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Always have the situation under control, even if losing. Never betray an inward sense of defeat.

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.
Even
Betray
Always
Inward
Never
Defeat
Losing
Failure
Control
Situation
Sense

More quotes by Arthur Ashe

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I don't care who you are, you're going to choke in certain matches. You get to a point where your legs don't move and you can't take a deep breath. You start to hit the ball about a yard wide, instead of inches.
Arthur Ashe
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Throughout my formal education I spent many, many hours in public and school libraries. Libraries became courts of last resort, as it were. The current definitive answer to almost any question can be found within the four walls of most libraries.
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
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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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I take the good with the bad, and I try to face them both with as much calm and dignity as I can muster.
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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I don't want to be remembered for my tennis accomplishments.
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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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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Life is like a tennis game. You can't win without serving.
Arthur Ashe
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You've got to make a lot of sacrifices and spend a lot of time if you really want to achieve with this sport, or in any sport, or in anything truly worthwhile.
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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Later, I discovered there was a lot of work to being good in tennis.
Arthur Ashe
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I have become convinced that we blacks spend too much time on the playing field and too little time in libraries.
Arthur Ashe
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There is a terrific apprehension among some people that blacks will take over the sport... It will create problems because their behavior, speech and dress is just a completely different culture.
Arthur Ashe
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You really are never playing an opponent. You are playing yourself.
Arthur Ashe
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There's no better stage than the U.S. Open for me
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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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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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