Martina Navratilova Quotes

Labels are for filing. Labels are for clothing. Labels are not for people.

Being blunt with your feelings is very American. In this big country, I can be as brash as New York, as hedonistic as Los Angeles, as sensuous as San Francisco, as brainy as Boston, as proper as Philadelphia, as brawny as Chicago, as warm as Palm Springs, as friendly as my adopted home town of Dallas, Fort Worth, and as peaceful as the inland waterway that rubs up against my former home in Virginia Beach.

Whoever said, 'It's not whether you win or lose that counts,' probably lost.

I haven't bought any leather articles for a very long time. My ideal is to be able to avoid all animal products, in food as well as clothing.

I'd have a whole lot more money if I lied, but I wouldn't enjoy spending it.

The difference between involvement and commitment is like ham and eggs. The chicken is involved; the pig is committed.

Disability is a matter of perception. If you can do just one thing well, you're needed by someone.

People in the States used to think that if girls were good at sports their sexuality would be affected. Being feminine meant being a cheerleader, not being an athlete. The image of women is changing now. You don't have to be pretty for people to come and see you play. At the same time, if you're a good athlete, it doesn't mean you're not a woman.

Once you start believing in yourself, anything is possible. Once you start believing in yourself, your dreams take shape. The more you believe, the more you achieve.

The mark of great sportsmen is not how good they are at their best, but how good they are their worst.

The moment of victory is much too short to live for that and nothing else.

The better I get, the more I realize how much better I can get.

I think the key is for women not to set any limits.

Once you start believing in yourself, anything is possible.

Life is about challenges and how we face up to them and the attitude we take into every day life so hopefully we'll be able to motivate people to do more with their life.

People who are rich want to be richer, but what's the difference? The toys get different, that's all. The rich guys buy a football team, the poor guys buy a football. It's all relative.

Variety is what I would recommend: As variety is the spice of life in food, so it is in exercise. Change it up. But most of all, don't overdo it.

I came to live in a country I love; some people label me a defector. I have loved men and women in my life; I've been labeled the bisexual defector. Want to know another secret? I'm even ambidextrous. I don't like labels. Just call me Martina.

Just go out there and do what you've got to do.

Concentration is born on the practice court... you must mentally treat your practice sessions as matches, concentrating on every ball you hit.

I'm not a one-sex person, and yet I hate the term bisexual. It sounds creepy to me, and I don't think I'm creepy. There are times when I feel downright romantic.

If it feels right in your gut, this is who you are, this is what you do, this is what you feel, then don't hide that. You just stick to it and the world will catch up.

I am not looking for perfection. I look for the best in me.

I just try to concentrate on concentrating.

On Chris Evert: Before I even met her, she stood for everything I admired in this country: poise, ability, sportsmanship, money, style.

What matters isn't how well you play when you're playing well. What matters is how well you play when you're playing badly.

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.

You can't live in the past, there's nothing you can do about it.

Tennis has given me soul.

Losing still hurts, but that's good. When it stops hurting, that's when I stop playing.

In Czechoslovakia there is no such thing as freedom of the press. In the United States there is no such thing as freedom from the press.

I'm not involved in tennis but committed.

People in the States used to think that if girls were good at sports their sexuality would be affected.

Security used to be an inconvenience sometimes, but now it's a necessity all the time.

I know some of my self-worth comes from tennis, and it's hard to think of doing something else where you know you'll never be thebest. Tennis players are rare creatures: where else in the world can you know that you're the best? The definitiveness of it is the beauty of it, but it's not all there is to life and I'm ready to explore the alternatives.

The tennis ball doesn't know how old I am. The ball doesn't know if I'm a man or a woman or if I come from a communist country or not. Sport has always broken down these barriers.

I've been in the twilight of my career longer than most people have had their career.

I think retirement beats the heck out of life after death, that's for sure.

The more people come out, the less it will be an issue.

No matter where I go, I always make friends at the bridge table

You don't have to be pretty for people to come and see you play. At the same time, if you're a good athlete, it doesn't mean you're not a woman.

If I feel strongly, I say it. I know I can do more good by being vocal than by staying quiet. I'd have a whole lot more money if I lied, but I wouldn't enjoy spending it.

I've been active in animal rights and all kinds of environmental stuff and children's charities over the years.

The mentality, that's something you should be able to control. Whether you are healthy or not, how fast you can run - they aren't things you can work on, but the mentality should be.

I shouldn't say I'm looking forward to leading a normal life, because I don't know what normal is. This has been normal for me.

Sachin was so focused. He never looked like getting out. He was batting with single-minded devotion. It was truly remarkable. It was a lesson.

I have always had this outrage at being told what to, how to act, whom to love.

What I would tell girls coming up is just be yourself and don't let people get in the way.

Sport doesn't know barriers, really. You are judged on your performance... how far you can jump, how fast you can run, how well you can hit a tennis ball.

Keeping a journal of what's going on in your life is a good way to help you distill what's important and what's not.