Arthur Ashe Quotes

I'm learning to use others' weaknesses. I don't hammer a man's soft spot constantly, because he may strengthen it. I just save it as a trump up my sleeve for moments when I really need a point. I have become convinced that we blacks spend too much time on the playing field and too little time in libraries. You really are never playing an opponent. You are playing yourself. It doesn't have to glitter to be gold. Seven out of 10 black faces you see on television are athletes. The black athlete carries the image of the black community. He carries the cross, in a way, until blacks make inroads in other dimensions. 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. My humanity, in common with all of God's children, gives the greatest flight to my full range of my possibilities. If one's reputation is a possession, then of all my possessions, my reputation means most to me. 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 don't want to be remembered for my tennis accomplishments. That's no contribution to society. [Tennis] was purely selfish; that was for me. I take the good with the bad, and I try to face them both with as much calm and dignity as I can muster. Sometimes, a defeat can be more beautiful and satisfying than certain victories. The English have a point in insisting that it matters not who won or lost, but how you played the game. ...I spent many, many hours in...libraries. Libraries became courts of last resort, as it were. Life is like a tennis game. You can't win without serving. With what we give, we make a life. The world over - 50 million children start playing tennis, 5 million learn to play tennis, 500,000 learn professional tennis, 50,000 come to the circuit, 5000 reach the grand slam, 50 reach Wimbledon, 4 to semi final, 2 to the finals, when I was holding a cup I never asked GOD 'Why me?'. And today in pain I should not be asking GOD 'Why me?' Wherever I am when you feel sick at heart and weary of life, or when you stumble and fall and don't know if you can get up again, think of me. I will be watching and smiling and cheering on. Regardless of how you feel inside, always try to look like a winner. If I don't ask 'Why me?' after my victories, I cannot ask 'Why me?' after my setbacks and disasters. Start where you are, use what you have. The best way to judge a life is to ask yourself, 'Did I make the best use of the time I had? Drummed into me, above all, by my dad, by the whole family, was that without your good name, you would be nothing. We must believe in the power of education. We must respect just laws. We must love ourselves, our old and or young, our women as well as our men. We blacks look for leadership in men and women of such youth and inexperience, as well as poverty of education and character, that it is no wonder that we sometimes seem rudderless.... We see basketball players and pop singers as possible role models, when nothing could be further, in most cases, from their capacities. Racism is not an excuse to not do the best you can. Having grown up in a segregated environment in the south I know what it's like to be stepped on, I know what it's like also to see some black hero do well in the face of adversity. This is my career highlight. Getting to the fourth round in the U.S. Open in my first year in the U.S. Open and first year on the tour. You come to realize that life is short, and you have to step up. Don't feel sorry for me. Much is expected of those who are strong. In America you're conditioned to regard everything as a contest. You have to make the Ten Best Dressed List, win this, win that. It drives me nuts sometimes. Who cares, for Christ's sake? If I didn't play tennis I probably would have to see a psychiatrist.