Quotes About Effort

People want to see you on the pitch. That was why I left Chelsea. I didn't want to hear people saying, 'Hey, he's doing well in training, blah blah blah... ' The game is what counts.

I knew sooner or later I would show my quality and show to everyone why I'm here, why Real made such an effort to bring me here.

That's why the fears of playing or coaching, you want to do everything possible to make it. A lot of teams make it look real easy, but it is hard.

School is practice for the future, and practice makes perfect and nobody's perfect so why bother.

To change, to convert? Why bother?

I ought to be more hardboiled; I'd like to be. I don't think I have it in me. To write in clipped sentences. To employ gritty metaphor in the introduction of sultry blondes... I can't do it, so why bother trying?

When I wake up, I expect things to be good. If they're not, then I try to set about trying to make them as good as I can 'cause I know I'm gonna have to live that day anyway. So why not try to make the most of it if you can? Some days, they pan out a little better than others, but you still gotta always just try.

People always say that you can't please everybody. I think that's a cop-out. Why not attempt it? 'Cause think of all the people you will please if you try.

Whatever that means, however you got on that mountain, why not try to climb it? And do it in your own way.

Why not simply work better and harder at what you've got?

You find yourself refreshed in the presence of cheerful people. Why not make an honest effort to confer that pleasure on others? Half the battle is gained if you never allow yourself to say anything gloomy.

When it comes to getting promoted, you want to present yourself in a way that feeds into the biases that bosses have about what makes someone promotable. You're already doing the hard work, so why not frame your effort in such a way that it increases your chances of obtaining the position you want?

Everything you're doing is a chance at an opportunity, so why not give it your fullest and try?

You must avoid sloth, that wicked siren.

The Tour de France is a wicked sport in the way that it's not just man against man or woman against woman; it's not flesh against flesh. It's flesh against machine.

It is easy to go down into Hell; night and day, the gates of dark Death stand wide; but to climb back again, to retrace one's steps to the upper air - there's the rub, the task.

A guy digging ditches or a plumber wiping joints - it solves problems, you know? You have to dig this hole so wide, so long, so deep. You dig it, and that's it.

Unlike cricket, where I reached the top solely down to my own efforts, cancer was not a one-man battle. This time, I couldn't have done it on my own. Without the support and bullying encouragement of my wife Rachael, I would not be here now.

My wife is so analytical with raising kids, and I am not. My feeling is if they turn out good, then that means I was a good daddy and put a lot of effort into it. If they turn out bad, it means they took after her side of the family.

I think the act of condensing months or years of work down to a couple hours of entertainment is pretty wild and extremely rewarding.

You keep pitching. Most of the pitches run wild. A few are caught.

I struggle just like everybody else struggles. It's always a struggle in life to overcome temptation. I just try and get through it. No one is perfect.

You were about five feet short of a ten feet jump?

I only finish probably one out of every ten things I start. I give up all the time.