Looking for some inspirational swimming quotes?
Give this list of motivational swimming quotes a hard look before jumping in the pool for your next mile swim. And if you’d like to find a great motto for your team’s inspiration, check out our good swimming slogans.
Below the great swim quotes, you’ll find some captions to use for social media. Enjoy!
Best Swimming Quotes
1.) I concentrate on preparing to swim my race and let the other swimmers think about me, not me about them.
Amanda Beard
2.) I actually love swimming, but I just hate jumping in the water.
Natalie Coughlin
3.) Forever is composed of nows.
Emily Dickinson
4.) In training, everyone focuses on 90% physical and 10% mental, but in the races, it’s 90% mental because there’s very little that separates us physically at the elite level.
Elka Graham
5.) I wouldn’t say anything is impossible. I think everything is possible if you put your mind to it and put the work and time into it.
Michael Phelps
6.) Swim each practice as if it were the year’s most important practice.
Unknown
7.) Act as if it were impossible to fail, and it will be.
Unknown
Funny Swimming Quotes
8.) There is water in every lane, so it is ok.
Ian Thorpe — on being in Lane 5 for a swimming final.
9.) Only a mediocre person is always at his best.
Unknown
10.) Swimming is a confusing sport because sometimes you do it for fun, and other times you do it to not die. And when I’m swimming, sometimes I’m not sure which one it is.
Demetri Martin
11.) Only when the tide goes out do you discover who’s been swimming naked.
Warren Buffett
12.) Some people give their problems swimming lessons instead of drowning them.
Mark Twain
13.) If you want to learn to swim, jump into the water. On dry land, no frame of mind is ever going to help you.
Bruce Lee
14.) Remember, a dead fish can float downstream, but it takes a live one to swim upstream!
W.C. Fields
Inspirational Swimming Quotations
15.) Excellence eliminates doubt.
Anne Ottenbrite
16.) It’s a beautiful thing, diving into the cool crisp water and then just sort of being able to pull your body through the water and the water opening up for you.
Dawn Fraser
17.) Never give up on a dream just because of the time it will take to accomplish it. The time will pass anyway.
Earl Nightingale
18.) Mainly, I like to have fun. Swimming is all about having fun, and I am a firm believer that you should keep swimming as long as you are having fun, but I can say that it becomes much more fun as you get older and learn more about the sport, life, and especially more about yourself.
Scott Goldblatt
19.) It’s what you do with the rough patches that will define the athlete that you’ll become.
Dana Vollmer
20.) Believe in yourself, not only in swimming but in life itself. You always have to have fun. You have to have an open mind. If you’re not enjoying it, don’t do it. Life’s too short.
Debbie Meyer
21.) Tonight was not about winning; it was about focusing on myself and what I was aiming to do. It’s the reason why I was able to swim so well.
Libby Lenton
22.) I told myself there was no way I was going to let this training go to waste. It was my time, and I was ready to go.
Katie Hoff
Swim Team Inspiration
23.) I am not going to allow myself not to perform well just because I don’t feel well. I am bulletproof to the extent that a lot of things can be thrown at me, but it’s about how much I am prepared to let them affect me.
Ian Thorpe
24.) It’s a beautiful thing, diving into the cool crisp water and then just sort of being able to pull your body through the water and the water opening up for you.
Dawn Fraser
25.) Mainly, I like to have fun. Swimming is all about having fun, and I am a firm believer that you should keep swimming as long as you are having fun, but I can say that it becomes much more fun as you get older and learn more about the sport, life, and especially more about yourself.
Scott Goldblatt
26.) In most sports, they have a physical effect on your performance; in swimming, only psychological. If you worry about what your rival is doing, you take your mind off what you are doing and so fail to concentrate on your performance.
Louis Fabian Bachrach
27.) Enjoy swimming, for swimming’s sake. We have to spend far too much time in the water to not enjoy the process of challenging yourself of moving through the water.
Jeff Rousse
Swim Quotations
28.) The hardest thing about climbing the ladder of success is getting through the crowd at the bottom.
Unknown
29.) Being your best is not so much about overcoming the barriers other people place in front of you as it is about overcoming the barriers we place in front of ourselves.
Kieren Perkins
30.) My preference is swimming in the sea. I find the sea is more liberating, wild, and good fun rather than plodding up and down a pool.
