“All of my life I have always had the urge to do things better than anybody else.” - Babe Didrikson Zaharias
Babe Didrikson Zaharias was one of the greatest athletes to ever live – not just one of the greatest female athletes to ever live. This gal was a phenomenon. She could run, throw, jump, ride, play baseball, basketball, golf, and who knows what all!
In the 1932 Olympic tryouts, she won five first places in track and field. Five. In the Los Angeles Olympics she placed second in the high jump, first in the women’s 80-meter hurdles, and first in the javelin throw.
Many people would have been satisfied with these achievements and simply lived out their life in the fame and glory that surrounded them. I mean, why risk more? If you’re on top already, why chance a slip?
Thankfully Babe didn’t think like most people any more than she played like most people. She pushed the boundaries back even further by taking up the game of golf.
Preparation: Babe Didrikson found herself a wonderful instructor and studied the game.
Practice: She worked on her swing until it was perfect. She practiced on her long game and her short game. She mastered the game by first studying the game, then practicing her mechanics until they were perfection in motion. She spent hours on practice tees, sometimes hitting a thousand range balls in a single afternoon.
Push: Think about it. Babe was known for her power and strength – but she pushed her boundaries with a game that now called for finesse. Sometimes she would spend s much time hitting balls that her hands would become so red and sore that it hurt to grip the club. She’d stop long enough to tape them up, then she’d push on. Determination is a beautiful thing, wouldn’t you agree?
Pay Off: Babe Didrikson won the U.S. national woman’s amateur and British woman’s amateur championships. She became a symbol of courage all over the world, not just on the track and greens. She faced cancer with the same gritty determination and courage. She remains, to this day, one of our nation’s most beloved athletes.
Look at how they progress: Preparation. Practice. Push. Pay Off. If we take any of the first 3 out, we’ll never see the 4th… and if we aren’t going to get to the 4th, why in the world bother?!?!
More Babe Didrikson Zaharias Quotes:
t has been argued that Babe Didrikson Zaharias was the greatest woman athlete ever. [u]More About Babe Didrikson Zaharias
Selected Babe Didrikson Zaharias Quotations
- You can’t win them all — but you can try.
- Study the rules so that you won’t beat yourself by not knowing something.
- I am out to beat everybody in sight, and that is just what I’m going to do.
- You have to play by the rules of golf just as you have to live by the rules of life. There’s no other way.
- The formula for success is simple: practice and concentration then more practice and more concentration.
- Before I was in my teens, I knew exactly what I wanted to be: I wanted to be the best athlete who ever lived.
- The more you practice, the better. But in any case, practice more than you play.
- It’s not enough just to swing at the ball. You’ve got to loosen your girdle and let ‘er fly.
- Practice, which some regard as a chore, should be approached as just about the most pleasant recreation ever devised, besides being a necessary part of golf.
- Good golf is easier to play — and far more pleasant — than bad golf.
- Before I was ever in my teens, I knew exactly what I wanted to be when I grew up. My goal was to be the greatest athlete that ever lived.
- As long as I’m improving, I will go on, and besides, there’s too much money in the business to quit.
And my favorite Babe Didrikson Zaharias quote? – - – -The Babe is here. Who’s coming in second?
Don’t waste time learning the tricks of the trade. Instead learn the trade. - Life’s Little Instruction Book: 511 Suggestions, Observations, and Reminders on How to Live a Happy and Rewarding Life
by H. Jackson Brown, Jr.
Beautiful. I honestly can’t think of a single area of life where that this quote doesn’t reach. We always want to know the tricks, tips, and shortcuts, don’t we? Yet if we put forth just a little more time and effort, we could learn the trade, itself. If you truly know what you’re doing, you don’t need trickery.
Something to think about.
*** If you have somehow managed to live your life to this point without “Life’s Little Instruction Book,” thank God for his grace and head off to Amazon right now to purchase this wonderful little book. I think it’s like the price of a Subway footlong and a drink – less than $7.00, but worth so much more. If I could show you the shape my own copy is in right now you’d understand how much I love this book and how many times I’ve read and re-read it. Be off with thee – go order a copy now!
I believe in animal rights, and high among them is the right to the gentle stroke of a human hand. – Robert Brault
Photo Credit: The one website I’m on at least 3 times a day, I Can Has Cheezburger.com – The only thing I’m on more than ICHC is caffeine.
