Abby Wambach quotes: the soccer star sounds off.
“Be grateful. But do not just be grateful. Be grateful and brave. Be grateful and ambitious. Be grateful and righteous. Be grateful and persistent. Be grateful and loud. Be grateful for what you have and demand what you deserve.”
“Claim your power, and bring along your full humanity. Clear the way for others to do the same. Because what our families, our companies, and the world needs is nothing more—and nothing less—than exactly who we are.”
“Sometimes there are no second chances, no next time. Sometimes it’s now or never.”
“Old rule: play it safe, pass the ball. New rule: believe in yourself, demand the ball.”
“What you do will never define you for long. Who you are always will.”
“When they say you’re ridiculous, you know you’re onto something.”
“I’ve always been motivated more by negative comments than by positive ones. I know what I do well. Tell me what I don’t do well.”
“It’s a heavy burden to look up at the mountain and want to start the climb.”
“You never know if you can actually do something against all odds until you actually do it.”
“The most important thing is that sometimes you have to go through hard times to get to the good stuff.”
“Insist upon remembering. Because we know that the lessons of yesterday’s loss become the fuel for tomorrow’s win.”
“Whenever you get to win, you feel the satisfaction of all of your hard work, all the sacrifices, all the blood, sweat and tears. It feels right and makes you realize that you are really doing the right thing.”
“To watch people push themselves further than they think they can, it’s a beautiful thing. It’s really human.”
“It’s not pressure. It’s responsibility. We put it on ourselves.”
“You must not only have competitiveness but ability, regardless of the circumstance you face, to never quit.”
“You can’t cry when things get a little bit hard. You’ve just got to push through and know that there’s a reason and end to the means.”
“If we follow the rules we’ve always followed, the game will remain the same.”
“Old ways of thinking will never help us build a new world. Out with the old. In with the new.”
“Old rule: stay on the path. New rule: create your own path.”
“The most important thing is to get better at your craft.”
“I think, as you grow older, you have to figure out the best way to utilize not only your body but your skill.”
“I think that in order to get better and to see whatever kind of results you’re after, you have to make goals. Whether you write them down or tell someone about them, it’s important to set goals for yourself in order to achieve any kind of success.”
“Failure is not something to be ashamed of, nor is it proof of unworthiness. Failure is something to be powered by.”
“It’s not the actual failure itself; it’s how you respond to it.”
“When we live afraid to fail, we don’t take risks. We don’t bring our entire selves to the table. So we end up failing before we even begin.”
“Sometimes when you fail, it allows you the opportunity to grow more motivation and get more intense about your training.”
“Sometimes we use failure to push us further down the same path. Other times, we let failure guide us to a new path. But we always keep moving forward.”
“A champion never allows a short-term failure to take her out of the long-term game.”
“I think I take on a little more responsibility when push comes to shove. I’m not scared to fail.”
“Try. Fail. Feel it burn. Then transform failure into your fuel.”
“Failure means you’re finally in the game.”
“Strength is a full gamut. You’ve got to be strong from top to bottom, but you also have to raise your hand and say, ‘I’m feeling weak right now. I need some help.’ There is true strength in being able to ask for help.”
“Leadership is taking care of yourself and empowering others to do the same.”
“‘Leader’ is not a title that the world gives to you; it’s an offering that you give to the world.”
“Old rule: wait for permission to lead. New rule: lead now, from wherever you are.”
“If you’re not a leader on the bench, don’t call yourself a leader on the field. You’re either a leader everywhere or nowhere.”
“The picture of leadership is not just a man at the head of a table. It’s also every woman who is allowing her own voice to guide her life and the lives of those she cares about.”
“The old way is to lead with invulnerability and enlist followers. The new way is to lead with full humanity—and cultivate a team of leaders.”
“Life is not meant to be lived as a lone wolf. We all need a ‘pack.'”
“If you have a voice, you have influence to spread. If you have relationships, you have hearts to guide. If you know young people, you have futures to mold. If you have privilege, you have power to share. If you have money, you have support to give. If you have a ballot, you have policy to shape. If you have pain, you have empathy to offer. If you have freedom, you have others to fight for. If you are alive, you are a leader.”
“There is magic inside of us. There is power among us. Let’s unleash and unite.”
“The world needs to see women take risks, fail big, and insist on their right to stick around and try again. And again. And again. A champion never allows a short-term failure to take her out of the long-term game. A woman who doesn’t give up can never lose.”
“We can choose our own comfort even if it makes other people uncomfortable.”
“At a young age I learned that you own labels by defying them, and defy them by owning them. I know that the final word on me will be one that I choose.”
“You were never Little Red Riding Hood. You were always the Wolf.”
“There is a wolf inside of every woman. Her wolf is who she was made to be before the world told her who to be. Her wolf is her talent, her power, her dreams, her voice, her curiosity, her courage, her dignity, her choices—her truest identity.”
“Soccer didn’t make me who I am. I brought who I am to soccer, and I get to bring who I am wherever I go. So do you.”
“I’ve never scored a goal in my life without getting a pass from someone else.”
“As a competitor, I want to continue to keep turning the chapters and keep challenging myself.”
“Women today have an obligation to set a good example for the generations to come. We need to have women in more powerful positions that are making decisions, so when that 10-year-old girl is looking up and wondering, ‘What can I do and what do I want to be when I get older?’ she has the opportunity to do and be whatever she wants. And then, more importantly… I want that 10-year-old boy that she goes to school with to be able to look at her and to be able to say, ‘She can do whatever she wants.'”
“Every woman is the leader of her own life. Do not give up that power. Claim it. Value it. Use it.”
“Happiness is meant to be shared.”
“I am a firm believer that if you feel good and you are happy and you are doing all the things you need to on a daily basis—whether it be for your profession or as a professional athlete—you are going to be more comfortable in your skin.”
“Wear what you want. Love who you love. Become what you imagine.”
