Jack Roosevelt Robinson (January 31, 1919 – October 24, 1972) was an American professional baseball player who became the first African American to play in Major League Baseball (MLB) in the modern era. Robinson broke the baseball color line when he started at first base for the Brooklyn Dodgers on April 15, 1947. When the Dodgers signed Robinson, they heralded the end of racial segregation in professional baseball that had relegated black players to the Negro leagues since the 1880s. Robinson was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1962. These Jackie Robinson quotes will motivate you in life.
Best Jackie Robinson Quotes
- “A life is not important except in the impact it has on other lives.” – Jackie Robinson
- “Baseball is like a poker game. Nobody wants to quit when he’s losing; nobody wants you to quit when you’re ahead.” – Jackie Robinson
- “It kills me to lose. If I’m a troublemaker, and I don’t think that my temper makes me one, then it’s because I can’t stand losing. That’s the way I am about winning, all I ever wanted to do was finish first.” – Jackie Robinson
- “Above anything else, I hate to lose.” – Jackie Robinson
- “Life is not a spectator sport. If you’re going to spend your whole life in the grandstand just watching what goes on, in my opinion, you’re wasting your life.” – Jackie Robinson
- “I’m not concerned with your liking or disliking me… All I ask is that you respect me as a human being.” – Jackie Robinson
- “The most luxurious possession, the richest treasure anybody has, is his personal dignity.” – Jackie Robinson
- “In my opinion, baseball is as big a business as anything there is. It has to be a business, the way it is conducted.” – Jackie Robinson
- “No matter how much or how little I knew technically, I was able to get the best out of people I worked with.” – Jackie Robinson
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“How you played in yesterday’s game is all that counts.” – Jackie Robinson
- “The way I figured it, I was even with baseball and baseball with me. The game had done much for me, and I had done much for it.” – Jackie Robinson
- “Plenty of times I wanted to haul off when somebody insulted me for the color of my skin, but I had to hold to myself. I knew I was kind of an experiment. The whole thing was bigger than me.” – Jackie Robinson
- “A life is not important except in the impact it has on other lives.” – Jackie Robinson
- “Today, Negroes play on every big league club and in every minor league. With millions of other Negroes in other walks of life, we are willing to stand up and be counted for what we believe in. In baseball or out, we are no longer willing to wait until Judgment Day for equality – we want it here on earth as well as in Heaven.” – Jackie Robinson
- “I don’t like needing anyone for anything.” – Jackie Robinson
- “Many people resented my impatience and honesty, but I never cared about acceptance as much as I cared about respect.” – Jackie Robinson
- “I felt unhappy and trapped. If I left baseball, where could I go, what could I do to earn enough money to help my mother and to marry Rachel? The solution to my problem was only days away in the hands of a tough, shrewd, courageous man called Branch Rickey, the president of the Brooklyn Dodgers.” – Jackie Robinson
- “This ain’t fun. But you watch me, I’ll get it done.” – Jackie Robinson
- “My problem was my inability to spend much time at home. I thought my family was secure, so I went running around everyplace else. I guess I had more of an effect on other people’s kids than I did my own.” – Jackie Robinson