I may not be there yet, but I’m closer than I was yesterday. – Author Unknown
Keep on going, and the chances are that you will stumble on something, perhaps when you are least expecting it. I never heard of anyone ever stumbling on something sitting down. – Charles F. Kettering
One may go a long way after one is tired. – French Proverb
Most people never run far enough on their first wind to find out they’ve got a second. – William James
Success seems to be largely a matter of hanging on after others have let go. – William Feather
Always remember….
Difficult things take a long time, impossible things a little longer. -
Author Unknown
Making an issue of little things is one of the surest ways to spoil happiness. One’s personal pride is felt to be vitally injured by surrender, but there is no quality of human nature so nearly royal as the ability to yield gracefully. It shows small confidence in one’s own nature to fear that compromise lessens self-control. To consider constantly the comfort and happiness of another is not a sign of weakness but of strength. – Charles Conrad
More Quotes about Character
More Quotes about Happiness
Somehow I can’t believe that there are any heights that can’t be scaled by a man who knows the secret of making his dreams come true. This special secret, it seems to me, can be summarized in four C’s. They are curiosity, confidence, courage, and constancy, and the greatest of these is confidence. When you believe in a thing, believe in it all the way. – Walt Disney
“In these times of development, the whole world runs and is hurried. But there are some who fall down on the way and have no strength to go ahead. These are the ones we must care about.” – Mother Teresa
The powerfully beautiful and beautifully powerful quote above is just one of the gems from Mother Teresa found in In the Heart of the World: Thoughts, Stories and Prayers.
Mother Teresa’s name and image will forever be associated with her kindness, gentleness, and compassion. Her selfless work with the “poorest of the poor” should be an inspiration to all of us. In the Heart of the World, written by Mother Teresa, is filled with her eloquent wisdom, motivation, and inspirational teachings. Below are a few more examples.
Be kind in your actions. Do not think that you are the only one who can do efficient work, work worth showing. This makes you harsh in your judgment of others who may not have the same talents. Do your best and trust that others do their best. And be faithful in small things because it is in them that your strength shines.
We too are called to withdraw at certain intervals into deeper silence and aloneness with God, together as a community as well as personally. To be alone with him – not with our books, thoughts, and memories but completely stripped of everything – to dwell lovingly in his presence, silent, empty, expectant, and motionless. We cannot find agitation.
If we were more willing to see the good and beautiful things that surround us, we would be able to transform our families. From there, we would change our next-door neighbors and then others who live in our neighborhood or city. We would be able to bring peace and love to our world, which hungers so much for these things.
As I read this book, I lost myself in the beauty that was and is Mother Teresa. Reading her words was so incredibly peaceful and relaxing – yet, at the same time, an unrest crept up inside of me and stirred around. I realized that there is far more that I can and should do to help others in the world who are far less fortunate. While on the early pages, I kept thinking, “What the world needs right now is another Mother Teresa.” But, as I approached the final pages, I thought, “What the world needs right now if for more men and women to start caring more about people and less about possessions. It needs more hearts that are broken for the suffering of others. And more people refusing to look the other way.”
We don’t need another Mother Teresa as much as we need to learn from the one we were blessed with.
“I must be willing to give whatever it takes to do good to others. This requires that I be willing to give until it hurts. Otherwise, there is no true love in me and I bring injustice, not peace, to those around me.” – Mother Teresa
The Mother Teresa quotes are from In the Heart of the World: Thoughts, Stories and Prayers
Silence is a source of great strength. – Lao Tzu
True silence is the rest of the mind; it is to the spirit what sleep is to the body, nourishment and refreshment. – William Penn
I have often lamented that we cannot close our ears with as much ease as we can our eyes. – Richard Steele
Soon silence will have passed into legend. Man has turned his back on silence. Day after day he invents machines and devices that increase noise and distract humanity from the essence of life, contemplation, meditation… tooting, howling, screeching, booming, crashing, whistling, grinding, and trilling bolster his ego. – Jean Arp
Silence is the true friend that never betrays. – Confucius
Silence is a fence around wisdom. – German Proverb
To silence another, first be silent yourself. – Latin Proverb
You can hear the footsteps of God when silence reigns in the mind. – Sri Sathya Sai Baba
We must always change, renew, rejuvenate ourselves; otherwise we harden. – Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Bonus: Change is often rejuvenating, invigorating, fun….and necessary. – Lynn Povich
The game of life is a game of boomerangs. Our thoughts, deeds, and words return to us sooner or later with astounding accuracy. - Anonymous
Image Credit: Plus Magazine Living Mathematics (Bless them, they’re trying to make sense of math….)
