The best greatness quotes have the power to inspire you to achieve something big in your life. Whichever field you may be in, there is so much you can learn from inspirational quotes from others.
There is no limitation to the human spirit. All you need to bring your dreams to reality is a strong belief in yourself and a commitment to action.
You may also like to review our Teamwork insights, Be brave quotes, and Life lessons sayings.
Here are some of the most famous greatness quotes and sayings to help you stay on your path to success. Quotes like, “The man who has no imagination has no wings,” said by Muhammad Ali. Enjoy.
Pele Quote
1.) “The more difficult the victory, the greater the happiness in winning.”
As a star Brazilian soccer player, Pelé was on the side of more than a few impressive victories. Hard to argue with his logic: when you face a tough opponent and win, you’re likely going to be pretty happy.
Jerry Rice Quotation
2.) “Today, I will do what others won’t, so tomorrow, I can accomplish what others can’t.”
Jerry Rice knew a thing or two about working hard to achieve greatness. Generally recognized as the best wide receiver the NFL has ever seen, some argue he may be the best player ever. One of the greatness sayings focuses on the here and now. Don’t dream about getting better; take the steps to do it today.
Dean Smith Quote
3.) “What do you do with a mistake: recognize it, admit it, learn from it, forget it.”
A college basketball coaching legend, Dean Smith coached for 36 years at the University of North Carolina. This is one of those greatness quotes that, in hindsight, makes all the sense in the world but is difficult to do at the time.
Wilma Rudolph Quote
4.) “Never underestimate the power of dreams and the influence of the human spirit. We are all the same in this notion: The potential for greatness lives within each of us.”
Wilma Rudolph’s potential for greatness quote provides inspiration to us all. She recovered from infantile paralysis from the polio virus and went on to win 3 Olympic Gold Medals. She earned the title of the fastest woman in the world. Rudolph contributed to gender barriers being broken at track and field events throughout the world. Check out these other strong woman quotes.
Larry Bird Quote
5.) “I’ve got a theory that if you give 100% all of the time, somehow, things will work out in the end.”
And things worked out for Larry Bird said this about giving 100%. He starred in college at Indiana State and with the Boston Celtics, where he won numerous titles. Many greatness quotes reflect the effort and determination that go into excellence.
Quotes About Greatness
6.) Be not afraid of greatness. Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and others have greatness thrust upon them.
William Shakespeare
7.) Creativity means believing you have greatness.
Dr. Wayne W. Dyer
8.) We are what we repeatedly do. Greatness, then, is not an act but a habit.
Aristotle
9.) Move out of your comfort zone. You can only grow if you are willing to feel awkward and uncomfortable when you try something new.
Brian Tracy
10.) You have the power to achieve greatness and create anything you want in life – but you must take action.
Jack Canfield
11.) An athlete cannot run with money in his pockets. He must run with hope in his heart and dreams in his head.
Emil Zatopek
12.) No man is truly great who is great only in his lifetime. The test of greatness is the page of history.
William Hazlitt.
13.) No one ever achieved greatness by playing it safe.
Harry Gray
14.) The greatest glory in living lies not in never falling but in rising every time we fall.
Nelson Mandela
15.) Discover the traits that make you great and develop those to become all you can be.
Demond Jackson
Being Great in Sports
16.) Don’t measure yourself by what you have accomplished, but by what you should have accomplished with your ability.
John Wooden
17.) You have to expect things of yourself before you can do them.
Michael Jordan
18.) Only he who can see the invisible can do the impossible.
Frank L. Gaines
19.) I always felt that my greatest asset was not my physical ability; it was my mental ability.
Bruce Jenner
20.) Passion first, and everything will fall into place.
Holly Holm
21.) There may be people that have more talent than you, but there’s no excuse for anyone to work harder than you do.
Derek Jeter
22.) Winning isn’t everything, but it beats anything that comes in second.
Paul Bryant
23.) Champions keep playing until they get it right.
Billie Jean King
24.) You must expect great things of yourself before you can do them.
Michael Jordan
Greatness Sayings
25.) The price of greatness is responsibility.
Winston Churchill
26.) America’s greatness has been the greatness of a free people who shared certain moral commitments.
John W. Gardner
27.) The greatness of a man is not in how much wealth he acquires but in his integrity and his ability to affect those around him positively.
Bob Marley
28.) Kindness is the essence of greatness and the fundamental characteristic of the noblest men and women I have known.
Joseph B. Wirthlin
29.) Failure is another stepping stone to greatness.
Oprah Winfrey
30.) Whoever renders service to many puts himself in line for greatness – great wealth, great return, great satisfaction, a great reputation, and great joy.
Jim Rohn
31.) A grateful heart is the beginning of greatness. It is an expression of humility.
James E. Faust
32.) Success isn’t always about greatness. It’s about consistency. Consistent hard work leads to success. Greatness will come.
Dwayne Johnson
A Great Man Insights
33.) A great man is always willing to be little.
Ralph Waldo Emerson
34.) The greatness of a nation can be judged by the way its animals are treated.
Mahatma Gandhi
35.) Great men are not born great; they grow great.
Mario Puzo
36.) It is a rough road that leads to the heights of greatness.
Lucius Annaeus Seneca
37.) One man practicing sportsmanship is far better than 50 preaching it.
Knute Rockne
38.) When you have had a taste of excellence, you cannot go back to mediocrity.
Maximillian Degenerez
Greatness Quotes: Inspiration and Motivation
39.) To achieve greatness, one should live as if they will never die.
Francois de La Rochefoucauld
40.) Give the world the best you have, and greatness will come back to you.
Catherine Pulsifer
41.) People do not decide to become extraordinary. They decide to accomplish extraordinary things.
