Gordie Howe Quotes

You’ve got to love what you’re doing. If you love it, you can overcome any handicap, or the soreness, or all the aches and pains and continue to play for a long, long time.

The kid looks good in his first game.

The first time I met Wayne Gretzky… he never said anything back.

I always tell kids, you have two eyes and one mouth. Keep two open and one closed. You never learn anything if you’re the one talking.

You’ve got to love what you’re doing. If you love it, you can overcome any handicap or the soreness or all the aches and pains, and continue to play for a long, long time.

I like to think that I’m a family man first and a professional athlete second.

My philosophy is never start talking about ‘if,’ ‘and,’ ‘but’ or the past, because 90 percent of what follows will be negative.

I wish I had more opportunities to play for Canada when I was younger, but pros just never had the chance in those days. It was just set up that way.

I’m aware that not everyone approved of how I played, but I don’t think any apologies are in order. Early in my career, I decided that it was worth it to do whatever was necessary to earn the extra split second it takes to make a pass or shoot the puck.

I might have some quibbles with the way the game is played today, but at its core, I know that hockey will always be hockey no matter what year the calendar reads.

There’s always something in the game you wish you would have done different. That’s why players improve, because they learn from what they did before. They might have been guessing before, but now they know.

I would say it is important to have a good education, as hockey is a career that does not last many years, and you need to be prepared for this.

If you make it anywhere in life, you owe that success to the people along the way who stuck up for you, or made sacrifices for you, and gave you a push when you needed it. In my case, those people were my family.

To me, hockey was always tremendous fun. That’s what kept me going for so long. I simply love to play hockey.

All hockey players are bilingual. They know English and profanity.

If I learned one thing by playing professional hockey for thirty-two years, it’s that you have to love what you do. And that’s not just true for sports.

If Colleen Howe had been a hockey player, she would have been a centremen. I can see her as a centreman because you can do what you want and go wherever you want to go.

That was Dad. Don’t take any dirt from anybody.

I still believe it is important that children have a chance to play other sports because they all offer learning experiences. Soccer is a growing sport and would be a good complement to hockey.

It’s been said that, while growing up, I ate meals with my skates on. It’s true.

You can always get someone to do your thinking for you.

Growing up, I probably raised a bit more hell than I should have.