Jo Brand
31.) When you are behind, don’t give up; when you are ahead, don’t let up.
Unknown
32.) You can’t do anything by doing nothing.
Unknown
33.) Being your best is not so much about overcoming the barriers other people place in front of you as it is about overcoming the barriers we place in front of ourselves. But it does have everything to do with having the vision to dream, the courage to recover from adversity, and the determination never to be shifted from your goal.
Kieran Perkins
34.) Don’t count the days; make the days count.
Unknown
35.) Losers let it happen; winners make it happen.
Unknown
36.) It’s been told that swimming is a wimp sport, but I don’t see it. We don’t get timeouts; in the middle of a race, we can’t stop and catch our breath, we can’t roll on our stomachs and lie there, and we can’t ask for a substitution.
Dusty Hicks
37.) Enjoy swimming for swimming’s sake. We have to spend far too much time in the water to not enjoy the process of challenging yourself of moving through the water.
Jeff Rouse
38.) Remember to do the things you enjoy away from swimming regularly.
Ian Thorpe
Short Swimming Quotes
40.) Live in the sunshine, swim the sea, and drink the wild air.
Ralph Waldo Emerson
41.) Without goals, training has no direction.
Natalie Coughlin
42.) No man drowns if he perseveres in praying to God and can swim.
Russian Proverb
43.) Swimming is my passion and something that I love.
Natalie du Toit
44.) The swimmer who says, “It can’t be done,” is passed by the swimmer who is doing it.
Unknown
45.) Excellence eliminates doubt.
Anne Ottenbrite
46.) Let us swim together in the ocean of our being.
Jonathan Lockwood Huie
47.) Success isn’t final; failure isn’t fatal; it’s courage that counts.
Alicia Coutts
48.) I’ve put too much pressure on myself in the past. Just relax and let it come. I just went out there to have a bit of fun tonight.
Sophie Edington
49.) Don’t wait for your ship to come in. Swim out to it.
Steve Southerland
50.) This life is like a swimming pool. You dive into the water, but you can’t see how deep it is.
Dennis Rodman
51.) On matters of style, swim with the current; on matters of principle, stand like a rock.
Unknown
52.) I enjoyed every bit of my swimming career. I think that’s the most important advice: enjoy what you do.
Summer Sanders
Swimmer Quotes
53.) A huge part of swimming for me is I love it, and it is so much fun.
Missy Franklin
54.) It’s easy to forget when you’re an elite athlete that everyone else gets nervous as well. Even the best people in the world, at whatever they do, they’re still nervous.
Greg Louganis
55.) Wins and losses come a dime a dozen. But the effort, nobody can judge effort because the effort is between you and you. Effort ain’t got nothing to do with nobody else.
Ray Lewis
56.) It’s a beautiful thing, diving into the cool crisp water and then just sort of being able to pull your body through the water and the water opening up for you.
Dawn Fraser
57.) While I’m swimming, I sing songs in my mind.
Alexandr Popov
58.) Susie had no talent whatsoever. She’s a little person who couldn’t even make a final at a state meet – coming and showing the world that on sheer guts and determination, you can do anything you want!
Dick Caine
59.) If you worry about what your rival is doing, you take your mind off what you are doing and so fail to concentrate on your performance.
Louis Fabian Bachrach
60.) The things you learn from sports – setting goals, being part of a team, and confidence – that’s invaluable. It’s not about trophies and ribbons. It’s about being on time for practice and accepting challenges.
Summer Sanders
Swim Sayings
61.) Swimming is great because there are levels of goals. First, when I was four, it was making it to the other end and overcoming the fear of standing up in front of everybody at a swim meet because I was such a shy kid.
Summer Sanders
62.) I want people to see the passion I have for swimming and become more involved in the sport.
Ryan Lochte
63.) I try to make the good days great and take something positive from the days I’m not feeling good — work on technique or something like that.
Katie Ledecky
64.) The man who is swimming against the stream knows the strength of it.
Woodrow Wilson
65.) Somehow, I kept my head above water. I relied on the discipline, character, and strength that I had started to develop as that little girl in her first swimming pool.
Esther Williams
66.) The reason swimming is one of the hardest sports is because you have to be in the pool by yourself every day, making that sacrifice. There’s no time to do anything else.
