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True heroism is remarkably sober, very undramatic. It is not the urge to surpass all others at whatever cost, but the urge to serve others at whatever cost.

Arthur Ashe

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Arthur Ashe
Age: 49 †
Born: 1943
Born: July 10
Died: 1993
Died: February 6
Military Officer
Tennis Player
Richmond
Virginia
Arthur Robert Ashe
Jr.
Courage
Sober
Whatever
Urges
Others
Heroic
True
Tennis
Serve
Surpass
Army
Remarkably
Hero
Heroism
Cost
Urge

More quotes by Arthur Ashe

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I would like to flood South Africa with black personages of all sorts of persuasions: writers, educators, businessmen, you name it. If you are black and have any clout at all, I would like to see you go to South Africa and look for yourself and come back and try to use the tools that you have at your command to try and help the brothers down there.
Arthur Ashe
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My potential is more than can be expressed within the bounds of my race or ethnic identity.
Arthur Ashe
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Martina's like the old Green Bay Packers. You know exactly what she's going to do, but there isn't a thing you can do about it.
Arthur Ashe
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I keep sailing on in this middle passage. I am sailing into the wind and the dark. But I am doing my best to keep my boat steady and my sails full.
Arthur Ashe
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I know I could never forgive myself if I elected to live without humane purpose, without trying to help the poor and unfortunate, without recognizing that perhaps the purest joy in life comes with trying to help others.
Arthur Ashe
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I strongly believe the black culture spends too much time, energy and effort raising, praising, and teasing our black children about the dubious glories of professional sports.
Arthur Ashe
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Regardless of how you feel inside, always try to look like a winner.
Arthur Ashe
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You've got to get to the stage in life where going for it is more important than winning or losing.
Arthur Ashe
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I have always drawn strength from being close to home.
Arthur Ashe
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In America you're conditioned to regard everything as a contest. You have to make the Ten Best Dressed List, win this, win that. It drives me nuts sometimes. Who cares, for Christ's sake?
Arthur Ashe
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If I were to say, 'God, why me?' about the bad things, then I should have said, 'God, why me?' about the good things that happened in my life.
Arthur Ashe
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If I don't ask Why me? after my victories, I cannot ask Why me? after my setbacks and disasters.
Arthur Ashe
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Sometimes, a defeat can be more beautiful and satisfying than certain victories. The English have a point in insisting that it matters not who won or lost, but how you played the game.
Arthur Ashe
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Seven out of 10 black faces you see on television are athletes. The black athlete carries the image of the black community. He carries the cross, in a way, until blacks make inroads in other dimensions.
Arthur Ashe
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Trust has to be earned, and should come only after the passage of time.
Arthur Ashe
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If you're paid before you walk on the court, what's the point in playing as if your life depended on it?
Arthur Ashe
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We must believe in the power of education. We must respect just laws. We must love ourselves, our old and or young, our women as well as our men.
Arthur Ashe
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When we were together, I loved you deeply and you gave me so much happiness I can never repay you.
Arthur Ashe
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Start where you are, use what you have.
Arthur Ashe
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My humanity, in common with all of God's children, gives the greatest flight to my full range of my possibilities.
Arthur Ashe