Martina Navratilova Quotes

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

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

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.

When one man becomes more important than the country he's supposed to be leading, this will always create a problem.

I'm an American. You can't go on where you were born. If you do then John McEnroe would be a German.

Remember this: You are the benchmark of your success - you define it. Don't let anyone else define it because if you do, you will fail. Appreciate those who support you and challenge those who don't

Tennis has given me soul.

I'm not involved in tennis but committed.

I hope, when I stop, people will think that somehow I mattered.

I just try to concentrate on concentrating.

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.

Just go out there and do what you have to do.

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

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.

The goal for the Laureus Sport For Good Foundation is to give kids an opportunity to be involved in sports and hopefully learn some lessons along the way. We want to put them in a safe environment, help them if they need it and maybe they will get a scholarship to a school because of the skills that they learn. Sport is just a starting point.

This is reality, not a dream.

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.

Sure I know where the press room is - I just look for where they throw the dog meat.

Just put one foot in front of the other and don't worry about the length of the path. Once you get on that path, and the longer you stay on it, there eventually will come a time when you will not turn back.

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

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

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

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.

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.

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

There is no cheap way to achieve the ability to turn pro in tennis; it unfortunately is more expensive than team sports.

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

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.

All top players are the same strokewise, but mentally I can improve and that's where it's at for top players.

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've been talking to Martina [Hingis] about playing for a couple of years. Maybe I can convince her to play some doubles.

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

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.

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 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 needed to refocus and get my act together.

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

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.

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

It is easier to do a job right than to explain why you didn't.

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.

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

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

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.

My worst memory is of my first dance lesson as a 14-year old in Prague. My mother put me in this silver and pink lame dress. My hair was all curled, and it was the first time I wore a garter belt. I felt so out of place!

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

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.

The only people that really have a chance against Serena [Williams] are people that are strong, that can handle her power that move well, and that's a difficult combination.

The fewer mistakes you make twice, the easier life is.

What planet are you living on? Who are you trying to convince - me or yourself.

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