Chad le Clos
67.) I concentrate on preparing to swim my race and let the other swimmers think about me, not me, about them.
Amanda Beard
On Competition
68.) It’s not who’s put up the fastest time in the world that year or who’s put up the fastest time in the previous four years, but who can get their hand on the wall first today.
Nathan Adrian
69.) You are always racing against the other swimmers, but I always try to just focus on what I’m doing and how I want to swim my races.
Katie Ledecky
70.) I know I’ve made huge gains in my confidence and know more about my racing and myself as a person. That has made me a better athlete.
Libby Lenton
71.) We’ve seen, time and again, when people focus on the outcome rather than what needs to be done to achieve a desirable result, then the wheels fall off.
Cate Campbell
72.) Traveling to swimming meets took me beyond my small-town existence and gave me a hint of the exciting world outside of my own home.
Esther Williams
73.) Most of us, swimming against the tides of trouble the world knows nothing about, need only a bit of praise or encouragement – and we will make the goal.
Robert Collier
74.) I have been visualizing myself every night for the past four years, standing on the podium having the gold placed around my neck.
Megan Quann
Motivational Swimming Quotes
75.) Don’t be a fish; be a frog. Swim in the water and jump when you hit the ground.
Kim Young-ha
76.) I want to test my maximum and see how much I can do. And I want to change the world of swimming.
Michael Phelps
77.) It’s easy to forget when you’re an elite athlete that everyone else gets nervous as well. Even the best people in the world, at whatever they do, they’re still nervous.
Leisl Jones
78.) It’s not who’s put up the fastest time in the world that year or who’s put up the fastest time in the previous four years, but who can get their hand on the wall first today.
Nathan Adrian
79.) If you’re scared to lose rather than excited to win, then that’s the wrong way to approach a race.
Cate Campbell
80.) Practice like you’re not good enough to win. Race like you’re too good to lose.
Katie Ledecky
81.) I can’t control what everyone else swims, but if all goes well, I know there are no limits.
Leisl Jones
82.) But you learn more from one loss than you do from a million wins. You learn a lot about sportsmanship.
Amy Van Dyken
The Drive To Succeed
83.) No matter how slow you go, you are still lapping everyone on the couch.
Unknown
84.) Every champion was once a contender who refused to give up.
Unknown
85.) Great things never come from comfort zones.
Penny Oleksiak
86.) Mainly, I like to have fun. Swimming is all about having fun, and I am a firm believer that you should keep swimming as long as you are having fun, but I can say that it becomes much more fun as you get older and learn more about the sport, life, and especially more about yourself.
Scott Goldblatt
87.) Swimming is probably the ultimate of burnout sports.
Diana Nyad
88.) Being happy outside the pool means fast swimming in the pool.
Eric Shanteau
Motivating Quotes
89.) Remember to do the things you enjoy away from swimming regularly.
Ian Thorpe
90.) I always tell people I’m a better swimmer because I’m a mom and a better mom because I’m a swimmer.
Amanda Beard
91.) You don’t want to line up on the blocks and know you have not done everything you possibly can.
Stephanie Rice
92.) In training, everyone focuses on 90% physical and 10% mental, but in the races, it’s 90% mental because there’s very little that separates us physically at the elite level.
Elka Graham
Why We Swim Quotes (The Book)
93.) This book was written by Bonnie Tsui.
94.) Swimming is a way for us to remember how to play.
95.) Swimming is the second most popular recreational activity in America, outranked only by walking. But swimming is the one that quite literally takes us out of our element.
96.) The water is the last place where people cannot text, call or find me,” she says with a giggle.
97.) “I will tell you the one thing that distinguishes swimming from all other forms of exercise.” I listen carefully. “People enjoy it a lot more.”
98.) You don’t have to be a great swimmer to appreciate the benefits of sensory solitude and the equilibrium the water can bring.
99.) I begin to realize that the physical repetition can be a kind of meditation that transcends the simple goal of winning a race.
100.) Three decades of swimming, of chasing equilibrium, have kept my head firmly above water. Swimming can enable survival in ways beyond the physical.
Bonnie Tsui Quotations
101.) Buoyancy, floating, weightlessness. Freedom. These are the words we use to talk about swimming. Is it a coincidence that this is also the language we use to talk about the lightness of being, the wellness of being, that we strive for in this corporeal world?
