Arnold Palmer quotes: one of the most famous and greatest golfers of all-time talks confidence, winning and losing, dreams, success, and more.
“The most rewarding things you do in life are often the ones that look like they cannot be done.”
“The road to success is always under construction.”
“Life’s battles don’t always go to the strongest man; but sooner or later the man who wins, is the man who thinks he can.”
“To hope is to wait for things to come to you. To dream is part of the process of setting goals and then striving to achieve them. You first must dream of doing things before you can do them.”
“If you don’t like what you’re doing in life, then you probably shouldn’t be doing it.”
“Establish a system you have confidence in and rely on it when you get into tough situations.”
“Always make a total effort, even when the odds are against you.”
“I’ve always made a total effort, even when the odds seemed entirely against me. I never quit trying; I never felt that I didn’t have a chance to win.”
“Winning is a drive, it’s a thing that you feel.”
“Winning isn’t everything, but wanting to… is.”
“I would never have felt good if I hadn’t experienced losing, because losing is part of your life. And is something that if I could teach people to understand that I think it could help them a lot.”
“I would like to say, however, that a man might be walking around lucky and not know it unless he tries.”
“The more I practice the luckier I get.”
“A lot of people are afraid of winning. I was afraid I might not win.”
“Trouble is bad to get into but fun to get out of. If you’re in trouble, 80% of the time there’s a way out.”
“If you can concentrate on what you’re doing and have the desire to do the things you have to do to win, you’ll succeed.”
“The secret of concentration is the secret of self-discovery. You reach inside yourself to discover your personal resources, and what it takes to match them to the challenge.”
“What do I mean by concentration? I mean focusing totally on the business at hand and commanding your body to do exactly what you want it to do.”
“Concentration comes out of a combination of confidence and hunger.”
“I remember shots I lost. I remember the ones I won, but I remember the ones I lost, something that I will never forget. Did it ruin me or hurt my career? It taught me about life, how to take the bad with the good.”
“I’m not much for sitting around and thinking about the past or talking about the past. What does that accomplish? If I can give young people something to think about, like the future, that’s a better use of my time.”
“Making a positive change in the life of a child is one of the most significant things you can do.”
“I can only tell you one thing that I do know for sure, I am a dreamer. There are not many people that will recognize or want to recognize the fact that they are dreamers in their own life. I continue to get up in the morning, enthusiastically, and go pick up a golf club with a thought that I can somewhere find that secret to making the cut. That’s just an example, but it applies to other things in life, too, and that’s the way I live and the way I think and the way I feel.”
“Golf is deceptively simple, endlessly complicated. A child can play it well, and a grown man can never master it. Any single round of it is full of unexpected triumphs and perfect shots that end in disaster. It is almost a science, yet it is a puzzle without an answer. It is gratifying and tantalizing, precise and unpredictable. It requires complete concentration and total relaxation. It satisfies the soul and frustrates the intellect. It is at the same time, rewarding and maddening. And it is without doubt the greatest game mankind has ever invented.”
“Success in this game depends less on strength of body than strength of mind and character.”
“Concentration, confidence, competitive urge, capacity for enjoyment.”
“I have a tip that can take five strokes off anyone’s golf game: it’s called an eraser.”
“I received many years of good advice from my father – how to live, how to play, how to be a gentleman.”
“When I was in college, I thought about becoming an attorney. But I wasn’t smart enough; I hate being cooped up indoors; and I’m too nice a guy.”
“I was national amateur champion. I was 24 years old. My father was there, and I couldn’t wait to see him, and my mother. I went up and was waiting for all the accolades, and my mom was teary and happy and my dad looked at me and said, ‘Well, boy, you did good,’ and that was it.”
“That’s another thing about my father. He made me very conscious of the fact I wasn’t very good and I had to prove to him that I was good. And that hung with me, and I always wanted to play golf with him and show him. He said never, never tell anyone how good you are. Show them!”
“An athlete must have a certain cockiness to succeed and win, but an athlete must also care about the game he or she plays.”
“I look back, it taught me something – it taught me how to live, how to be a better guy, not let defeat be the end of my life.”
“As long as I can stay competitive and have fun doing what I’m doing, I guess I’ll keep doing it.”
“I would like to have won more golf tournaments. But I wouldn’t sacrifice my life. I’ve enjoyed it. I’d love to do it again the same way.”
“I know, win or lose, I enjoyed the prospect of giving it my all.”
“When people ask what’s driven me all these years, I always give the same answer. It’s you.”
“Swing your swing. Not some idea of a swing. Not a swing you saw on TV. Not that swing you wish you had. No, swing your swing. Capable of greatness. Prized only by you. Perfect in it’s imperfection. Swing your swing. I know, I did.”
“I had a system, and the system worked.”
“When you play by the rules, defy mental demons, overcome every challenge, and enjoy a walk in the country at the same time – that’s being alive.”
“I can sum it up like this: thank God for the game of golf.”
