Billie Jean King Quotes

Winning is very tangible, it's very exciting, it's very pleasing, but it's momentary. If you can do things that last, that each generation can build upon, then that's when you're cooking.

I like to see what future generations are thinking about.

Be bold. If you're going to make an error, make a doozy, and don't be afraid to hit the ball.

Don't go into debt and don't spend a lot. It's not how much money you make, it's how much you spend.

I always respect right off the bat because we are human, but then over time you learn who the person truly is, just like they learn about you. Hope it works out really well, and you hope that builds a stronger connection over time. You can't be friends with everybody.

When you oppress people either by gender, by race, by sexual orientation, when you do that and the doors become ajar, they will fly open and they will come and they have.

Bobby Riggs was one of my heroes. I admired him. That's one of the reasons I beat him - because I respected him.

Everyone has people in their lives that are gay, lesbian or transgender or bisexual. They may not want to admit it, but I guarantee they know somebody.

Love, light & blessings be On this day I wish to say 'Health & Happiness to come your way' Happy Birthday

I feel that tennis is an art form that is capable of moving the players and the audience - at least a knowledgeable audience-in almost sensual ways. When I'm performing at my absolute best, I think that some of the euphoria I feel must be transmitted to the audience.

I hate being called a homosexual because I don't feel that way. It really upsets me ... Being gay can happen in any walk of life, in any world. If you have one gay experience, does that mean you're gay? If you have one heterosexual experience, does that mean you're straight? Life doesn't work quite so cut and dried.

The old boy network is still very strong and very true. Just look at the stock exchange and how many men and women are there. It is still very much run by men.

Don't worry about what people say.

It's your birthday today, so what would you say, if we turned that frown upside down

Victory is fleeting. Losing is forever.

It's important to try to get people to think about women's wellness.

Men can have a huge turnover of sponsorship and still survive a lot better than the women. But the women's ratings are better, at least at home in the United States than in the men's tennis.

I try to perfect my strong points and make my weaknesses adequate.

In the complete overall history of tennis, I figure I'll be worth a sentence or two ... That's why my place in the all-time rankings means so very little to me, because I know I won't be anybody's number one, and it's that same old thing: if you're not number one, then what does it really matter?

A champion is afraid of losing. Everyone else is afraid of winning.

Some people do have softer boundaries.

I always wanted to help make tennis a team sport.

No one changes the world who isn't obsessed.

I wanted to use sports for social change.

Women get the attention when we get into the men's arena, and that's sad.

Champions take responsibility. When the ball is coming over the net, you can be sure I want the ball.

Female athletes are stereotyped by the general population
and usually as homosexuals.

Tennis taught me so many lessons in life. One of the things it taught me is that every ball that comes to me, I have to make a decision. I have to accept responsibility for the consequences every time I hit a ball.

Each point I play is in the now moment. The last point means nothing, the next point means nothing.

It's just really important that we start celebrating our differences. Let's start tolerating first, but then we need to celebrate our differences.

It's really impossible for athletes to grow up. On the one hand, you're still a child, still playing a game. But on the other hand, you're a superhuman hero that everyone dreams of being. No wonder we have such a hard time understanding who we are.

When I was outed, it was like, That's done.

No matter how tough, no matter what kind of outside pressure, no matter how many bad breaks along the way, I must keep my sights on the final goal, to win, win, win-and with more love and passion than the world has ever witnessed in any performance.

Martina and I went through a very bad five years. Everything's very good between us now, but it was a long haul.

Sports teaches you character, it teaches you to play by the rules, it teaches you to know what it feels like to win and lose-it teaches you about life.

Martina's gone with people who don't want to be out, and it drives her crazy because she'd rather be open.

I was always in the tennis business-from 1968. I was in tournaments and also on World Team Tennis teams as well.

There is no life for girls in team sports past Little League. I got into tennis when I realized this, and because I thought golf would be too slow for me, and I was too scared to swim.

I used to be told if I talked about my sexuality in any way that we wouldn't have a tennis tour.

In the seventies we had to make it acceptable for people to accept girls and women as athletes. We had to make it okay for them to be active. Those were much scarier times for females in sports.

Don't let anyone define you. You define yourself.

A girl didn't get an athletic scholarship until the fall of 1972 for the very first time.

The main thing is to care. Care very hard, even if it is only a game you are playing.

I would just never out anybody. I think everyone has to find it in their own way and their own time.

That is where the power, opportunity, and choice come from-when you have money. Money equals opportunity. There is no question.

I always listen, I ask children, I even ask adults in tennis, "What are your children playing?" And most of the time it's not tennis. It's pathetic.

For me, losing a tennis match isn't failure, it's research.

Create your legacy, and pass the baton.

Our love one's are never gone, they have just popped into another room.

If your partner wants to be private, you have to respect that.

I think it's impossible to judge whether another person should come out. You just hope they will on their own time and their own terms.

Winning comes down to who can execute under pressure.

Sometimes you have to be satisfied. You try hard enough. Don't be so self-critical; don't be so hard on yourself. (Shape your Self by M. Navratilova)

It's about learning your craft. That's a wonderful thing
especially with today's consumerism and instant gratification. You can'tbuy that. It's about making decisions, corrections, choices. I don't think it's so much about becoming a tennis player. It's about becoming a person.

Being Number One isn't everything to me, but for those few hours on the court it's way ahead of whatever's in second place.

Marriage isn't a 50-50 proposition very often. It's more like 100-0 one moment and 0-100 the next.

When people tell you not to believe in your dreams, and they say "Why?", say "Why not?

I've never cared that much for cementing my place in history. Sports is so transitory, so ephemeral. It just seems like so much nonsense comparing me to Helen Wills Moody or Suzanne Lenglen or anybody else from some other time. One lesson you learn from sports is that life goes on without you.

As far as U.S. tennis, we need new stars coming up in the pipeline, but I don't know if we have it.

I have a lot to say, and if I'm not No. 1, I can't say it.

When they take surveys of women in business, of the Fortune 500, the successful women, 80% of them, say they were in sports as a young woman.

Don't be afraid to hit the ball.

Pressure is a privilege - it only comes to those who earn it.

Sports are a microcosm of society.

At 62 you want to keep moving; that's important.

Women's sports is still in its infancy. The beginning of women's sports in the United States started in 1972, with the passage of Title 9 for girls to finally get athletic scholarships.

I like entrepreneurial people; I like people who take risks.