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Google Search “Jimmy V Quotes”

Jim Valvano is an inspiration. He also has an incredible sense of humor that can be seen on ESPN’s 30 for 30 Survive and Advance. He also gave one of the most inspirational speeches of all time at the ESPY Awards in 1993.

Below are some of our favorite quotes from Jimmy V. We have ranked them. Hopefully some these quotes will make you “laugh, think and cry.”

1. “Don’t give up. Don’t ever give up.”
2. “My father gave me the greatest gift anyone could give another person, he believed in me.”
3. “Never give up! Failure and rejection are only the first step to succeeding.”
4. “Be a dreamer. If you don’t know how to dream, you’re dead.”
5. “If you laugh, you think, and you cry, that’s a full day. That’s a heck of a day. You do that seven days a week, you’re going to have something special.”
6. “I asked a ref if he could give me a technical foul for thinking bad things about him. He said, of course not. I said, well, I think you stink. And he gave me a technical. You can’t trust em.”
7. “Cancer can take away all of my physical abilities. It cannot touch my mind, it cannot touch my heart, and it cannot touch my soul.”
8. “I made a ridiculous statement when I first went to North Carolina State. I said I know basketball down there was like life or death. It was very wrong. It’s more important.”
9. “There are 86,400 seconds in a day. It’s up to you to decide what to do with them.”
10. “I just got one last thing, I urge all of you, all of you, to enjoy your life, the precious moments you have. To spend each day with some laughter and some thought, to get your emotions going.”
11. “I will thank God for the day and the moment I have.”
12. “It’s so important to know where you are.”
13. “How do you go from where you are to where you wanna be? And I think you have to have an enthusiasm for life. You have to have a dream, a goal. And you have to be willing to work for it.”
14. “No matter what business you’re in, you can’t run in place or someone will pass you by. It doesn’t matter how many games you’ve won.”
15. “We have a very intelligent team. I’ve had clubs that when you tell a guy to go back door, he leaves the gym. Or you tell the team you’re going to have a closed practice and eight guys don’t show up.
16. “The difference between Namath and me is that when you make the money he makes, they say you’re ruggedly handsome. When you make the money I make, they say you have a big nose.”(on his alleged resemblance to Joe Namath)
17. “I’m going to fight my brains out to be back here again next year for the Arthur Ashe recipient. I want to give it next year!”
18. “Why shouldn’t I milk it? We’re an agricultural institution.” (after all his endorsement offers after North Carolina State won the NCAA Tournament)
19. “We win or the alumni bash in our teeth.” (explaining the dental plan at North Carolina State)
20. “Now, I look at where I am now and I know what I wanna to do. What I would like to be able to do is to spend whatever time I have left and to give, and maybe some hope to others.”
21. “People think I have courage. The courage in my family are my wife Pam, my three daughters, here, Nicole, Jamie, LeeAnn, my mom, who’s right here too.”
23. “We need your help. I need your help. We need money for research. It may not save my life. It may save my children’s life. It may save someone you love. And it’s very important.”
24. “But try if you can to support, whether it’s AIDS or thecancer foundation, so that someone else might survive, might prosper, and might actually be cured of this dreaded disease.”
25. “I can’t tell you what an honor it is, to even be mentioned in the same breath with Arthur Ashe. This is something I certainly will treasure forever.”
26. “I talked about my family, my family’s so important.”
27. “And if you see me, smile and maybe give me a hug. That’s important to me too.”
28. If you laugh, you think, and you cry, that’s a full day. That’s a heck of a day. You do that seven days a week, you’re going to have something special. Jim Valvano 
29. “All really successful coaches have a system.” Jim Valvano
30. Be a dreamer. If you don’t know how to dream, you’re dead. Jim Valvano 
31. And if you see me, smile and maybe give me a hug. That’s important to me too. Jim Valvano 
32. We need your help. I need your help. We need money for research. It may not save my life. It may save my children’s life. It may save someone you love. And it’s very important. Jim Valvano 
33. And I’m going to work as hard as I can… for cancer research and hopefully, maybe, we’ll have some cures and some breakthroughs. I’d like to think I’m going to fight my brains out to be back here again next year for the Arthur Ashe recipient. I want to give it next year! Jim Valvano 
