Hope Solo Quotes

One thing I’ve learned through all the ups and downs is that if you’re doing things right, then you have a core group of people. Not just a core group like your homies or your buddies, but a group of people that has a good influence on you, who you respect and admire, and you know that if they’re on your side, you’re doing something right.

I couldn't have been a great goalkeeper without power, agility and quickness.

I think it's my personality to overcome things, learn from them and become stronger, both personally and professionally. To be honest, I welcome those hardships.

There are no shortcuts. If you feel good, you'll look good, you'll play good. Work hard every day. No matter what your strengths and weaknesses, there's no substitute for hard work.

If you truly expect to realize your dreams, abandon the need for blanket approval. If conforming to everyone's expectations is the number one goal, you have sacrificed your uniqueness, and therefore your excellence.

I've learned that winning isn't everything, and it's more about the journey. But at the end of the day, I just want to stand on the podium with the gold medal.

There are so many different walks of life, so many different personalities in the world. And no longer do you have to be a chameleon and try and adapt to that environment - you can truly be yourself.

I like to read books and be alone; I'm not social butterfly person.

True heros are made of hard work and integrity.

I don't need a captain's band to lead a team to victory.

I think every athlete has their window of opportunity, and you just have to jump on it. You never know when it can end. So I'm just trying to live large while I have the opportunity.

I just want to stay in my hotel room, read my book. I enjoy that private time.

Nobody really knows who I am, where I came from, what's in my heart, why I believe in the things I believe, what I see behind the scenes and they don't see.

My life is a beautiful struggle.

I played soccer all my life and I used to think growing up that they put the fat kid in goal or they put the kid that wasn't good with the ball at their feet in goal and I never wanted to do goalkeeper, I was always the goal scorer.

I have a problem with players who don't take the loss personally. At a professional level you should - it's our job, it's our livelihood, it's who we are at this level. Every loss should be taken that personal.

I am pushed by my critics. I don't want to say I want to prove them wrong, but it pushes me on the field to play with a chip on my shoulder, and I play best when I have a chip on my shoulder.

I am proud of who I am, and nobody's going to steal that.

My No. 1 goal, and what I've spent my entire life striving to achieve is to win a World Cup. I want to retire so badly with that World Cup, but if I don't, then I'll retire knowing that I've done everything I could to get it.

Growing up, I felt insecure about my build. I didn't feel very feminine. But as time went on, I learned to completely embrace my body.

It's all in fun. I take everything with a grain of salt.

My entire purpose is trying to be the best in the game, and if that exudes beauty too, that's pretty powerful.

You're not going to be liked by everybody when you speak the truth. I don't speak the truth to put people down; I don't speak the truth to show disrespect.

No one wants to lose, period. It should hurt, it should sting, and you don't want to feel that feeling again.

I live for competition. It makes my life complete.

I never felt the same passion for the game in the States and there were a lot of headaches, a lot of obstacles to overcome - it didn't just run itself for the love of the game because soccer is not the No. 1 sport as it is in Europe.

As women professional athletes, you have to have respect for every player and individual. Beyond that, it doesn't matter what your interests are. People can have their own lives.

With each year that's gone by, and as I grow up and get older, I've become more mature, of course, but you have a sense of who you are, and you find confidence in that.

I love pedicures. And, yes, I have a ton of shoes.

I think people who don't have conflict in their lives are just trying to please people and not really living life to the fullest.

Speech is the image of actions

Athletes are extremists. When they're training, it's laser focus.

I played in Europe and it was a great experience, not just because of my team-mates and the coaches we had, but from the fans and the city itself - I played in Gothenburg and I played in Lyon and soccer was everywhere.

When the Olympics and World Cups come around, that's when you see the real outpouring of support that there really is for female football.

I've been through a lot of things in my personal and family life. That turned me into a fighter. I always strive to be the best I possibly can.

London 2012 is all about winning a medal. Not just any medal, the gold medal.

I need a life outside of soccer. So I very much welcome, you know, new love interests and dating and friends and family.

I know I can't dance. I am the worst dancer. I have no rhythm. I just do step-and-snap. I love it in the privacy of my own home and every once in a while at a club. But singing and dancing are my two greatest fears.

I don't just want to focus on soccer, soccer, soccer.

Everybody should be affected by their own realities in their own lives, their own struggles in their own lives. It makes us who we are, and we all know that.

My family doesn't do happy endings. We do sad endings or frustrating endings or no endings at all. We are hardwired to expect the next interruption or disappearance or broken promise.

My father showed me so much love. He showed my brother so much love. He just, he had a rough life. You know, he grew up in a boys home in the Bronx. He didn't really know his own family. So I couldn't hold it against him that he didn't know how to parent. He didn't know how to be the perfect husband. But he loved as much as he could.

I put all of my energy into building the game and giving women opportunities and, to put everything into it and then to be deemed selfish or not a good team player or outspoken, it's been hard. But at the same time, I'm going to get the critics and I know that.

It was hard. I came to grips with a lot of difficulties that I've overcome. Each challenge kind of makes you who you are. It wasn't always a good thing. I have my own struggles in my life because of the things I was forced to overcome.

People didn't put pressure on me. I just played for the love of the game.

Every athlete acquires routines as a way to help control nerves.

My father showed me so much love. He showed my brother so much love.

It's a complicated thing, knowing how much pain my father caused in my life and the lives of others whom I love, yet still holding love for him in my heart. No matter what he did, he was my father. He helped create the person I am.

In front of the world, all of a sudden I'm a great athlete and I'm put into an environment with 25 other women and I'm expected to go to team meals, team functions.

Being responsible and taking care of your body is truly how you make your pay cheque, how you excel and succeed in your lifelong goals, so for me it's just an everyday lifestyle.