Pat Summitt
I'd wake up in the morning and I would think, 'Where am I?' I'd have to gather myself.Collection: Morning
When you grow up on a dairy farm, cows don't take a day off. So you work every day and my dad always said, 'No one can outwork you.'Collection: Dad
We keep score in life because it matters. It counts. It matters. Too many people opt out and never discover their own abilities because they fear failure. They don't understand commitment.Collection: Fear
I was like, 'I don't know if I could be an Olympian...' But my dad really influenced me to stay and be in the Olympics.Collection: Dad
When you learn to keep fighting in the face of potential failure, it gives you a larger skill set to do what you want to do in life. It gives you vision. But you can't acquire it if you're afraid of keeping score.Collection: Failure
Competition got me off the farm and trained me to seek out challenges and to endure setbacks; and in combination with my faith, it sustains me now in my fight with Alzheimer's disease.Collection: Faith
Winning is fun... Sure. But winning is not the point. Wanting to win is the point. Not giving up is the point. Never letting up is the point. Never being satisfied with what you've done is the point.
The game is never over. No matter what the scoreboard reads or what the referee says, it doesn't end when you come off the court.
Have you ever walked along a shoreline, only to have your footprints washed away? That's what Alzheimer's is like. The waves erase the marks we leave behind, all the sand castles. Some days are better than others.
I think I can help others just by my example.
Sometimes I'm more stubborn than I am smart.
I remember teaching a clinic to other coaches, and a guy raised his hand and asked if I had any advice when it came to coaching women. I leveled him with a death-ray stare, and said, 'Go home and coach basketball.'
I remember standing on a medal podium at the 1976 Montreal Olympics, imbued with a sense that if you won enough basketball games, there was no such thing as poor, backward, country, female, or inferior.
I'm not a good loser. I get sick physically... I take it to heart. I hate it.
Coaching is the great passion of my life, and the job to me has always been an opportunity to work with our student athletes and help them discover what they want.
Class is more important than a game.
I've got a great staff and great support system, and I'm going to stick my neck out and do what I always do.
I lost my confidence.
I hate to sound this way but, 'Why me? Why me with dementia?'
I don't want to sit around the house. I want to be out there. I want to go to practice. I want to be in the huddles. That's me.
I think that a lot of people would perceive my style as being intimidating. And although I don't want to intimidate kids, I am very demanding.
I can remember trying to coach, trying to figure out schemes, and it just wasn't coming to me.
Most people get excited about games, but I've got to be excited about practice, because that's my classroom.
Sometimes I draw blanks.
In my case, symptoms began to appear when I was only 57. In fact, the doctors believe early-onset Alzheimer's has a strong genetic predictor, and that it may have been progressing for some years before I was diagnosed.
God doesn’t take things away to be cruel. He takes things away to make room for other things. He takes things away to lighten us. He takes things away so we can fly.Collection: God
Accountability is essential to personal growth, as well as team growth. How can you improve if you're never wrong? If you don't admit a mistake and take responsibility for it, you're bound to make the same one again.Collection: Basketball
The absolute heart of loyalty is to value those people who tell you the truth, not just those people who tell you what you want to hear. In fact, you should value them most. Because they have paid you the compliment of leveling with you and assuming you can handle it.Collection: Inspirational
Here's how I'm going to beat you. I'm going to outwork you. That's it. That's all there is to it.Collection: Beats
Attitude lies somewhere between emotion and logic. It's that curious mix of optimism and determination that enables you to maintain a positive outlook and to continue plodding in the face of the most adverse circumstances.Collection: Basketball
It is what it is. But, it will be what you make it.Collection: It Is What It Is
Attitude is a choice. Think positive thoughts daily. Believe in yourself.Collection: Basketball
You can't always be the most talented person in the room. But you can be the most competitiveCollection: Basketball
I won 1,098 games, and eight national championships, and coached in four different decades. But what I see are not the numbers. I see their faces.Collection: Eight
By doing things when you are too tired, by pushing yourself farther than you thought you could - like running the track after a two-hour practice - you become a competitor. Each time you go beyond your perceived limit, you become mentally stronger.Collection: Running
I remember every player-every single one-who wore the Tennessee orange, a shade that our rivals hate, a bold, aggravating color that you can usually find on a roadside crew, "or in a correctional institution," as my friend Wendy Larry jokes. But to us the color is a flag of pride, because it identifies us as Lady Vols and therefore as women of an unmistakable type. Fighters. I remember how many of them fought for a better life for themselves. I just met them halfway.Collection: Hate
No one feels strong when she examines her own weakness. But in facing weakness, you learn how much there is in you, and you find real strength.Collection: Strong
Discipline helps you finish a job, and finishing is what separates excellent work from average work.Collection: Jobs
There is always someone better than you. Whatever it is that you do for a living, chances are, you will run into a situation in which you are not as talented as the person next to you. That's when being a competitor can make a difference in your fortunes.Collection: Running
When you choose to be a competitor you choose to be a survivor. When you choose to compete, you make the conscious decision to find out what your real limits are, not just what you think they are.Collection: Real
Teamwork is what makes common people capable of uncommon results.Collection: Teamwork
Offense sells tickets, defense wins games, rebounding wins championships.Collection: Basketball
Admit to and make yourself accountable for mistakes. How can you improve if you're never wrong?Collection: Basketball
Responsibility equals accountability equals ownership. And a sense of ownership is the most powerful weapon a team or organization can have.Collection: Powerful
To me, teamwork is a lot like being part of a family. It comes with obligations, entanglements, headaches, and quarrels. But the rewards are worth the cost.Collection: Teamwork
Attitude is a choice. What you think you can do, whether positive or negative, confident or scared, will most likely happen.Collection: Basketball
My parents taught me a long time ago that you win in life with people, and that's important, because if you hang with winners, you stand a great chance of being a winner.Collection: Winning
If you don't want responsibility, don't sit in the big chair. To be successful, you must accept full responsibilityCollection: Responsibility
If I'm not leading by example, then I'm not doing the right thing. And I want to always do the right thing.Collection: Example
In the absence of feedback, people will fill in the blanks with a negative. They will assume you don’t care about them or don’t like them.Collection: People