Jackie Robinson’s Quotes:
A life is not important except in the impact it has on other lives.
Jackie Robinson
There’s not an American in this country free until every one of us is free.
Jackie Robinson
Pop flies, in a sense, are just a diversion for a second baseman. Grounders are his stock trade.
Jackie Robinson
The most luxurious possession, the richest treasure anybody has, is his personal dignity.
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
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
The black press, some liberal sportswriters, and even a few politicians were banging away at those Jim Crow barriers in baseball. I never expected the walls to come tumbling down in my lifetime.
Jackie Robinson
When I look back at what I had to go through in black baseball, I can only marvel at the many black players who stuck it out for years in the Jim Crow leagues because they had nowhere else to go.
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
I speak to you only as an American who happens to be an American Negro and one who is proud of that heritage. We ask for nothing special. We ask only that we be permitted to compete on an even basis, and if we are not worthy, then the competition shall, per se, eliminate us.
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.
I cannot possibly believe that I have it made while so many black brothers and sisters are hungry, inadequately housed, insufficiently clothed, denied their dignity as they live in slums or barely exist on welfare.
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 think if we go back and check our record, the Negro has proven beyond a doubt that we have been more than patient in seeking our rights as American citizens.
Jackie Robinson
The right of every American to first-class citizenship is the most important issue of our time.
Jackie Robinson
Blacks have had to learn to protect themselves by being cynical but not cynical enough to slam the door on potential opportunities. We go through life walking a tightrope to prevent too much disillusionment.
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
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