Playing tennis, I didn't tie in my self-worth into winning or losing matches.
Martina NavratilovaRead
Just by being out you're doing your part. It's like recycling. You're doing your part for the environment if you recycle; you're doing your part for the gay movement if you're out.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Coming out contributes positively to societal acceptance of LGBTQ+ individuals.
This quote by Martina Navratilova emphasizes the importance of being open about one's sexual orientation. Just as recycling benefits the environment, being openly gay helps to foster acceptance and understanding within society, demonstrating that individual visibility can lead to broader social change.
Themes
Coming OutAcceptanceVisibilityLgbtqEnvironment
In practice
Example use cases
During a pride event, a speaker might use this quote to encourage individuals to be open about their identities.
More from Martina Navratilova
All quotes βI just wanted to play tennis. It wasn't a job. It was an ambition. I knew I could make money at it. I was 18 - old enough to think I could do it, young enough not to consider the consequences.
Martina NavratilovaRead
To those people doubting Serena Williams, writing her off - do not do that to a champion.
Martina NavratilovaRead
I can teach many sports, but obviously, tennis is the one. When you do other sports, you see things from different perspectives: different footwork drills, body positions, angles and geometry. All that stuff is helpful, and so when I do other sports, I can see things, because once you know one sport, then the other sport becomes more clear.
Martina NavratilovaRead
So many athletes are afraid to use their platform to do the right thing and speak what they feel, and that's very depressing. Sure, they are afraid of insulting people and losing money because of it, and everyone wants to make the maximum amount of money in their lifetime. But at the expense of who you are? I don't know. That just wasn't in my DNA.
Martina NavratilovaRead
I am just sorry my own mother had to live under that regime for most of her life. I was lucky. I got out and, 14 years later, Czechoslovakia became a free country. So I feel anger, even fury, at this bloody system that ruined so many people's lives for no reason whatsoever.
Martina NavratilovaRead
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It is emphatically no sacrifice. Say rather it is a privilege. Anxiety, sickness, suffering, or danger, now and then, with a foregoing of the common conveniences and charities of this life, may make us pause, and cause the spirit to waver, and the soul to sink; but let this only be for a moment. All these are nothing when compared with the glory which shall be revealed in and for us. I never made a sacrifice.
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The real point is that you cannot harbor malice toward others and then cry foul when someone displays intolerance against you. Prejudice tolerated is intolerance encouraged. Rise up in righteousness when you witness the words and deeds of hate, but only if you are willing to rise up against them all, including your own. Otherwise suffer the slings and arrows of disrespect silently.
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Be strong, saith my heart; I am a soldier; I have seen worse sights than this.
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Fearlessness may be a gift, but perhaps most precious is courage from cultivating the habit of refusing to let fear dictate one's actions.
Aung San Suu KyiRead