From: earhartgregm@bvc.edu
Newsgroups: rec.sport.swimming
Subject: Little Thoughts (was Inspirational words)
Date: 16 Oct 92 00:07:05 CDT
Organization: Buena Vista College, Storm Lake, IA

Here are some inspirational quotes which I have accumulated over the years. 
I'll try to type as many as I have time for, but if you have any additional 
ones, please let me know so I can add them to my collection.  Also, if you 
know how I can generate this list repeatedly without having to retype it 
each time also let me know so I can send it to others.  If I don't get to 
them all tonight, I'll will follow up tommorow. (earhartgregm@bvc.edu)
P.S.  These are all pilfered from others.  When I know who said them, I 
cite them.  I'm no prophet, (but I will be looking for a coaching job in 
May.)  Without further ado...

Ability may take you to the top, but it takes character to stay there.

Act as if it were impossible to fail and it will be.

Actions speak louder than coaches. (Speedo ad)

After you have done your best-your best may not be good enough.

A little fish in a big pond can get to be a big fish in that pond, but a 
big fish in a little pond cannot get any better off.

Always remember, whatever the goal--keep your eye on it.

Attitudes are contagious.  Are yours worth catching?

A winner makes committments to a goal, a loser makes promises.

A team which has become a winner has done so by certain individual setting 
and reaching goals for themselves.

Attitudes are nothing more than habits of thought...and habits can be 
acquired.

Bad times have a value, these are the times a good learner would not miss.

Be consistently persistent. (Dick Hannula)

Be satisfied with nothing but your best.

Breastroke is an athletic event, butterfly is a political statement. (Paul 
Tsongas 3/20/92)

Compete to compete.

Common sense is very uncommon. (Horace Greely.)

Defeat should never be a source of disappointment, but rather a fresh 
stimulus.

Design a workout that even a fool can use and only a fool will use it.

Desire + dedication + direction = Determined Destiny

Doing a thing nearly right and doing it exactly right is usually the 
difference between success and failure.

Do not be afraid of an honest effort and honest work; do not be aftaid of 
the truth.  The surest way to succeed is to not fail.

Do not dwell on your losses, but concntrate upon the part of your 
performance that limited your excellence.

Don't count the days, make the days count.

Don't try to make sense out of nonsense.

Don't let anyone out-train you.

Education is what you get from reading the fine print.  Experience is what 
you get from not reading it.

Everyone's a potential winner.  Some people are disguised as losers 
though--Don't let their appearance fool you.

Faith can move mountains, doubt can create them.

Focus on your strong points when you visualize your race.

Failure is often that early morning hour of darkness that precedes the 
dawning of the day of success.

Go hard or go home. (Speedo Ad)

Hard things are put in our way, not to stop us, but to call out our courage 
and strength.

He who does not hope to win has already lost.

Ideas never work unless you do.

If you are good, be better.

If you do not consciously form good habits, you will unconsciously form bad 
ones.

If you give everything your best shot, you will come out on top no matter 
what the score.

If you don't take the time to do it right - will you have the time to do it 
over?

If you love life then do not waste time for that is what life is made of. 
(Ben Franklin)

If the going seems easy, check to see if you are going downhill.

Ink it, don't just think it.

It's not how far you swim in practice; and its' not how fast you swim in 
practice--it's how far you swim fast in practice.

It's not the best person that wins, it's the best trained person.

It's better to have swum and lost than to never have swum at all. [or to 
have played basketball -ge]

It doesn't take great men to do great things, it takes concentrated men.  
(No chauvinism intended.)

It's what you have left after you give 100%.

Leadership by example is the most difficult, but also the most beneficial.

LEARN TO LOVE PAIN

Losers let it happen, winners make it happen.

Life's greatest adventure is in doing one's very best.

Luck is when preparation meets opportunity.

Never sacrifice a principle for a temporary gain.

Nothing can stop the man with the right mental attitude from achieving his 
goal, nothing on earth can help the man with the wrong attitude. (Thomas 
Jefferson.)

