40 Inspiring Competition Quotes

In a world where the drive to succeed often pits us against one another, competition becomes an integral part of our journey. Whether you're an athlete training for the next big game, an entrepreneur striving to set new market standards, or simply someone aiming to better yourself, the words of wisdom from those who have thrived in competitive environments can be incredibly motivating. To inspire and fuel your ambition, we've curated a collection of the top 40 competition quotes that speak to the very essence of overcoming challenges and achieving greatness. Dive in and let these powerful quotes ignite your competitive spirit!

1. “Never compete with someone who has nothing to lose.” - Baltasar Gracian

2. “Anyone who imagines they can work alone winds up surrounded by nothing but rivals, without companions. The fact is, no one ascends alone.” - Lance Armstrong

3. “Take someone who doesn't keep score,who's not looking to be richer, or afraid of losing,who has not the slightest interest evenin his own personality: he's free.” - Rumi Jalalu'l-Din

4. “Has she glanced you way yet?"Twice," Nick said on a note of satisfaction.Meaning?"Nick glanced at him. "She's not completely disinterested."I see Moreland. That makes it an even half dozen hanging out for a rich wife. Four looking for their second. Rossman, the old satyr, certainly isn't likely to be much competition. What in the hell does he think he's doing anyway? He must be sixty."Basking, I should think. She hasn't given him the cold shoulder yet," Nick responded coolly.” - Jaide Fox

5. “Anytime you find someone more successful than you are, especially when you're both engaged in the same business - you know they're doing something that you aren't.” - Malcolm X

6. “Real learning comes about when the competitive spirit has ceased.” - J. Krishnamurti

7. “Homo economicus was surreptitiously taken as the emblem and analogue for all living beings. A mechanistic anthropomorphism has gained currency. Bacteria are imagined to mimic "economic" behavior and to engage in internecine competition for the scarce oxygen available in their environment. A cosmic struggle among ever more complex forms of life has become the anthropic foundational myth of the scientific age.” - Ivan Illich

8. “Law is made by the winner to preserve victory over the loser.” - Toba Beta [Betelgeuse Incident]

9. “if you gone come in second, you're just the first loser!” - Tiger Woods

10. “There's a lot of good things about England, but I don't want to tell you too many of them.” - Michael Clarke

11. “Competition is a rude yet effective motivation.” - Toba Beta

12. “It’s not just tougher out there. It’s become a situation where the contest is how much you can destroy the system, rather than how much you can make it work. It makes no difference if you have a ‘D’ or an ‘R’ after your name. There’s no sense that this is about democracy, and after the election you have to work together, and knit the country together. The people in the game now just think to the first Tuesday in November, and not a day beyond it.” - Peter Hart

13. “When healthy competition prevails -- you come out to play and you play to win.” - Lorii Myers

14. “Untuk apa mengadu kesaktian jika tujuannya hanya untuk menunjukkan yang lebih unggul? Bukankah Sang Maha Pencipta tetap yang paling unggul di atas segala-galanya?” - Bakdi Soemanto

15. “ If two people share one, their destinies become intertwined. They'll remain a part of each other's lives no matter what.” - Tetsuya Nomura

16. “Everything is a contest. All dealings among men are a contest in which some will succeed and others fail. And some are failing quite spectacularly.” - Brandon Sanderson

17. “Nobody's going to win all the time. On the highway of life you can't always be in the fast lane.” - Haruki Murakami

18. “Since I became a novelist I have discovered that I am biased. Either I think a new novel is worse than mine and I don’t like it, or I suspect it is better than my novels and I don’t like it.” - Umberto Eco

19. “If we can keep our competitors focused on us while we stay focused on the customer, ultimately we'll turn out all right.” - Jeff Bezos

20. “Competition has been shown to be usefulup to a certain point and no further,but cooperation, which is the thingwe must strive for today,begins where competition leaves off.” - Franklin D. Roosevelt

21. “If you want to find the real competition, just look in the mirror. After awhile you'll see your rivals scrambling for second place.” - Criss Jami

