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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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Arthur Ashe
Age: 49 †
Born: 1943
Born: July 10
Died: 1993
Died: February 6
Military Officer
Tennis Player
Richmond
Virginia
Arthur Robert Ashe
Jr.
People
Among
Terrific
Problems
Tennis
Create
Sport
Sports
Dress
Culture
Dresses
Problem
Behavior
Take
Speech
Apprehension
Different
Completely
Blacks

More quotes by Arthur Ashe

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My potential is more than can be expressed within the bounds of my race or ethnic identity.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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You really are never playing an opponent. You are playing yourself.
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I don't want to be remembered for my tennis accomplishments.
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If I don't ask Why me? after my victories, I cannot ask Why me? after my setbacks and disasters.
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Start where you are, use what you have.
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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?
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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.
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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.
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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.
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I have always drawn strength from being close to home.
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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.
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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?
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This is my career highlight. Getting to the fourth round in the U.S. Open in my first year in the U.S. Open and first year on the tour.
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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.
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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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When we were together, I loved you deeply and you gave me so much happiness I can never repay you.
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Life is like a tennis game. You can't win without serving.
Arthur Ashe