Adrian Peterson quotes: the running back gets real.
“When you want to be great you have to expect great things for yourself.”
“If you don’t think that you’re the best, how do you become the best? It’s all about believing you are the best.”
“If you love it, you can continue to play at a high level.”
“When you don’t give up, you cannot fail.”
“You’ve got to go out there and put in the work and show everybody [who] you are.”
“To be able to have that self-respect for yourself and just that feeling of, ‘Okay, I did what I could,’ just stay true to yourself. If you feel that this is something that’s valid and you should go out there and win, then push through it no matter what the outcome is.”
“Adversity makes me hungrier. I thrive on being able to make a way out of no way.”
“I remember my mistakes more than my success.”
“There’s always things you can improve on.”
“With trials, you become wiser. You learn more about yourself and the people surrounding you. Me personally, I’ve never been the type of person to judge anyone over wrongdoing, no matter what it is. I’m just not a judgmental person.”
“I have to continue to be a great leader and contribute in any way that I can, and get guys to follow suit. That’s how you turn a team around.”
“I know it’s different positions, but you think about the mental mindset it takes to continue to grind and play at a high level. Those are the guys that I look at that motivate me.”
“My dad would always tell me, ‘When you meet a man, look him in his eye and shake his hand,’ and that’s just something I’ve been doing for a long time.”
“I have always believed that the way my parents disciplined me has a great deal to do with the success I have enjoyed as a man.”
“Every kid wants to be normal. My mom and dad noticed I had a speech impediment at the age of four. When a lot of the other kids were doing a lot of talking, I shied away from it. We had to read aloud in class and I struggled. I was teased about my stuttering. You hear in the background the snickering and laughing and giggling. But from that point I understood, ‘Adrian you stutter. Let’s accept it and move forward.’ My dad, Porter, would always tell me that it could’ve been worse, I could’ve not been able to talk at all. If so, then I probably would’ve had to take a different route and might never have played in the NFL.”
“I didn’t change. I didn’t change who I was. I was still active with my sports. And in school if I had to do a presentation, it may take me five minutes, 10 minutes or even 30 minutes. But I got up there, stood strong and did it.”
“Making it to the NFL meant being seen—and heard—on the national stage. After years of dealing with classmates and strangers who didn’t understand what I was going through, I now had to face cable and network cameras. At that stage in my life, my mindset was, ‘I stutter. So what?’ I thought, ‘If they want the interview, I will do it.'”
“Accepting my stutter was the biggest accomplishment. Being able to speak is good. If it takes me 15 minutes to do an interview or two minutes to do an interview, I get my point across without using any other special methods. That means a lot to me.”
“Today, I devote my time to speaking to children about my achievements and challenges. I also speak with college students who are studying to become speech therapists, sharing my insight on more than 15 years as a speech therapy patient. In 2013, I released a book about my experiences called Don’t Dis My Abilities.”
“I tell them, whether it’s sports or academics, it’s going to be harder. I encourage them to be prepared in their mind for obstacles so that they’ll be ready for them when they come up.”
“You never know who is in the audience when you go to an elementary school and give a speech. You might have a straight-A student, but he or she might have a speech impediment. Instead of taking that extra step to be an excellent student, he or she might settle for being average because they’re embarrassed. I never let my stuttering get in the way of achieving my goals, and speaking to other students who struggle with stuttering provides a much needed source of inspiration and encouragement to the stuttering community. If I can motivate someone to do what’s right, that’s great. I enjoy doing these events. And I just try to do what’s right. We’re all human, so I wouldn’t set myself apart. But I do hope I can help.”
“When I speak to a group of kids, I remind them that nothing is guaranteed. But, you can put yourself in a position to be successful.”
“I dream. I dream big.”
“I take football as an avenue to different opportunities. Football is not using me; I’m using football.”
“I’m comfortable and confident with my ability and what I’m able to do. I still have a job to do and I’m going to do that.”
“I dedicate myself and work hard in the weight room and treat every practice as if it were a game.”
“I feel like if you just continue to take care of your body, working out, making sure you’re in shape and you stay on top of your game, you can play as long as you want.”
“The physical part has a lot to do with the mental part.”
“I try to be open with everybody, try to make everybody feel welcome and make them feel like, hey, I’m an easy person to talk to, get along with.”
“I like to bless people and do things without the world knowing about it, because I’m not in it for the glory. I do it because it comes from my heart. As long as I keep doing that, I’m satisfied.”
“I get Tweets every day from people telling me that, ‘Hey, I’m going to overcome my injury or my illness. Cancer. Different diseases. I can beat it because Adrian Peterson showed me the determination and the willpower to be able to prosper and get through adversity whenever it comes.'”
“It feels good when guys reach out to be inspired, and you have shown people an example of how you can come back and be better than you were before when adversity strikes; and when the world predicts the opposite, you show them you not only can be successful but be great.”
“It feels good to give back to the people who support you.”
“We are human, so we do go through pain and we struggle with things, but it’s all about how you respond to a situation. My whole life, I’ve been responding in a positive way and keeping a positive mind, keeping God first in my heart, in my mind. No matter what wrong I’ve done, I know who sees the heart.”
“No matter how many flaws we have, our God is so forgiving and understanding. He’ll never leave you or forsake you. So that brings peace to me.”
“I love my son. I love my kids, my family. Like I said after I took the misdemeanor plea, I take full responsibility for my actions.”
“Jesus Christ—He means the world to me. So many different situations I’ve been through, through my childhood and now my adulthood; I lost my brother at a young age. He got hit by a car right in front of me. I had to be strong for my mom.”
“Thank you to my family, my fans and fans of other teams for their support. The NFL is a fraternity of brothers and I am thankful for the Tweets, phone calls and text messages from my fellow players. God Bless everyone and thank you so much.”
Related: Troy Aikman quotes.
