Derek Jeter Quotes

There may be people who have more talent than you, but there’s no excuse for anyone to work harder than you do – and I believe that.

I love it when people doubt me. It makes me work harder to prove them wrong.

Surround yourself with good people. People who are going, to be honest with you and look out for your best interests.

Your image isn’t your character. The character is what you are as a person.

Obviously, you’re known for what you do. But you still want to be known as a good person. You’re a person a lot longer before and after you’re a professional athlete.

I’m not perfect; no one is perfect. Everyone makes mistakes. I think you try to learn from those mistakes.

The last thing you want to do is finish playing or doing anything and wish you would have worked harder.

If you’re going to play at all, you’re out to win. Baseball, board games, playing Jeopardy, I hate to lose.

When you put a lot of hard work into one goal and you achieve it, that’s a really good feeling. –

I have the greatest job in the world. Only one person can have it. You have shortstops on other teams – I’m not knocking other teams – but there’s only one shortstop on the Yankees.

For me, when I was a kid, volunteering was the last thing I was thinking about. When I see kids doing it now, it amazes me. It’s very impressive, it gives them something productive to do as opposed to getting in trouble. For them to take time out at such a young age is remarkable. I think all kids should take a little time out to volunteer.

You gotta have fun. Regardless of how you look at it, we’re playing a game. It’s a business, it’s our job, but I don’t think you can do well unless you’re having fun.

My heroes, my dreams, and my future lay in Yankee Stadium. And they can’t take that away from me.

We just want to win. That’s the bottom line. I think a lot of times people may become content with one championship or a little bit of success, but we don’t really reflect on what we’ve done in the past. We focus on the present.

My office is at Yankee stadium. Yes, dreams do come true.

So many people are insanely busy nowadays, and it’s easy to say, ‘Ah, I’ll work-out tomorrow.’ But you have to set aside a time and stick to that schedule.

You’re a person a lot longer before and after you’re a professional athlete. People always say to me, ‘Your image is this, your image is that.’ Your image isn’t your character. The character is what you are as a person. That’s what I worry about.

You’re playing a game, whether it’s Little League or Game 7 of the World Series. It’s impossible to do well unless you’re having a good time. People talk about pressure. Yeah, there’s pressure. But I just look at it as fun.

It’s never over. You don’t want to be in the position to be down four runs in the ninth inning, but it’s not over until the last out.

You don’t just accidentally show up in the World Series.

I like to hit the gym early in the morning. I feel better throughout the day when I get in a workout first thing in the morning.

My grandmother asks me to race down the street, I’m going to try to beat her. And I’ll probably enjoy it. Competitive to a fault, sometimes.

God, I hope I wear this jersey forever.

I try to sign for as many kids as possible. Kids come first, and I’ll always sign for a kid before an adult. It’s funny because I was never big into autographs as a kid. The only player who I ever wanted an autograph from was Dave Winfield.

When I was younger, I was always taught not to make excuses.

I looked up to my parents because they were very successful in what they wanted to do. I was lucky; I didn’t have to look far for role models.

My best vacation is somewhere I could hide, somewhere warm and not a lot of people around.

I can have fun anywhere, as long as I’m with good people. But in the offseason, I like to go somewhere warm, a nice spot in the Caribbean.

I think there’s something wrong with me – I like to win in everything I do, regardless of what it is. You want to race down the street, I want to beat you. If we’re playing checkers, I want to win. You beat me, it’s going to bother me. I just enjoy competition.

I always take criticism as a challenge. It’s the way I’ve always looked at it.