20th-century Sports Figure Quotes

My goal is the same, work like last year, play hard all the time. Try and score goals.

Alexander Ovechkin

My knees started to shake. In the dressing room that night, I was so nervous I couldn't tie my skates. Maurice Richard walked over and held out his hands. 'Look at them,' he said. 'They shake before a big game. You'll feel better when you get out on the ice.'

If you have a love for the game of cricket, whether you are a player, an ex-player or simply an onlooker, many will be the pleasures in your life.

Success is not the result of spontaneous combustion. You must first set yourself on fire.

I was never concerned with statistics - scoring goals, my records. The only thing I was concerned about was winning. The association changed my life. It changed my career and it changed my stats. I went to Chicago for three years but I was never a Blackhawk. I was treated well by the fans and by management, but I only had mediocre years. I still had a Red Wing on my forehead, on my backside and over my heart. I was existing, nothing more. Then, I retired for four years.

I had a great time, and I always took care of my body. That's the thing some players don't. For a goalie, there's no reason he can't play until he's 40 if he takes care of himself. The reflexes are still there.

One highlight I have was playing with all the great players in Montreal. They were not only great players but they were great people. If you look around, a lot of these guys are still in the game. Not only have they been successful with the Montreal Canadiens, but they've helped a lot of other organizations.

I don't give a shit if nobody likes me, I could care less. But they shouldn't be getting mad at me, I didn't put the [offer sheet] rule in the collective bargaining agreement. If they're mad, they should call Gary Bettman and complain to him. Get mad at Gary Bettman. He's in charge of the rules, not me. I didn't realize there were some rules we're not allowed to use.

If I play badly I'll pick a fight in the third, just to get into a fight. I'll break a guy's leg to win, I don't care. Afterward I say, 'Yeah all right I played badly, but I won the fight so who gives a damn.

Derek Sanderson

If Colleen Howe had been a hockey player, she would have been a centremen. I can see her as a centreman because you can do what you want and go wherever you want to go.

[German head coach Uwe Krupp] is asking his guys to basically be fire hydrants and they're getting peed on right now.

I never shot a deer. I've never shot anything in my life. I never hunted. I'm just not that type of guy. But there's no doubt in my mind that I would have killed to win. That really scares me sometimes. Right now I think about it, and I get little goose bumps. I would have done anything - absolutely anything - to win. In a war, maybe that's what happens. It was our society against their society.

The Christmas just before I turned four, my parents bought me a pair of little black skates and the Bay of Quinte was frozen and my two sisters took me out there and held my hands and taught me to skate. Now I don't know if this is true—although it sounds good!—but rumour has it by the end of the day they couldn't keep up with me.

You don't have to be crazy to be a goalie, but it helps!

I never pay attention to individual awards and I think that sometimes, too many people place too much value on them.

Let us remember with humility the loneliness of being man in a universe we do not understand and the vulnerability of the human condition. The animals could do very well without us, but we cannot do without them.

You don't win by being good. You win with hard work and sacrifice. Without that, skill is just potential.

Most kids today slap the puck. The backhand takes time to learn. It's not something you do naturally. But it is an effective shot.

It's not my fault Snow didn't have any other options coming out of high school. If going to college gets you a career backup goaltender job, and my route gets you a thousand points and a thousand games, and compare the two contracts, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out whose decision was better.

The second commandment that Jesus referred to was not to love others instead of ourselves, but to love them as ourselves. Before we can love and serve others, we must love ourselves, even in our imperfection. If we don't embrace our own defects, we can't love others with their shortcomings.

At first it is impossible for the novice to cast aside the minor symptoms, which the patient emphasizes as his major ones, and to perceive clearly that one or two facts that have been belittled in the narration of the story of the illness are in reality the stalk about which everything in the case must be made to cluster.

If intelligence and capability are not criteria for the possession of rights, why would animals -who have the capacity to feel fear and pain- be excluded from our moral consideration?

While combat efficiency is a primary function of Shaolin Kung Fu, a more immediate and useful benefit in our law-abiding society is attaining radiant health and vitality.

When someone is fearless, when pain isn't a factor, it's impossible to break his spirit.

I'm not scared to fail, I'm not scared to lose, I'm not scared to die, for that matter... It's going to work out the way it's supposed to work out.