Sparring Quotes

• You'll never find a better sparring partner than adversity.

  Golda Meir

  Inspirational, Adversity, Sparring Partner

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• Turn your sparring into play - but always play seriously.

  Bruce Lee

  Play, Turns

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• The top fighters spar hard. They're really sparring for two reasons: One is to improve their technique, but the other, which is just as important, is to build endurance, toughness, and courage. They want to practice as realistically as possible so that when they go into a real fight, the transition isn't as jarring.

  Jonathan Gottschall

  Real, Fighting, Practice

  "A Talk With The Savage English Professor". Interview with Sam Harris, www.thedailybeast.com. March 5, 2015.

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• I see martial arts as moving forms of meditation. When you're sparring or drilling techniques, you can't think of anything else.

  Joe Rogan

  Art, Moving, Thinking

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• Mike Tyson would have been a good sparring partner for me and Muhammad Ali because Tyson was a fast fighter and he could punch and throw good combinations.

  Larry Holmes

  Sparring Partner, Fighter, Muhammad

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• I had to get up run in the morning for 2 hours, go to the gym and also get good opponents as sparring partners because I'm a big believer in that how you train is how you will fight at least when it came to me that's how it worked.

  Alexis Arguello

  Running, Morning, Fighting

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• The biggest difference between Kennedy and Nixon, as far as the press is concerned, is simply this: Jack Kennedy really liked newspaper people and he really enjoyed sparring with journalists.

  Ben Bradlee

  Differences, People, Newspapers

  "Watergate: 25 Years Later". Online discussion, www.washingtonpost.com. June 17, 1997.

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• Good cardio helps in any athletic practice, but in jujitsu, it has been very helpful late in a sparring session where a long roll starts to take its toll on your cardio.

  Andy Lally

  Practice, Long, Athletic

  Interview with Barbi Twins, www.marandapleasantmedia.com.

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• It is true that a fellow cannot ignore women - but he can think of them as he ought - as sisters, not as sparring partners.

  Jim Elliot

  Sister, Thinking, Sparring Partner

  "Shadow of the Almighty". Book by Elisabeth Elliot, Chapter 4, 1989.

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• I had the greatest sparring partners, I had the greatest sparring team. And these guys they wrapped me up a lot. I never got the chance to get off on them.

  Michael Spinks

  Team, Sparring Partner, Guy

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• The one thing I can't get enough of is boxing. I love sparring in the ring or just doing the training, and it's easily one of the most effective ways of keeping off fat.

  Matthew Hussey

  Boxing, Training, Way

  "Interview With Rising Star Matthew Hussey, Bestselling Author of Get The Guy and International Love Guru". Interview with Nicole Bryl, www.huffingtonpost.com. April 24, 2013.

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• I used to be so aggressive, but after a while I started learning. It's not that I know how to adapt, but I know all styles of fighting so I can change my style of fighting to whatever it needs to be. That just comes from years of training and a lot of sparring partners.

  Marlen Esparza

  Fighting, Sparring Partner, Years

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• When you know yourself that you've come through preparation injury free and you've done everything, you've done the work in the gym and the rounds of sparring, it fills you with confidence.

  Joe Calzaghe

  Motivation, Preparation, Done

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• One whose spirit and mental strength have been strengthened by sparring with a never-say-die attitude should find no challenge too great to handle. One who has undergone long years of physical pain and mental agony to learn one punch, one kick, should be able to face any task, no matter how difficult, and carry it through to the end. A person like this can truly be said to have learned karate.

  Gichin Funakoshi

  Pain, Attitude, Years

  Gichin Funakoshi (1994). “Karate-dō Nyūmon: The Master Introductory Text”, p.47, Kodansha International

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• If you look after yourself, keep yourself healthy and have good sparring, there shouldn't be any issues regarding ring rust.

  David Haye

  Issues, Healthy, Looks

  Source: www.gq-magazine.co.uk

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• I am always in the gym sparring. I look at every fight kind of like a sparring match.

  Chris Weidman

  Fighting, Looks, Kind

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• It was completely impossible to box with her. She had only one style, which we called Terminator Mode. She would try to nail her opponent, and it didn’t matter if it was just a warm-up of friendly sparring.

  Steig Larsson

  Style, Trying, Friendly

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• As the tide of feminism that crested two decades ago recedes and the old advance-and-retreat games of courtship return, "Pride & Prejudice" speaks wistfully to the moment. Elizabeth Bennet and Fitzwilliam Darcy are tantalizing early prototypes for a Katharine Hepburn-Spencer Tracy ideal of lovers as brainy, passionate sparring partners. That the world teems with fantasies of Mr. Darcy and his ilk there is no doubt. How many of his type are to be found outside the pages of a novel, however, is another matter.

  Stephen Holden

  Pride, Games, Two

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• The hallway led me to the stairway of a million steps. My leg screamed in protest. I sighed and started climbing. I just had to keep from limping. Limping showed weakness, and I didn’t need any enterprising, career-motivated shapeshifters trying to challenge me for dominance right about now. I had once mentioned my desire for an elevator, and His Majesty asked me if I would like a flock of doves to carry me up to my quarters so my feet wouldn’t have to touch the ground. We were sparring at the time and I kicked him in the kidney in retaliation.

  Ilona Andrews

  Climbing, Careers, Feet

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• In spite of all the sparring that went on between us, I sort of liked Morelli. Good judgment told me to stand clear of him, but then I've never been a slave to good judgment.

  Janet Evanovich

  Judgment, Slave, Spite

  Janet Evanovich (1999). “Two For The Dough: A Stephanie Plum Novel”, p.75, Simon and Schuster

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• When I analyse a position, I have a sparring partner who understands chess amazingly well. In a way I feel sorry for him, because of his work with me he cannot play as much chess as he wants. He more or less gave up his playing career.

  Boris Gelfand

  Sorry, Sparring Partner, Play

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• From their struggles to establish dominance over each other, siblings become tougher and more resilient. From their endless rough-housing with each other, they develop speed and agility. From their verbal sparring they learn the difference between being clever and being hurtful. From the normal irritations of living together, they learn how to assert themselves, defend themselves, compromise. And sometimes, from their envy of each other's special abilities they become inspired to work harder, persist and achieve.

  Adele Faber

  Clever, Sibling, Struggle

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• The standard is the same. Don't get me wrong, the main difference is the number of sparring partners. Greg Jackson and Mike Winkeljohn are the best coaches in the world in my opinion and in many other people's opinion but it really it comes down to the number of sparring partners. I go to my gym and I have 10 fighters fighting on the local level but when you go over there it's like 30 fighters all fighting in the UFC or other bigger shows. That's really the main thing; the numbers.

  Anthony Perosh

  Workout, Fighting, Ufc

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• I train twice a day and I make sure I eat right. I'm an avid tea drinker and I enjoy the benefits of drinking MateFit. It gives me energy, speeds up my metabolism and helps me shed excess water weight. I also do everything from MMA sparring to strength and conditioning. I make sure to do a combination of different things with my training.

  Miesha Tate

  Drinking, Mma, Avid

  Source: me.askmen.com

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• Consider the islands bearing the names of all the saints, bristling with forts like chestnut-burs, or Echinidæ, yet the police will not let a couple of Irishmen have a private sparring- match on one of them, as it is a government monopoly; all the great seaports are in a boxing attitude, and you must sail prudently between two tiers of stony knuckles before you come to feel the warmth of their breasts.

  Henry David Thoreau

  Couple, Attitude, Sea

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