There is a terrific apprehension among some people that blacks will take over the sport… It will create problems because their behavior, speech and dress is just a completely different culture.
ARTHUR ASHEMartina’s like the old Green Bay Packers. You know exactly what she’s going to do, but there isn’t a thing you can do about it.
More Arthur Ashe Quotes
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I take the good with the bad, and I try to face them both with as much calm and dignity as I can muster.
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I guess I started too early because I just thought it was something fun to do.
ARTHUR ASHE -
You’ve got to get to the stage in life where going for it is more important than winning or losing.
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 -
True heroism is remarkably sober, very undramatic. It is not the urge to surpass all others at whatever cost, but the urge to serve others at whatever cost.
ARTHUR ASHE -
I keep sailing on in this middle passage. I am sailing into the wind and the dark. But I am doing my best to keep my boat steady and my sails full.
ARTHUR ASHE -
If you’re paid before you walk on the court, what’s the point in playing as if your life depended on it?
ARTHUR ASHE -
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.
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 -
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.
ARTHUR ASHE -
You learn about equality in history and civics, but you find out life is not really like that.
ARTHUR ASHE -
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.
ARTHUR ASHE -
Start where you are, use what you have.
ARTHUR ASHE -
You really are never playing an opponent. You are playing yourself.
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 -
When we were together, I loved you deeply and you gave me so much happiness I can never repay you.
ARTHUR ASHE -
I spent many, many hours in libraries. Libraries became courts of last resort, as it were.
ARTHUR ASHE -
One important key to success is self-confidence. An important key to self-confidence is preparation.
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 -
Do not feel sorry for me if I am gone.
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 -
Throughout my formal education I spent many, many hours in public and school libraries. Libraries became courts of last resort, as it were. The current definitive answer to almost any question can be found within the four walls of most libraries.
ARTHUR ASHE -
If I don’t ask “Why me?” after my victories, I cannot ask “Why me?” after my setbacks and disasters.
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 -
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 ASHE -
Life is like a tennis game. You can’t win without serving.
ARTHUR ASHE