Obstacles are what you see when you take your eyes off the goal.

Only those risking to go far will ever know how far they can go.

Only a mediocre person is always at his best.

Practice is 90% physical-10% mental.  Championship meets are 10% 
physical-90% mental.

Pride, intense pride, that's what it all comes down to.

Practice does not make perfect, perfect practice makes perfect.

People are generally better persuaded by the reasons which they themselves 
discovered than by those which have come from others.

People who feel good about themselves produce good results.

Success does not rest. (Original.)

Speed is the by-product of busting your ass.

Swim each practice as if it was the most important practice of the year.

Swimming is a sport, everything else is just a game.

Swimmers who are willing to work out close to racing speed will ultimately 
swim faster when it counts.

Take the best team and the worst team.  Line them up and you would find 
very little physical difference.  You would find an emotional difference.  
The winning team has a dedication--they won't accept defeat.

Take all defeats as temporary setbacks.

The road to success is always under construction.

The minute you quit is the moment you fail.

There is always room at the top.

The swimmer who says, "It can't be done" is passed by the swimmer who is 
doing it.

The will to win is not nearly so important as the will to prepare to win.

The dictionary is the only place where success comes before work.

The future belongs to those who prepare for it.

The height of your success is determined by the depth of your belief.

The harder your work, the luckier you get.

The hardest thing about climbing the ladder of success is getting through 
the crowd at the bottom.

The only way to discover the limits of the possible is to go beyond into 
the impossible.

The real test in golf, as in life, is not keeping out of the rough, but 
getting out once you are in.

The swimmer that makes the fewest mistakes wins.

Trust your hopes, not your fears.

The key to better swimming, is swimming better.

There are going to be times when everything succeeds, but don't worry, it 
will pass.

There is a big difference between wanting to and willing to.

There is no substitute for hard work and effort beyond the call of mere 
duty.  That is what strengthens the soul and one's character.

The majority of failures in life are simply the victims of their mental 
defeats.

That you may fail, is not sufficient reason for not trying.

Tough times never last, but tough people do.

We accomplish in proportion to what we attempt.

We are successful precisely because we formed the habit of doing things 
that failures do not like to do.

What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to 
what lies within us.

When you are behind, don't give up; when you are ahead, don't let up.

Whether you think you can or can't, your're right.

Why strive for mediocrity?

Winning isn't everything, but trying to is.

Winners are workers.

Winners make goals, losers make excuses.

A winner solves his problems, but a loser is defeated by his.

Winning can be defined as the science of being totally prepared.  I define 
prepartation in three words: leave nothing undone.

Winning is seeing improvement in yourself.

Work hard -- rest hard.

Winning is not a sometime thing; it's an all the time thing.  You don't win 
once in a while, you don't do things right once in a while, you do them 
right all the time.  Winning is a habit.  Unfortunately, so is losing.

Winners make it happen -- losers let it happen.

Win or lose, playing at all is winning.

You can motivate by fear and reward, but these are temporary.  The only 
lasting thing is self-motivation.

Yesterday is a canceled check; tomorrow is a promissory note; today is the 
only cash you have.  Spend it wisely.

You are never given a wish without also being given the power to make it 
come true.  You may have to work for it however.

You can always better your best.

You can't do anything by doing nothing.

You create your own luck.

You get good at what you practice.

You need to compete for something greater than the experience of simply 
winning.

Your toughest opponent is in the mirror.


I hope some of these can help you motivate your rec swimmers.  I also hope 
others find it helpful/inspirational.  Like I mentioned above, if you have 
any others, please e-mail them to me so I can add them on.  I also have 
some longer poems that I might be able to post later.

**************************************************************************
* Greg Earhart		*	   ~~~		*  Boys play basketball, *
* Buena Vista College	* 	   o-o		*           Men wrestle, *
* GO BEAVERS!		*	    ^		*   Only ANIMALS Swim!!! *
* earhartgregm@bvc.edu  *	   `_'		*			 *
**************************************************************************