As long as I can compete, I won't quit.
Cal Ripken, Jr.Read
A lot of people think I had such a rosy career, but I wanted to identify that one of the things that helps you have a long career is learning how to deal with adversity, how to get past it. Once I learned how to get through that, others things didn't seem so hard.
Interpretation
Success comes from overcoming challenges and learning to handle adversity.
In this quote, Cal Ripken, Jr. reflects on the reality that many perceive his career as flawless and easy, yet he emphasizes the importance of resilience in the face of difficulties. He believes that learning to navigate challenges has been crucial to his longevity in his career, suggesting that once one develops the skill to overcome obstacles, other struggles become manageable.
In practice
During a motivational speech at a school, sharing this quote can inspire students to persevere through difficult times.
As long as I can compete, I won't quit.
I never understood that when I heard people retire - they said they missed being around the guys. I don't have a need to make a play in the ninth inning of a game anymore. But being on the inside and being part of a team is something that you really do value and you really do miss.
I've felt some great feelings on the baseball field... in front of 50,000 people and millions on TV... but the feeling you get when you give a kid a chance, that is a hundred times greater than that feeling.
By far, the best moment of my big league career was when I caught the last out at the World Series.
So many good things have happened to me in the game of baseball. When I do allow myself a chance to think about it, it's almost like a storybook career. You feel so blessed to have been able to compete this long.
I did make a choice when I got away from baseball to be there to get my kids off to college.
To be compared to Jackie Robinson is an enormous compliment, but I don't think it's necessarily deserved.
There's nothing glorious about being a professional. . . . Professionalism probably comes down to being able to work on a bad day.
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.
Growing up, I always dreamed of winning an NBA championship, never a gold. A gold was something that never crossed my mind.
He who would greatly deserve must greatly dare.
The culture precedes positive results. It doesn't get tacked on as an afterthought on your way to the victory stand. Champions behave like champions before they're champions: they have a winning standard of performance before they are winners.
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