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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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Arthur Ashe
Age: 49 †
Born: 1943
Born: July 10
Died: 1993
Died: February 6
Military Officer
Tennis Player
Richmond
Virginia
Arthur Robert Ashe
Jr.
Live
Perhaps
Without
Joy
Purest
Trying
Poor
Humane
Never
Help
Recognizing
Life
Purpose
Elected
Comes
Unfortunate
Helping
Forgive
Others
Forgiving

More quotes by 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.
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We must reach out our hand in friendship and dignity both to those who would befriend us and those who would be our enemy.
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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.
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You really are never playing an opponent. You are playing yourself.
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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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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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Later, I discovered there was a lot of work to being good in tennis.
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A wise person decides slowly but abides by these decisions.
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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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The world over - 50 million children start playing tennis, 5 million learn to play tennis, 500,000 learn professional tennis, 50,000 come to the circuit, 5000 reach the grand slam, 50 reach Wimbledon, 4 to semi final, 2 to the finals, when I was holding a cup I never asked GOD 'Why me?'. And today in pain I should not be asking GOD 'Why me?'
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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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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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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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There's no better stage than the U.S. Open for me
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I guess I started too early because I just thought it was something fun to do.
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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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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A couple of times a day I sit quietly and visualize my body fighting the AIDS virus. It's the same as me sitting and seeing myself hit the perfect serve. I did that often when I was an athlete.
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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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