play, then you become fluid and completely unpredictable. No one knows, including yourself, what you will do next. You couldn't even explain it.

  Frederick Lenz

  Health, Buddhism, Play

  7 Copy quote

• If I have led my life totally deliberately, then when I come to the end of the diving board, I can just fall off the diving board and it will be perfect. I won't even remember what happened.

  Frederick Lenz

  Fall, Health, Buddhism

  7 Copy quote

• You can hit a home run. If you are honest, you'll know when it's perfect because at that critical moment of connection, there was no sense of being there. That is perfect play. There is no self involved.

  Frederick Lenz

  Running, Home, Health

  7 Copy quote

• Thought control is the ability to direct mind and attention anywhere. Your ability to win is dependent upon the power of your concentration. Winning is a state of mind.

  Frederick Lenz

  Health, Buddhism, Winning

  7 Copy quote

• If you have the sense of participation in sports or athletics, of being a player, then you are not really into the Zen mind. In Zen mind there is no sense of self in the play.

  Frederick Lenz

  Sports, Health, Buddhism

  7 Copy quote

• In order to succeed on the athletic field, it is necessary to succeed in daily life. Your spirit and your life must be perfectly trimmed for the chi to flow properly.

  Frederick Lenz

  Health, Buddhism, Order

  7 Copy quote

• Unlock the power of the will. Learn balance and gain the knowledge and wisdom necessary to guide those powers, to succeed in sports and athletics.

  Frederick Lenz

  Sports, Health, Buddhism

  7 Copy quote

• Any good athletic is always in a state of perpetual training, as is the Zen student.

  Frederick Lenz

  Health, Buddhism, Athletic

  7 Copy quote

• One or two of my friends set longevity records for people who had AIDS. What they did, incredibly hard though it was, was to practice meditation, positive thinking and they worked out physically quite a bit.

  Frederick Lenz

  Health, Positive Thinking, Buddhism

  7 Copy quote