Jackie Robinson was an American professional baseball player who made history when he became the first African American to break the color barrier and play in Major League Baseball.

A talented athlete, consummate sportsman, civil rights activist, and role model for generations to come, Jackie Robinson is remembered today as a symbol of courage and perseverance. Here are some of his most inspiring quotes that will stay with us forever.

From speaking out against racism and discrimination to refusing to accept prejudice in any form, Robinson’s quotes are a reminder of the power of standing up for what is right and pushing forward through adversity. Read on to explore Jackie Robinson’s timeless words of wisdom.

  1. “Life is not a spectator sport. If you’re going to spend your whole life in the grandstand just watching what goes on, in my opinion you’re wasting your life.” – Jackie Robinson
  2. “A life is not important except in the impact it has on other lives.” – Jackie Robinson
  3. “The right of every American to first-class citizenship is the most important issue of our time.” – Jackie Robinson
  4. “Above anything else, I hate to lose.” – Jackie Robinson
  5. “The most luxurious possession, the richest treasure anybody has, is his personal dignity.” – Jackie Robinson
  6. “This ain’t fun. But you watch me, I’ll get it done.” – Jackie Robinson
  7. “I don’t like needing anyone for anything.” – Jackie Robinson
  8. “How you played in yesterday’s game is all that counts.” – Jackie Robinson
  9. “Many people resented my impatience and honesty, but I never cared about acceptance as much as I cared about respect.” – Jackie Robinson
  10. “It kills me to lose. If I’m a troublemaker, and I don’t think that my temper makes me one, then it’s because I can’t stand losing. That’s the way I am about winning, all I ever wanted to do was finish first.” – Jackie Robinson
  11. “It would make everything I worked for meaningless if baseball is integrated but political parties were segregated.” – Jackie Robinson
  12. “The black press, some liberal sportswriters, and even a few politicians were banging away at those Jim Crow barriers in baseball. I never expected the walls to come tumbling down in my lifetime.” – Jackie Robinson
  13. “The way I figured it, I was even with baseball and baseball with me. The game had done much for me, and I had done much for it.” – Jackie Robinson
  14. “I speak to you only as an American who happens to be an American Negro and one who is proud of that heritage. We ask for nothing special. We ask only that we be permitted to compete on an even basis, and if we are not worthy, then the competition shall, per se, eliminate us.” – Jackie Robinson
  15. “I felt unhappy and trapped. If I left baseball, where could I go, what could I do to earn enough money to help my mother and to marry Rachel? The solution to my problem was only days away in the hands of a tough, shrewd, courageous man called Branch Rickey, the president of the Brooklyn Dodgers.” – Jackie Robinson
  16. “My problem was my inability to spend much time at home. I thought my family was secure, so I went running around everyplace else. I guess I had more of an effect on other people’s kids than I did my own.” – Jackie Robinson
  17. “If I had been white with the things I did, they never would have allowed me to get out of baseball.” – Jackie Robinson
  18. “During my life, I have had a few nightmares which happened to me while I was wide awake. One of them was the National Republican Convention in San Francisco, which produced the greatest disaster the Republican Party has ever known – Nominee Barry Goldwater.” – Jackie Robinson
  19. “I think if we go back and check our record, the Negro has proven beyond a doubt that we have been more than patient in seeking our rights as American citizens.” – Jackie Robinson
  20. “I’m not concerned with your liking or disliking me… All I ask is that you respect me as a human being.” – Jackie Robinson
  21. “Baseball is like a poker game. Nobody wants to quit when he’s losing; nobody wants you to quit when you’re ahead.” – Jackie Robinson
  22. “I never cared about acceptance as much as I cared about respect.” – Jackie Robinson
  23. “The most luxurious possession, the richest treasure anybody has, is his personal dignity.” – Jackie Robinson
  24. “There’s not an American in this country free until every one of us is free.” – Jackie Robinson
  25. “Negroes aren’t seeking anything which is not good for the nation as well as ourselves. In order for America to be 100 percent strong — economically, defensively and morally — we cannot afford the waste of having second- and third-class citizens.” – Jackie Robinson
  26. “I had to fight hard against loneliness, abuse, and the knowledge that any mistakes I made would be magnified because I was the only black man out there… I never cared about acceptance as much as I cared about respect.” – Jackie Robinson
  27. “This ain’t fun. But you watch me, I’ll get it done.” – Jackie Robinson
  28. “I don’t think it matters what I believe, only what I do.” – Jackie Robinson
  29. “It isn’t a perfect America and it isn’t run right, but it still belongs to us.” – Jackie Robinson
  30. “If I had to choose between baseball’s Hall of Fame and first-class citizenship for all of my people. I would say first-class citizenship.” – Jackie Robinson
  31. “I want everybody to understand that I am an American Negro first before I am a member of any political party.” – Jackie Robinson
  32. “Life is not a spectator sport. If you’re going to spend your whole life in the grandstand just watching what goes on, in my opinion you’re wasting your life.” – Jackie Robinson
  33. “No matter how much or how little I knew technically, I was able to get the best out of people I worked with.” – Jackie Robinson
  34. “Plenty of times I wanted to haul off when somebody insulted me for the color of my skin, but I had to hold to myself. I knew I was kind of an experiment. The whole thing was bigger than me.” – Jackie Robinson
  35. “Today, Negroes play on every big league club and in every minor league. With millions of other Negroes in other walks of life, we are willing to stand up and be counted for what we believe in. In baseball or out, we are no longer willing to wait until Judgment Day for equality – we want it here on earth as well as in Heaven.” – Jackie Robinson
  36. “I do not believe that every person, in every walk of life, can succeed in spite of any handicap. That would be perfection. But I do believe that what I was able to attain came to be because we put behind us (no matter how slowly) the dogmas of the past: to discover the truth of today; and perhaps the greatness of tomorrow.” – Jackie Robinson
  37. “Relationships may change throughout the gift of time, memories stay the same forever in my mind.” – Jackie Robinson
  38. “I know that I am a black man in a white world. . . I know that I never had it made.” – Jackie Robinson
  39. “Next time I go to a movie and see a picture of a little ordinary girl become a great star… I’ll believe it. And whenever I hear my wife read fairy tales to my little boy, I’ll listen. I know now that dreams do come true.” – Jackie Robinson
  40. “I guess you’d call me an independent, since I’ve never identified myself with one party or another in politics. I always decide my vote by taking as careful a look as I can at the actual candidates and issues themselves, no matter what the party label.” – Jackie Robinson
  41. “The many of us who attain what we may and forget those who help us along the line we’ve got to remember that there are so many others to pull along the way. The farther they go, the further we all go.” – Jackie Robinson

Thousands More Quotes For Any Occasion

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