102.) In America, the pool is a privilege. People have historically had complicated feelings about water. Mixing in it deliberately—as men and women, as rich and poor, as black and brown and white—can stir up all kinds of fears. As a society, we’ve kept different groups apart based on those fears.
103.) “Important, too, is the pride we feel in the well-exercised body. “The fuller sense of self we have,” Young once told an interviewer, “the more responsibility we take for it.”
104.) It’s an exercise in thresholds. How much I can take, how much distance I need, how far I can get from shore before I feel afraid, at what point I desire to return to land. I brew and brood over things that seem to be of consequence, but by the end of a swim, the water has washed much of that away.
Mark Spitz Quotes
105.) I just tried to keep my cool and continue with my race plan: to win.
106.) We all love to win, but how many people love to train?
107.) If you fail to prepare, you’re prepared to fail.
108.) Everyone loves to be loved.
109.) I swam my brains out.
110.) The only side effect of too much training is that you get into better shape. There is nothing wrong with that.
Michael Phelps Quotes
111.) Eat, sleep, and swim. (Phelps’ motto)
112.) If you want to be the best, you have to do things that other people aren’t willing to do.
113.) I wouldn’t say anything is impossible. I think that everything is possible as long as you put your mind to it and put the work and time into it.
114.) Swimming is normal for me. I’m relaxed. I’m comfortable, and I know my surroundings. It’s my home.
115.) I can’t remember the last day I didn’t train.
116.) You’re tired; you feel you can’t move; you’re truly hurting. That’s when he would throw down especially hard sets.
117.) The more you dream, the more you achieve.
118.) You can make a million mistakes, just not the same one twice.
119.) think goals should never be easy; they should force you to work, even if they are uncomfortable at the time.
120.) You can’t put a limit on anything. The more you dream, the farther you get.
121.) I feel most at home in the water. I disappear. That’s where I belong.
122.)I found something I love and never gave up.
FAQ Swimming Quotes
Here are some frequently asked questions about swimming quotes.
Michael Phelps said, “I wouldn’t say anything is impossible. I think that everything is possible as long as you put your mind to it and put the work and time into it.”
Demetri Martin said, “Swimming is a confusing sport because sometimes you do it for fun, and other times you do it to not die. And when I’m swimming, sometimes I’m not sure which one it is.” And Ian Thorpe said, “There is water in every lane, so it is ok,” when asked about being in Lane 5 for a swimming final.
“In training, everyone focuses on 90% physical and 10% mental, but in the races, it’s 90% mental because there’s very little that separates us physically at the elite level,” said Elka Graham.
Funny Swimming Captions for Instagram
123.) Life is cool by the pool.
124.) Dipping my toe.
125.) Do not disturb.
126.) Sunny days and catchin’ rays.
127.) Too cool for the pool.
128.) Do you even make waves, bro?
129.) Float, float on!
130.) Olympic pool lifeguard material.
131.) I’d rather be swimming.
132.) Cannonball vibes.
133.) As cool as a couple of popsicles.
134.) Swim now; breathe later.
135.) Chlorine can be serene.
136.) Pool hair; don’t care.
137.) Swimming: I’ll be there for you.
138.) Home is where the pool is.
139.) Chlorine is my perfume.
Pool Captions
140.) Pool party.
141.) Oxygen is so overrated.
142.) Why run when you can fly — butterfly, that is.
143.) The best memories are made in swimsuits.
144.) A day without swimming is like — jk; I have no idea.
145.) Breathing is for the weak.
146.) Nothing better than when you have the whole pool to yourself.
147.) Olympic Pool Lifeguard in Training.
148.) Not every swim is easy, but it’s always rewarding.
149.) Back in the swim of things.
150.) All my troubles wash away in the water.
151.) I only fear not trying.
152.) If it is important, you will find a way. If not, you will find an excuse.
153.) So much water, such little time.
154.) Looking cool by the pool.
155.) Happiness is when you have the whole pool to yourself.
156.) Making a splash at swim practice.
157.) The pool is my happy place.
I hope you enjoyed our swimming quotes and captions offerings. It might be time for a swim.
By Mike O’Halloran
Mike is the founder and editor of Sports Feel Good Stories.
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