Top 22 Jackie Robinson Quotes

Words matter. These are the best Jackie Robinson Quotes, and they’re great for sharing with your friends.

After two years at UCLA, I decided to leave. I was conv

After two years at UCLA, I decided to leave. I was convinced that no amount of education would help a black man get a job.
Jackie Robinson
There’s not an American in this country free until every one of us is free.
Jackie Robinson
It kills me to lose. If I’m a troublemaker, and I don’t think that my temper makes me one, then it’s because I can’t stand losing. That’s the way I am about winning, all I ever wanted to do was finish first.
Jackie Robinson
I felt unhappy and trapped. If I left baseball, where could I go, what could I do to earn enough money to help my mother and to marry Rachel? The solution to my problem was only days away in the hands of a tough, shrewd, courageous man called Branch Rickey, the president of the Brooklyn Dodgers.
Jackie Robinson
I cannot possibly believe that I have it made while so many black brothers and sisters are hungry, inadequately housed, insufficiently clothed, denied their dignity as they live in slums or barely exist on welfare.
Jackie Robinson
The right of every American to first-class citizenship is the most important issue of our time.
Jackie Robinson
I had practiced with the team, and the first scheduled game was with the University of Missouri. They made it quite clear to the Army that they would not play a team with a black player on it. Instead of telling me the truth, the Army gave me leave to go home.
Jackie Robinson
This ain’t fun. But you watch me, I’ll get it done.
Jackie Robinson
I had no future with the Dodgers, because I was too closely identified with Branch Rickey. After the club was taken over by Walter O’Malley, you couldn’t even mention Mr. Rickey’s name in front of him. I considered Mr. Rickey the greatest human being I had ever known.
Jackie Robinson
If I had been white with the things I did, they never would have allowed me to get out of baseball.
Jackie Robinson
The black press, some liberal sportswriters, and even a few politicians were banging away at those Jim Crow barriers in baseball. I never expected the walls to come tumbling down in my lifetime.
Jackie Robinson
Above anything else, I hate to lose.
Jackie Robinson
Blacks have had to learn to protect themselves by being cynical but not cynical enough to slam the door on potential opportunities. We go through life walking a tightrope to prevent too much disillusionment.
Jackie Robinson
When I am playing baseball, I give it all that I have on the ball field. When the ball game is over, I certainly don’t take it home. My little girl who is sitting out there wouldn’t know the difference between a third strike and a foul ball. We don’t talk about baseball at home.
Jackie Robinson
I cannot salute the flag; I know that I am a black man in a white world. In 1972, in 1947, at my birth in 1919, I know that I never had it made.
Jackie Robinson
Baseball is like a poker game. Nobody wants to quit when he’s losing; nobody wants you to quit when you’re ahead.
Jackie Robinson
I want everybody to understand that I am an American Negro first before I am a member of any political party.
Jackie Robinson
The most luxurious possession, the richest treasure anybody has, is his personal dignity.
Jackie Robinson
Life is not a spectator sport. If you’re going to spend your whole life in the grandstand just watching what goes on, in my opinion you’re wasting your life.
Jackie Robinson
The old Dodgers were something special, but of my teammates overall, there was nobody like Pee Wee Reese for me.
Jackie Robinson
I’m not concerned with your liking or disliking me… All I ask is that you respect me as a human being.
Jackie Robinson
My problem was my inability to spend much time at home. I thought my family was secure, so I went running around everyplace else. I guess I had more of an effect on other people’s kids than I did my own.
Jackie Robinson