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.
ARTHUR ASHEYou 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.
More Arthur Ashe Quotes
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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?
ARTHUR ASHE -
Someone once told me that God figured that I was a pretty good juggler. I could keep a lot of balls in the air at one time. So He said, “Let’s see if he can juggle another one.”
ARTHUR ASHE -
The best way to judge a life is to ask yourself, “Did I make the best use of the time I had?
ARTHUR ASHE -
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.
ARTHUR ASHE -
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.
ARTHUR ASHE -
I have become convinced that we blacks spend too much time on the playing field and too little time in libraries.
ARTHUR ASHE -
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.
ARTHUR ASHE -
We must reach out our hand in friendship and dignity both to those who would befriend us and those who would be our enemy.
ARTHUR ASHE -
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 you on.
ARTHUR ASHE -
I strongly believe the black culture spends too much time, energy and effort raising, praising, and teasing our black children about the dubious glories of professional sports.
ARTHUR ASHE -
Drummed into me, above all, by my dad, by the whole family, was that without your good name, you would be nothing.
ARTHUR ASHE -
It’s an abnormal world I live in. I don’t belong anywhere. It’s like I’m floating down the middle. I’m never quite sure where I am.
ARTHUR ASHE -
You’ve got to get to the stage in life where going for it is more important than winning or losing.
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If one’s reputation is a possession, then of all my possessions, my reputation means most to me.
ARTHUR ASHE -
I don’t care who you are, you’re going to choke in certain matches. You get to a point where your legs don’t move and you can’t take a deep breath. You start to hit the ball about a yard wide, instead of inches.
ARTHUR ASHE