22. “There has been among us, particularly in America, an adolescent competitiveness—a feeling that life is a race in which the victory of one must mean the defeat of the other. No one can measure how much personal unhappiness and inner cowardice have come from this immaturity of our social outlook, this childlike comparison, this absurd rivalry in every area of life. As our democracy becomes more mature, men have a chance of growing up and of realizing that every person is needed and has some contribution to make.” - Joshua Loth Liebman

23. “Strategy is about out-thinking your competition. Mark Zuckerberg, while at Harvard, built a website called Facemash ‘for fun’. Even today, Facebook believe that ‘done is better than perfect’.” - Max Mckeown

24. “[Lizzie Bennington to a reporter who has asked for her opinion about Jack Archer's celebrated thighs.] “When you come back from a set down and bring the match to a final set tiebreak and are a point away from winning the match, only to have what looks like an extremely fit player call a time out because of a cramp and then watch that player sit back and casually converse and laugh while you do your best to keep your mental focus and your body moving so you don’t grow cold and cramp yourself, I hardly think you’d concern yourself with his burgeoning manhood, let alone his thighs!” - A.G. Starling

25. “Oftentimes winning can become an addiction, whether good or bad, to the point where you would rather lose it all before you lose at all.” - Criss Jami

26. “Competition was as much as respecting your opponent's work as introspecting on your own.” - Faraaz Kazi

27. “Hmm…” Jason snapped his fingers. “I can call a friend for a ride.”Percy raised his eyebrows. “Oh, yeah? Me too. Let's see whose friend gets here first.” - Rick Riordan

28. “A deceitful man will go as far as to trample all over a woman’s reputation and spirit, in order to prove to his ex-love that he was faithful. The irony, is he is still in love with his ex and the new woman in his life doesn’t even realize it.” - Shannon L. Alder

29. “Certainly sand was not suitable for life. Yet, was a stationary condition absolutely indispensable for existence? Didn't unpleasant competition arise precisely because one tried to cling to a fixed position? If one were to give up a fixed position and abandon oneself to the movement of the sands, competition would soon stop. Actually, in the deserts flowers bloomed and insects and other animals lived their lives. These creatures were able to escape competition through their great ability to adjust--for example, the man's beetle family. While he mused on the effect of the flowing sands, he was seized from time to time by hallucinations in which he himself began to move with the flow.” - Kobo Abe

30. “Resorting to lying or cheating in any competition amounts to conceding defeat.” - George Hammond

31. “I don't understand women that call themselves a "bitch". It doesn't empower a woman. Rather, it reveals to everyone that you were deeply hurt at one time. Because of the pain your still carrying, you will continue to hurt anyone that reminds you of those moments when you let your guard down and were fooled. Sadly, it sends a clear message to the observant that you are still hurt. If only women would realize that "we all" have moments of stupidity then they would stop comparing themselves to the masses.” - Shannon L. Alder

32. “Conception is not some genteel, quiet pastime; it’s a fierce and unforgiving team sport.” - Barbara Natterson-Horowitz

33. “Companies aren’t families. They’re battlefields in a civil war.” - Charles Duhigg

34. “Don’t let mental blocks control you. Set yourself free. Confront your fear and turn the mental blocks into building blocks.” - Dr Roopleen

35. “One of the most powerful lessons in life is to recognize that no one can give you power, and many people don’t want you to have it. You have to find the courage to seize it, own it and hold on!” - Shannon L. Alder

36. “...it is well known that to praise someone whose rivalry you do not dread is often a very good way of putting a spoke in the wheel of someone whose rivalry you do.” - Somerset Maugham

37. “A coward talks to everyone but YOU.” - Shannon L. Alder

38. “COMPETITOR is one who can steal a few deals, but, the pinch of which, A VISIONARY Never feels...!” - Sujit Lalwani

39. “He had a simple maxim for all competitive or adversarial situations: work out what the other party least wants you to do, and then do it. Relieving your feelings was fun, but the best course of action was to make things as difficult as possible for the person trying to make things difficult for you.” - John Lanchester

40. “Competitiveness always rests on the assumption of a life-and-death struggle.” - Hugh Nibley