When we talk about basketball legends, Pat Summitt stands out. Not just for her coaching record but for the impact she had on players, coaches, fans, and the sport itself. It didn’t matter if you played basketball or not; Coach Pat Summitt’s words transcended the court and offered valuable lessons in winning, leadership, and life.
This collection of 30 Pat Summitt quotes provides a source of inspiration and guidance for anyone looking to move forward with integrity, work hard, and achieve greatness.
I was a high school basketball player during three of Pat Summitt’s eight NCAA championship wins. During that time, I kept her first book, Reach for the Summit, close by to revisit whenever I was looking for motivation or direction. These Pat Summitt quotes are among my favorites, and I share them hoping they’ll inspire you as much as they did me.
And if you’re looking for even more Summitt inspiration after reading through these, I recommend watching Pat XO, one of the best women’s basketball documentaries.
Pat Summitt Quotes On Leadership
Leadership is an art, and Pat Summitt was a master. Her basketball quotes on leadership not only reflect her success on the basketball court but also her profound understanding of guiding and inspiring others. Here are some of her most impactful thoughts on leadership.
1. Attitude Determines Outcome
“Attitude is a choice. What you think you can do, whether positive or negative, confident or scared, will most likely happen.”
Pat Summitt believed that thinking positively helps us succeed. Your mindset has a big effect on what you can achieve.
2. Caring Comes First
“They don’t care how much you know, unless they know how much you care.”
This quote means that to be a good leader, you need to show people you care about them. When people feel cared for, they listen and trust you more.
3. People Over Achievements
“I won 1,098 games, and eight national championships, and coached in four different decades. But what I see are not the numbers. I see their faces.”
Summitt cared more about the people she worked with than the awards she won. It’s the connections with people that mattered most to her.
4. Stay Steady
“Handle success like you handle failure. You can’t always control what happens, but you can control how you handle it.”
Pat Summitt taught that we should stay calm and steady, whether things go well or not. It’s important to keep your cool in both good times and bad.
5. Be Dependable
“Leadership is really a form of temporary authority that others grant you, and they only follow you if they find you consistently credible. It’s all about perception—and if teammates find you the least bit inconsistent, moody, unpredictable, indecisive, or emotionally unreliable, then they balk and the whole team is destabilized.”
Summitt highlights that being a leader means people look up to you, but they’ll only follow if they think you’re reliable and make good decisions. If you’re up and down all the time, it’s hard for others to follow.
Pat Summitt Quotes On Accountability
If you’ve read any of Pat Summitt’s books or watched the documentary, A Cinderella Season (one of the best women’s basketball movies), you’ll know that she believed that being accountable is key to winning, not just in sports, but in life too. Her advice helps us understand why it’s important to take charge of our actions and grow from them. These Pat Summitt quotes put her thoughts on accountability into words.
6. Get Comfortable Being Uncomfortable
“There’s an old saying: a champion is someone who is willing to be uncomfortable.”
Summitt tells us that if you want to be the best, you have to be okay with stepping out of your comfort zone and facing challenges head-on.
7. Work Ethic from the Farm
“When you grow up on a dairy farm, cows don’t take a day off. So you work every day and my dad always said, ‘No one can outwork you.’”
This quote reflects the relentless work ethic Summitt learned from her upbringing. She learned from her dad that to be the best, you need to be accountable to yourself every single day.
8. Lessons in Every Moment
“Every moment is a teaching moment.”
Summitt believed that we can learn from every experience, good or bad. She explains that everything we do is an opportunity to improve, highlighting accountability.
9. Owning Your Mistakes
“If you don’t admit a mistake and take responsibility for it, you’re bound to make the mistake again.”
Here, Summitt underscores that when we mess up, it’s important to acknowledge it. That’s how we learn and avoid the same mistakes again.
10. The Weight of Leadership
“If you don’t want responsibility, don’t sit in the big chair.”
Summit is saying that leadership comes with major accountability, and we have to be ready to handle criticism and mistakes if we want to lead.
Pat Summitt Quotes On Winning
Considering Pat Summitt is one of the winningest basketball coaches of all time, you’ll probably be surprised to learn she had a unique attitude toward winning. Let’s explore some of the most memorable Pat Summitt quotes on what it truly means to win.
11. Think Like a Winner
“Make winning an attitude.”
Summitt emphasized that winning begins with your mindset. Thinking and feeling positive about your efforts can lead to success.
12. Definition of Success
“Success is all a matter of perspective. It depends on where you start from, and where you want to end up.”
This quote highlights that success is different for everyone. It’s about where you’re coming from and where you’re hoping to go.
13. Want to Win
“Winning is fun … sure. But winning is not the point. Wanting to win is the point. Not giving up is the point. Never letting up is the point. Never being satisfied with what you’ve done is the point.”
Summitt believed that wanting to win and never giving up is more important than just winning a game.
