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For sports fans, October is one of the best times of the year. This is because the NFL, MLB, NHL, and NBA are all on TV this month. Inspired by all this athleticism, we rounded up these 25 motivational quotes from players and coaches across the leagues, designed to help you and your company reach new heights.

NFL

“Perfection is not attainable. But if we chase perfection, we can catch excellence.” – Vince Lombardi

“Today I will do what others won’t, so tomorrow I can accomplish what others can’t.” – Jerry Rice

“You fail all of the time. But you aren’t a failure until you start blaming someone else.” – Bum Phillips

“If you want to win, do the ordinary things better than anyone else does them, day in and day out.” – Chuck Noll

“Nobody who ever gave his best regretted it.” – George Halas

“Success isn’t permanent and failure isn’t fatal.” – Mike Ditka

“The principle is competing against yourself. It’s about self-improvement, about being better than you were the day before.” – Steve Young

 

MLB

“There may be people that have more talent than you, but there’s no excuse for anyone to work harder than you do.” – Derek Jeter

“You can learn little from victory. You can learn everything from defeat.” – Christy Mathewson

“Every day is a new opportunity. You can build on yesterday’s success or put its failures behind and start over again. That’s the way life is, with a new game every day, and that’s the way baseball is.” – Bob Feller

“My motto was always to keep swinging. Whether I was in a slump or feeling badly or having trouble off the field, the only thing to do was keep swinging.” – Hank Aaron

“Every strike brings me closer to the next home run.” – Babe Ruth

“In baseball and in business, there are three types of people. Those who make it happen, those who watch it happen, and those who wonder what happened.” – Tommy Lasorda

NHL

“You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.” – Wayne Gretzky

“Goals live on the other side of obstacles and challenges. Be relentless in pursuit of those goals, especially in the face of obstacles. Along the way, make no excuses and place no blame.” – Ray Bourque

“You have to prove yourself every shift, every game. It’s not up to anybody else. You have to take pride in yourself.” – Paul Coffey

“Play with passion and heart. If you don’t carry passion into sport – or into any job for that matter – you won’t succeed.” – Phil Esposito

“You’ve got to go the net if you want to score.” – Tom McVie

 

NBA

“Push yourself again and again. Don’t give an inch until the final buzzer sounds.” – Larry Bird

“I’ve missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games. Twenty-six times I’ve been trusted to take the game-winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life and that is why I succeed.” – Michael Jordan

“Ability may get you to the top, but it takes character to keep you there.” – John Robert Wooden

“Everything happens for a reason. I’m used to it; I prepare for it. Like I say, at the end of the day, those in charge of their own destiny are going to do what’s right for them and their family.” – Shaquille O’Neal

“Excellence is the gradual result of always striving to do better.” –  Patrick James “Pat” Riley

“You can’t get much done in life if you only work on the days when you feel good.” – Jerry West

“Hard work beats talent when talent fails to work hard.” – Kevin Durant