Mike Ditka quotes: regarding football, faith, winning, staying healthy, and more.
“Success is about taking advantage of opportunity.”
“You gotta live in the moment. I don’t care what you’ve done in your life, it has nothing to do with what you’re gonna do or what you can do. The past is history, tomorrow is a mystery. But today is a gift – that’s why they call it the present.”
“Success is about having, excellence is about being. Success is about having money and fame, but excellence is being the best you can be.”
“In life, you get what you tolerate.”
“Promises are empty words if you’re not keeping them.”
“Here’s what I tell anybody and this is what I believe. The greatest gift we have is the gift of life. We understand that. That comes from our Creator. We’re given a body. Now you may not like it, but you can maximize that body the best it can be maximized.”
“What you feel spiritually. I think a lot of that has to do with it. If you have no spiritual life, chances are everything is going to aggravate you, you’re going to fly off the handle at everything, and that’s what I did in the past. I’ve kind of got that under control now.”
“Jesus’ first temptation was to be relevant: to turn stones into bread. Oh, how often I wished I could do that!”
“I don’t believe in living in the past. Living in the past is for cowards. If you live in the past, you die in the past.”
“Those who live in the past are cowards and losers.”
“Success isn’t permanent and failure isn’t fatal.”
“Success isn’t measured by money or power or social rank. Success is measured by your discipline and inner peace.”
“Life’s not about money. Look at achievements, accomplishments. It’s about having fun. It’s about enjoying life.”
“If things came easy, then everybody would be great at what they did, let’s face it.”
“If you are determined enough and willing to pay the price, you can get it done.”
“Motivation comes from within each individual. It’s a personal thing. It’s pride, guts, desire, whatever you want to call it; some people have it in their bellies and some don’t.”
“Before you can win, you have to believe that you are worthy.”
“You’re never a loser until you quit trying.”
“Losers quit when they’re tired. Winners quit when they’ve won.”
“Effort without talent is a depressing situation – but talent without effort is a tragedy.”
“If you’re not in the parade, you watch the parade. That’s life.”
“The ones who want to achieve and win championships motivate themselves.”
“Sometimes, God gives you physical talent and takes away the brain.”
“People want a cop-out. Listen, I’m a realist and I talk about motivation, talk about all the things it takes to be greater, or things that are important to win, and people want to make excuses all the time.”
“I don’t know how to put it, but yet, you know we have so many people who – the way they look at life, the way they work – depends on what happens, us winning or losing. It’s kind of crazy. So, I kind of got caught up in that, I’m gonna try to stay away from that.”
“I’m not a mean player. You’ll notice that I never pick on anyone with a number higher than 30.”
“If God had wanted man to play soccer, he wouldn’t have given us arms.”
“You got to sue the offensive line for non-support.”
“He’s just jealous. You know what they say. Empty tin cans make the most noise, and he’s an empty tin can. This game is between the Bears and the Eagles, not Ditka and Ryan. We all know who would win that one. Ditka, hands down.”
“We have a strange and wonderful relationship – he’s strange and I’m wonderful.”
“I don’t care where you are, but the fans only remember your last time at bat.”
“I always tell people I want to live to be 150 and they say, ‘Why would you want to do that?’ I say, ‘Well there’s a few people I haven’t made mad yet, I want to get them.'”
“He’s a young guy with a lot of enthusiasm and he’s really proud to be a Pittsburgh guy. And you have to have a Pittsburgh guy here. You don’t need any more California guys here, gang. We don’t need any of that crap. They come and go like the flies.”
“What’s the difference between a three-week-old puppy and a sports writer? In six weeks, the puppy will stop whining.”
“I mean, when you’ve had a problem in your past, whether it’s attributed directly to high cholesterol or not, you want to lower your cholesterol. You want to eat healthy. You want to feel healthy. You want to have a little more energy.”
“Basically, my problem was attributed to stress more than anything. I don’t know what that does and I guess doctors can tell you that there’s chemicals that build up in your system when you go through a lot of stress and constant stress.”
“Well, after I had the heart attack, it was a very simple choice. What the doctor told me I did and I did it religiously. I ate nothing but lean turkey breast or chicken breast or a piece of fish that was very lean. I mean, I stayed away from everything.”
“It’s your body and you’re going to have a much better life, you are going to have a quality life, better lifestyle, you’re going to be healthier, you’re going to be happier, you’re going to enjoy the people around you and they’re going to enjoy you more.”
“You see people who have been very heavy in their life who have taken that body, trimmed it down, firmed it up through discipline, exercise, and being able to say no. Eating properly, that all comes into it.”
“Some people are willing to pay the price and it’s the same with staying healthy or eating healthy. There’s some discipline involved. There’s some sacrifices.”
“I think it’s important to stretch as you get older, but I try to do basically all the things I did when I played, except I can’t do them as well and as much.”
“I really believe the only way to stay healthy is to eat properly, get your rest and exercise. If you don’t exercise and do the other two, I still don’t think it’s going to help you that much.”
“Coffee, it’s the lifeblood that fuels the dreams of champions!”
“I think your alcohol intake has to change. You know, usually a big person feels they can drink anything they want to and as much as they want to and I’ve cut that way back.”
Related: Brian Urlacher quotes.