14. Can’t Win if You Quit
“Quit? Quit? We keep score in life because it matters. It counts. Too many people opt out and never discover their own abilities, because they fear failure. They don’t understand commitment. When you learn to keep fighting in the face of potential failure, it gives you a larger skill set to do what you want to do.”
Here, she encourages us not to give up because of fear of failing. Learning from failure makes us stronger and teaches us to commit to our goals.
15. Myth of Solo Success
“Individual success is a myth. No one succeeds all by herself.”
Here, Summitt debunks the idea that success can be achieved in isolation, affirming the role of support and collaboration.
Pat Summitt Quotes on Teamwork
With the understanding that teamwork is the foundation of success, Pat Summitt believed in the power of working together toward a common goal.
16. Learning to Work Together
“Teamwork doesn’t come naturally, it needs to be taught.”
Summitt highlights that teamwork is a skill that requires learning and practice, not just something people are born knowing how to do well.
17. The Power of Collaboration
“Teamwork is what makes common people capable of uncommon results.”
This Pat Summitt quote emphasizes that when people work together effectively, they can achieve far more than they could alone.
18. Family-Like Team
“To me, teamwork is a lot like being part of a family. It comes with obligations, entanglements, headaches, and quarrels. But the rewards are worth the cost.”
Summitt compares being a part of a team to family life, acknowledging the challenges but stressing the rewards of working with others.
19. Truth Matters
“The absolute heart of loyalty is to value those people who tell you the truth, not just the people who tell you what you want to hear. In fact, you should value them most. Because they have paid you the compliment of leveling with you and assuming you can handle it.”
Summitt tells us that we’re lucky if we have people around us who are honest, even if the truth hurts. It’s important to listen to people who tell you the truth because it helps you grow and succeed.
20. Discipline Unites
“Group discipline produces a unified effort toward a common goal.”
This quote underlines the importance of discipline within a team, highlighting how it unifies everyone in pursuit of a shared objective.
Pat Summitt Quotes On Hard Work
Pat Summitt never let her players take it easy. Her belief that hard work is the cornerstone of success in any field isn’t groundbreaking. What’s unique is that practiced what she preached. These Pat Summitt quotes offer a look at some of her guiding principles.
21. Discipline Equals Excellence
“Discipline helps you finish a job, and finishing is what separates excellent work from average work.”
Summitt teaches us that discipline isn’t just about starting well but seeing things through, which is what truly defines outstanding performance.
22. Push Yourself
“Change equals self-improvement. Push yourself to places you haven’t been before.”
This quote encourages us to seek growth and self-improvement actively by stepping out of our comfort zones.
23. Confidence Through Hard Work
“Confidence is what happens when you’ve done the hard work that entitles you to succeed.”
Summitt highlights that genuine confidence is earned through dedication and hard work, leading to deserved success.
24. The Power of Outworking
“Here’s how I’m going to beat you. I’m going to outwork you. That’s it. That’s all there is to it.”
This straightforward statement reflects Summitt’s belief in hard work as the ultimate strategy for overcoming any challenge or competitor.
25. Doing Things Right
“You’ll be finished when it’s done. And it’s not done till it’s done right.”
Summitt stresses the importance of not just completing a task but doing it to the best of one’s ability.
Pat Summitt Quotes About Life
Pat Summitt’s former players will often talk about the impact she had on their lives, beyond the basketball court. In these Pat Summitt quotes about life, we get to absorb some of her off-the-court wisdom, which emphasizes character, continuous learning, and the pursuit of personal growth.
26. Value of Class
“Class is more important than a game.”
Summitt reminds us that how we carry ourselves and treat others is more significant than any single achievement
27. Lifelong Learning
“It’s what you learn after you know it all that counts the most.”
This Pat Summit quote points out the importance of having a never-ending quest for learning, suggesting that true wisdom is recognizing there’s always more to learn.
28. Pursue New Peaks
“It’s harder to stay on top than it is to make the climb. Continue to seek new goals.”
Summitt highlights the importance of setting new goals to stay motivated and engaged.
29. Self-Awareness
“Know your strengths, weaknesses, and needs.”
This advice encourages us to have an understanding of ourselves, which is necessary for personal development and making informed life decisions.
30. Be a Competitor
“There is always someone better than you. Whatever it is that you do for a living, chances are, you will run into a situation in which you are not as talented as the person next to you. That’s when being a competitor can make a difference in your fortunes.”
Summitt speaks to the inevitability of meeting someone more skilled and how our competitive spirit can drive us to improve and succeed.
FAQs
What was Pat Summitt’s famous quote?
Pat Summitt’s most famous quote is: “Left foot, right foot, breathe, repeat.” This simple yet powerful message emphasizes perseverance, resilience, and the importance of taking things one step at a time.
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Related:
Pat Summitt photo in featured image: By aaronisnotcool. – https://www.flickr.com/photos/cavalierhorn/3108864732, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=5504914
