35 Inspirational Jim Valvano Quotes On Success

Jim Valvano was an American college basketball player, coach, and broadcaster. Valvano had an excellent coaching career with multiple schools. While the head coach at North Carolina State University, his team won the 1983 national title against improbable odds. After his career, Valvano gave an inspirational and memorable speech in 1993 at the ESPY Awards, while terminally ill with cancer, telling listeners to laugh, think, and cry each day, saying ‘Don’t give up. Don’t ever give up’. He gave the speech less than two months before his death. The ESPY Awards now include the Jimmy V Award named in his honor. May these Jim Valvano Quotes On Success inspire you to take action so that you may live your dreams.

1. “We should do three things every day of our life. Number one is laugh. You should laugh every day. Number two is to think, we should spend some time in thought. And, number three is you should have your emotions moved to tears.” Jim Valvano

2. “In every single day, in every walk of life, ordinary people do extraordinary things. Ordinary People accomplish extraordinary things.” Jim Valvano

3. “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.” Jim Valvano

4. “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

5. “Nothing has ever been accomplished in any walk of life without enthusiasm, without motivation, and without perseverance.” Jim Valvano

6. “My father gave me the greatest gift anyone could give another person, he believed in me.” Jim Valvano

7. “I talked about my family; my family’s so important.” Jim Valvano

8. “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

9. “How do you go from where you are to where you want to 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

10. “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.” Jim Valvano

11. “Know where you have been, where you are now and where you want to be.” Jim Valvano

12. “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

13. “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

14. “There are 86,400 seconds in a day. It’s up to you to decide what to do with them.” Jim Valvano

15. “Don’t give up. Don’t ever give up.” Jim Valvano

16. “The greatest gift you can give your children is to believe in them.” Jim Valvano

17. “A person really doesn’t become whole, until he becomes a part of something that’s bigger than himself.” Jim Valvano

18. “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

19. “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

20. “Conceive the inconceivable – then accomplish it.” Jim Valvano

21. “Be a dreamer. If you don’t know how to dream, you’re dead.” Jim Valvano

22. “And if you see me, smile and maybe give me a hug. That’s important to me too.” Jim Valvano

23. “Coaches are basically schizophrenic. We are pessimistic to the press and among fellow coaches, but to our team, we are the eternal optimists.” Jim Valvano

24. “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.” Jim Valvano

25. “I will thank God for the day and the moment I have.” Jim Valvano

26. “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

27. “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

28. “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

29. “Now, I look at where I am now and I know what I want 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

30. “To find the unlimited scope of human possibility, look within yourself.” Jim Valvano

31. “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

32. “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.” Jim Valvano

33. “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

34. “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.” Jim Valvano

35. “Never give up! Failure and rejection are only the first step to succeeding “ Jim Valvano

I hope you enjoyed these Jim Valvano Quotes On Success. Do let us know which one was your favorite in the comments section below.

Check Out Jim’s ESPY Speech:

Have A Great Day!