Edson Arantes do Nascimento Zitate

“There is always someone out there getting better than you by training harder than you.”

“If you are first you are first. If you are second, you are nothing.”

“No individual can win a game by himself.”

“The head talks to the heart and the heart talks to the feet.”

“Success isn’t determined by how many times you win, but by how you play the week after you lose.”

“A great player is a player who can do everything on the field. He can do assists, encourage his colleagues, give them confidence to go forward. It is someone who, when a team does not do well, becomes one of the leaders.”

“Enthusiasm is everything. It must be taut and vibrating like a guitar string.”

“Great teams are not made up of many well-rounded players. Great teams are made up of a variety of players, each having their own strengths.”

“When I played, I would face up to a defender, I would beat him with my eyes, send him the wrong way; I would look one way and then go the other.”

“They would foul me because they couldn't stop me, or because I would confuse them with my movement. I would move my eyes, my legs or my body, but not always the ball.”

“He was a gentleman and an incredible footballer.”

“Every kid around the world who plays soccer wants to be Pelé. I have a great responsibility to show them not just how to be like a soccer player, but how to be like a man.”

“I was born for soccer, just as Beethoven was born for music.”

“I was really proud that I was named after Thomas Edison and wanted to be called Edson. I thought Pele sounded horrible. It was a rubbish name. Edson sounded so much more serious and important.”

“I used to tease the other kids because I played better than them. Then my father said, Come here. Don’t do this with the kids, because God gave you the gift to play football. You didn’t do anything.”

“The reason the sport has grown so big, I think, is that it’s not only for rich people. It’s not just for big people—size doesn’t exclude people. Everyone can participate. That’s why it’s become so popular worldwide. You don’t need to have any special quality in particular to play.”

“Football is the ultimate in team sport. And no individual can win a game by himself. Pelé is a famous name, but Pelé made his goals because another player passed to him at the proper time.”

“From my point of view, what’s beautiful in the sport is something you don’t need to know too much about tactics or anything to see. If you find something beautiful, you don’t need to be an expert to know it. It’s like ballet.”

“I’ve come to accept that the life of a frontrunner is a hard one, that he will suffer more injuries than most men and that many of these injuries will not be accidental.”

“I think the kids always they look forward to be always the big stars. Not only football, any profession. They want to be the best, singer, they want to be the best political, only the stars. But I think sometime the life give you opportunity, and long to be a big star, but you don’t need to be a big star, you need to be beautiful, excellent man. Human being. This is the first.”

“A team is not made up of isolated individuals. Always stay in the game. Don’t be passive. Football is a team game. No one plays alone. Success depends on your whole team being a single unit.”

“Football is the only sport where you put people together, it doesn’t matter if you are rich, or poor, or black, or white. It is one nation. This is the beauty of football.”

“I don’t believe there is such a thing as a ‘born’ soccer player. Perhaps you are born with certain skills and talents, but quite frankly it seems impossible to me that one is actually born to be an ace soccer player.”

“Over the years I’ve learnt to live with two persons in my heart. One is Edson, who has fun with his friends and family; the other is the football player Pele. I didn’t want the name. ‘Pele’ sounds like baby-talk in Portuguese.”

“When you play against dirty players or very tough players, it’s easy to escape because you know what they’re going to do. But when the player is tough but intelligent, it’s much more difficult.”

“Everybody knows my life. I won a lot of tournaments and scored more than 1,000 goals, won three World Cups but I could not play in Olympic Games.”

“A penalty is a cowardly way to score.”

“Sport is something that is very inspirational for young people.”

“I am constantly being asked about individuals. The only way to win is as a team. Football is not about one or two or three star players.”