Edmund Hillary
42.) As human begins, our greatness lies not so much in being able to remake the world- that is the myth of the atomic age- as in being able to remake ourselves.
Mahatma Gandhi
43.) Desire, burning desire, is basic to achieving anything beyond the ordinary.
Joseph B. Wirthlin
44.) People who are called to greatness meet great challenges.
Joyce Meyer
45.) Greatness is not measured by what a man or woman accomplishes but by the opposition he or she has overcome to reach his goals.
Dorothy Height
46.) Greatness in leadership involves the ability to inspire and motivate large numbers of people.
Jason Navallo
47.) Big dreams create the magic that stir men’s souls to greatness.
Bill McCartney
48.) Great leaders can see the greatness in others when they can’t see it themselves and lead them to their highest potential they don’t even know.
Roy T. Bennett
Famous Greatness Quotes
49.) There is no greatness where there is no simplicity, goodness, and truth.
Leo Tolstoy
50.) You were designed for accomplishment, engineered for success, and endowed with the seeds of greatness.
Zig Ziglar
51.) If I cannot do great things, I can do small things in a great way.
Martin Luther King Jr.
52.) You must remain focused on your journey to greatness.
Les Brown
53.) Suffering becomes beautiful when anyone bears great calamities with cheerfulness, not through insensibility but through greatness of mind.
Aristotle
54.) Greatness exists in all of us.
Will Smith
55.) Greatness is not guarding yourself from the people; greatness is being accepted by the people.
Mike Tyson
56.) To be simple is to be great.
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Notable Greatness Quotes
57.) Forget about likes and dislikes. They are of no consequence. Just do what must be done. This may not be happiness but it is greatness.
George Bernard Shaw
58.) Greatness is not found in possessions, power, position, or prestige. It is discovered in goodness, humility, service and character.
William Arthur Ward
59.) Man’s greatness lies in his power of thought.
Blaise Pascal
60.) Greatness is not measured by what a man or woman accomplishes but by the opposition he or she has overcome to reach his goals.
Dorothy Height
61.) A queen is not afraid to fail. Failure is another stepping stone to greatness.
Oprah Winfrey
62.) Great men are like oaks, under the branches of which men are happy in finding a refuge in the time of storm and rain, but when they have to pass a sunny day under them, they take pleasure in cutting the bark and breaking the branches.
Themistocles
63.) True greatness consists in being great in little things.
Charles Simmons
64.) Great thoughts speak only to the thoughtful mind, but great actions speak to all mankind.
Theodore Roosevelt
65.) Great works are performed not by strength but by perseverance.
Samuel Johnson
Powerful Quotes
66.) People do not decide to become extraordinary. They decide to accomplish extraordinary things.
Sir Edmund Hillary
67.) Greatness is multiple small achievements built over a period of time.
Lee David Daniels
68.) Overcome your fear of failure so it doesn’t stop you from achieving greatness.
Matthew Turner
69.) The final proof of greatness lies in being able to endure criticism without resentment.
Elbert Hubbard
70.) Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds.
Albert Einstein
71.) Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you, too, can become great.
Mark Twain
72.) The single most important person in the history of women’s sports.
John McEnroe on Billie Jean King
73.) Greatness is not guarding yourself from the people; greatness is being accepted by the people.
Mike Tyson
74.) Heroes are people who do what has to be done when it needs to be done, regardless of the consequences.
Unknown
75.) Calculation never made a hero.
John Henry Newman
76.) All great men come out of the middle classes.
Ralph Waldo Emerson
77.) Every calling is great when greatly pursued.
Oliver Wendell Holmes
78.) Only great men may have great faults.
French Proverb
79.) Greatness is a road leading towards the unknown.
Charles de Gaulle
Inspirational Greatness Quotes
80.) A great secret of success is to go through life as a man who never gets used up.
Albert Schweitzer
81.) A great part of courage is the courage of having done the thing before.
Ralph Waldo Emerson
82.) Great and good are seldom the same man.
Thomas Fuller
83.) Success is due less to ability than to zeal.
Charles Buxton
84.) If something stands between you and your success, move it. Never be denied.
Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson
85.) To be a great champion, you must believe you are the best. If you’re not, pretend you are.
Muhammad Ali
86.) You must not only have competitiveness but ability, regardless of the circumstance you face, to never quit.
Amy Wambach
87.) Always make a total effort, even when the odds are against you.
Arnold Palmer
88.) A great man stands on God. A small man stands on a great man.
Ralph Waldo Emerson
89.) A champion is afraid of losing. Everyone else is afraid of winning.
Billie Jean King
90.) Start unknown. Finish unforgettable.
Nike Ad Campaign
Motivational Greatness Quotes
91.) The only person who can stop you from reaching your goals is you.
Jackie Joyner-Kersee
92.) Greatness is defined by how much you want to put into what you do.
LeBron James
93.) We don’t want to tell our dreams; we want to show them.
Cristiano Ronaldo
94.) Don’t be afraid of failure. This is the way to succeed.
LeBron James
95.) Do not let what you can not do interfere with what you can do.
John Wooden
96.) Every champion was once a contender that refused to give up.
Rocky Balboa
97.) If you want to achieve greatness, stop asking for permission.
Unknown
98.) Greatness is earned. It is never awarded.
Unknown
99.) Success isn’t owned; it’s leased. And the rent is due every day.
J.J. Watt
100.) Be not afraid of greatness: some are born great, some achieve greatness, and others have greatness thrust upon them.
William Shakespeare
101.) Champions keep playing until they get it right.
Billie Jean King
By Mike O’Halloran
Mike is the founder and editor of Sports Feel Good Stories.
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