34. How many people do you know who’ve had their dream come true? You’re looking at one. Jim Valvano
35. Now I’m fighting cancer, everybody knows that. People ask me all the time about how you go through your life and how’s your day, and nothing is changed for me. Jim Valvano 
36. My father gave me the greatest gift anyone could give another person, he believed in me. Jim Valvano 
37. How do you go from where you are to where you wanna be? And I think you have to have an enthusiasm for life. You have to have a dream, a goal. And you have to be willing to work for it. Jim Valvano 
38. I asked a ref if he could give me a technical foul for thinking bad things about him. He said, of course not. I said, well, I think you stink. And he gave me a technical. You can’t trust em. Jim Valvano 
39. People think I have courage. The courage in my family are my wife Pam, my three daughters, here, Nicole, Jamie, LeeAnn, my mom, who’s right here too. Jim Valvano 
40. I talked about my family, my family’s so important. Jim Valvano 
41. I was an absolute maniac, a terrible husband and father. Jim Valvano 
42. Don’t give up. Don’t ever give up. Jim Valvano
43. Cancer can take away all of my physical abilities. It cannot touch my mind, it cannot touch my heart, and it cannot touch my soul. Jim Valvano 
44. But try if you can to support, whether it’s AIDS or the cancer foundation, so that someone else might survive, might prosper, and might actually be cured of this dreaded disease. Jim Valvano 
45. I’ll also tell you that five hundred thousand people will die this year of cancer. And I’ll also tell you that one in every four will be afflicted with this disease, and yet, somehow, we seem to have put it in a little bit of the background. Jim Valvano 
46. “Nothing has ever been accomplished in any walk of life without enthusiasm, without motivation, and without perseverance.” 
47. “The greatest gift you can give your children is to believe in them.” 
48. “To find the unlimited scope of human possibility, look within yourself.”
49. “Life changes when you least expect it to. The future is uncertain. So, seize this day, seize this moment, and make the most of it.”
50. “A person really doesn’t become whole, until he becomes a part of something that’s bigger than himself.”
51. “Conceive the inconceivable – then accomplish it.”
52. “You need to have a dream, a goal, and you must be willing to work hard.”
53. “Nothing can happen if it’s not first a dream. If you have someone with a dream, if you have a motivated person with a goal and a vision, if you have someone that never gives up, who has great hope, Anything can happen.”
54. “Are you saying that the assistant had the answers all along, he just wasn’t telling anyone?” — Jim Valvano
55. “In every single day, in every walk of life, ordinary people do extraordinary things. Ordinary people accomplish extraordinary things.” 
56. “Know where you have been, where you are now and where you want to be.” 
57. “Never give up! Failure and rejection are only the first step to succeeding.”
58. “We have a very intelligent team. I’ve had clubs that when you tell a guy to go back door, he leaves the gym. Or you tell the team you’re going to have a closed practice and eight guys don’t show up.” — Jim Valvano
59. Now, I look at where I am now and I know what I wanna to do. What I would like to be able to do is to spend whatever time I have left and to give, and maybe some hope to others. Jim Valvano 
60. “Other people go to the office. I get to coach. I know I’ve been blessed.”
61. “Coaches are basically schizophrenic. We are pessimistic to the press and among fellow coaches, but to our team, we are the eternal optimists.”
62. I set out very calculatedly to become known. The only thing I maybe miscalculated was how easy it would be. Jim Valvano 
63. Time is very precious to me. I don’t know how much I have left and I have some things that I would like to say. Hopefully, at the end, I will have said something that will be important to other people too. Jim Valvano
64. I will thank God for the day and the moment I have. Jim Valvano 
65. No matter what business you’re in, you can’t run in place or someone will pass you by. It doesn’t matter how many games you’ve won. Jim Valvano 
66. “What enables us to achieve our greatness contains the seeds of our destruction.” Jim Valvano 
67. I just got one last thing, I urge all of you, all of you, to enjoy your life, the precious moments you have. To spend each day with some laughter and some thought, to get you’re emotions going.” Jim Valvano 
68. “I’m not happy to be here. I’m just happy to be!”