Billie Jean King Quotes

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

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.

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

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.

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.

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 like putting money back into what made my life, and tennis has been great to me.

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

I think if you're put on a team as a child, like you are in soccer and other sports, I think the children are going to stay in the sport and have more fun if they're on a team. They want to play with their friends and have fun.

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

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.

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

I always wanted to help make tennis a team sport.

You have got to want to be the best before you can even begin to reach for that goal, and you have got to be prepared to sacrifice a lot to get there.

Natural talent only determines the limits of your athletic potential. It's dedication and a willingness to discipline your life that makes you great.

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

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.

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

People say, "Do you know how much a million dollars is?" I don't have a clue. How many Big Macs will it buy me?

I think one of the concerns, anytime you're in the human business, like sports, it's a very high - risk endeavor. You do have to get players every year. You have to deal with calendar. You have to deal with all kinds of things in our sport, like every sport does.

Reputation is what others think about you. What's far more important is character, because that is what you think about yourself.

Trust and respect is something you earn, not something that is given.

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

I grew up in team sports. I think I understand the psyche of America. I think when children sign up to play, it's got to be team.

I didn't really care if I had a coach that much, me personally, because I was brought up to think for myself.

Pressure is a privilege ... it's what you do with it that matters.

I think self-awareness is probably the most important thing towards being a champion.

Victory is fleeting. Losing is forever.

I think it's really important to have portion control. I don't believe in losing weight quickly.

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

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

You want people to feel like they belong to something. And not be elitist. You don't want us to be elitist.

Champions keep playing until they get it right.

The most important words that have helped me in life, when things have gone right or when things have gone wrong are 'accept responsibility.'

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

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.

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 like to see what future generations are thinking about.

My whole life has been about equal rights and opportunities. For me it really goes back to the health of mind, body and soul.

Champions adjust and pressure is a privilege.

In business, everything starts with integrity. Otherwise it falls apart, though it does take time to find out who has integrity.

Any therapist will tell you that when you're ready, you will come out. To be outed means you weren't ready.

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

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

Ever since that day when I was 11 years old, and I wasn't allowed in a photo because I wasn't wearing a tennis skirt, I knew that I wanted to change the sport.

Tennis is a perfect combination of violent action taking place in an atmosphere of total tranquillity.

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

When I was playing, we didn't have to compete against everybody in the world. Now it's a truly global sport, so the competition's much greater, just like it is for our children in every other area, whether it be in science or technology or whatever you talk about.