Players today moan about the number of games, but when you're young, you can't play enough.
George BestRead
Even at the height of my fame, 50 per cent of the people who saw me wanted a fight; itβs the downside of being a star player.
Interpretation
Fame attracts both admiration and hostility, highlighting the challenges that come with success.
In this quote, George Best reflects on the dual nature of fame, where success as a star player not only brings adoration but also invites criticism and conflict. It illustrates the idea that achieving greatness can often lead to mixed reactions from the public, with some celebrating the individual while others are envious or hostile.
In practice
During a speech about sportsmanship, one might say, 'Even at the height of my fame, George Best understood the complicated relationship between success and public perception.'
Players today moan about the number of games, but when you're young, you can't play enough.
If I had to choose between dribbling past 5 players and scoring from 40 yards at Anfield or shagging miss world, it'd be a hard choice. Thankfully, i've done both
I spent a lot of money on booze, birds and fast cars. The rest I just squandered.
If you'd given me the choice of going out and beating four men and smashing a goal in from thirty yards against Liverpool or going to bed with Miss World, it would have been a difficult choice. Luckily, I had both.
I'm OK. Much better than on other occasions. It's true that I've made lots of mistakes but I've never tried to bother anyone. I want to stay alive, preferably in peace, without seeing every one of my mistakes in the papers, and on many occasions, even stories that are lies.
Drink is the only opponent I have been unable to beat.
The Enemy of the best is the good. If you're always settling with what's good, you'll never be the best.
Often the difference between a successful person and a failure is not one has better abilities or ideas, but the courage that one has to bet on one's ideas, to take a calculated risk - and to act.
Never continue in a job you don't enjoy. If you're happy in what you're doing, you'll like yourself, you'll have inner peace. And if you have that, along with physical health, you will have had more success than you could possibly have imagined.
Don't bring your need to the marketplace, bring your skill.
Greatness is a road leading towards the unknown.
What I learned from that loss, and also another loss that I'm going to talk about later, was that when you're there, it's not good enough to be there, when you're there, you better walk away with that ring.
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