Talk:Arthur Ashe

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• Racism is not an excuse to not do the best you can.
  • Sports Illustrated

• From what we get, we can make a living: what we give, however makes a life.

• Drummed into me, above all, by my dad, by the whole family, was that without your good name, you would be nothing.

• Clothes and manners do not make the man, but where he is made they greatly improve his appearance.

• Every time you win, it diminishes the fear a little bit. You never really cancel the fear of losing; you keep challenging it.

• If I were to say "God, why me?" about the bad things, then I should have said "God, why me?" about the good things that happened in my life.

• One important key to success is self-confidence. An important key to self-confidence is preparation.

• You've got to get to the stage in life where going for it is more important than winning or losing.

• Start where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can.

• Success is a journey, not a destination. The doing is often more important than the outcome.

• We are 100 percent sure the cause of my HIV infection was a blood transfusion either after my 1979 bypass operation or my 1983 operation. We are 95 percent sure it was the ’83 operation.

• Some folks call tennis a rich people’s sport or a white person’s game. I guess I started too early because I just thought it was something fun to do. Later, I discovered there was a lot of work to being good in tennis. You’ve got to make a lot of sacrifices and spend a lot of time if you really want to achieve with this sport, or in any sport, or in anything truly worthwhile.”

• When I took the match point, all the years, all the effort, all the support I had received over the years came together. It’s a long way from Brook Field to Wimbledon.
  • Reflecting back on his 1975 Wimbledon championship

• What it is controlled cool, in a way. Always have the situation under control, even when losing. Never betray an inward sense of defeat.
  • On his style of play

• The ideal attitude is to be physically loose and mentally tight.

• Regardless of how you feel inside, always try to look like a winner. Even if you are behind, a sustained look of control and confidence can give you a mental edge that results in victory.

• I don't want to be remembered for my tennis accomplishments. That's no contribution to society. That [tennis] was purely selfish; that was for me.

• A wise person decides slowly but abides by these decisions.

• Trust has to be earned, and should come only after the passage of time.

• I know I could never forgive myself if I elected to live without humane purpose, without trying to help the poor and unfortunate, without recognizing that perhaps the purest joy in life comes with trying to help others.

• I wanted to indulge and explore my love of humanity and especially my concern for persons less fortunate than myself.

• I keep sailing on in this middle passage. I am sailing into the wind and the dark. But I am doing my best to keep my boat steady and my sails full.

• I accepted the face that as much as I want to lead others, and love to be around other people, in some essential way, I am something of a loner.

• My only true regret, however, is that now that I see the world more clearly than ever, as I believe I do, I don’t seem to have the time left to translate my visions into action as I would like.

• My potential is more than can be expressed within the bounds of my race or ethnic identity.

• My humanity, in common with all of God’s children, gives the greatest flight to my full range of my possibilities.

• I have always drawn strength from being close to home.

• We must reach out our hand in friendship and dignity both to those who would befriend us and those who would be our enemy.

• I have tried to keep on with my striving because this is the only hope I have of ever achieving anything worthwhile and lasting.