Top 94 Quotes & Sayings by Pele

Explore popular quotes and sayings by a Brazilian athlete Pele.
Last updated on December 3, 2024.
Pele

Edson Arantes do Nascimento, known as Pelé, is a Brazilian former professional footballer who played as a forward. Regarded as one of the greatest players of all time, and labelled "the greatest" by FIFA, he was among the most successful and popular sports figures of the 20th century. In 1999 he was named Athlete of the Century by the International Olympic Committee and was included in the Time list of the 100 most important people of the 20th century. In 2000, Pelé was voted World Player of the Century by the International Federation of Football History & Statistics (IFFHS), and was one of the two joint winners of the FIFA Player of the Century. His 1,279 goals in 1,363 games, which includes friendlies, is recognised as a Guinness World Record.

I always had a philosophy which I got from my father. He used to say, 'Listen. God gave to you the gift to play football. This is your gift from God. If you take care of your health, if you are in good shape all the time, with your gift from God no one will stop you, but you must be prepared.'
You must respect people and work hard to be in shape. And I used to train very hard. When the others players went to the beach after training, I was there kicking the ball.
Brazil eats, sleeps and drinks football. It lives football! — © Pele
Brazil eats, sleeps and drinks football. It lives football!
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.
Brazil's always had great players, both at home and abroad, but we need to put all that talent together and mould a team out of it.
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.
All my life I thank God. My family was very religious.
Yes, I have a lot of business interests. But I don't work for just anyone, and I choose the companies very carefully.
I don't think I'm a very good businessman. I act too much with my heart.
I sometimes lie awake at night and wonder why I am still so popular and, to be honest, I don't know.
The bicycle kick is not easy to do. I scored 1,283 goals, and only two or three were bicycle kicks.
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.
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. — © Pele
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.
I played for Santos at 16, and we had an excellent team, so it helped a lot. And then I played for Brazil at the Maracana against Argentina. So I get more experience. This was one year before the World Cup, and it made a lot of difference.
Enthusiasm is everything. It must be taut and vibrating like a guitar string.
No doubt, I am earning more money with my endorsements than I ever earned playing soccer.
When you are young, you do a lot of stupid things.
When I retired, at that time I had a lot of proposals to play in Europe, England, Italy, Spain, Mexico. But I said no, after 18 years I want to rest, because I want to retire.
Pele doesn't die. Pele will never die. Pele is going to go on for ever.
At 17, I already had responsibility because I took care of my family, but in the football I was young; I wasn't experienced or the captain - I was just in the team.
I have to trust something that gives me power; I have to believe in something, but in my career I have a lot of moments I cannot explain with God.
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.
I always think that I would have become an actor if I hadn't been a soccer player.
Lionel Messi is a wonderful player. Very skillful. Highly intelligent. He is not good in the air.
Sport is something that is very inspirational for young people.
Everything on earth is a game. A passing thing. We all end up dead. We all end up the same, don't we?
If you don't give education to people, it is easy to manipulate them.
The bicycle kick is not easy to do.
In 1962, my injury wasn't because of violence; I just kicked the ball and it happened. And that was OK because Brazil won; I didn't have any difficulty in accepting that. I still got a medal because I'd played two games.
The level of football in England is the top. English football is the leader in the world.
Of course, my father was a soccer player. He used to play very good. Then, when I was young, eight or nine years old, ten years old, I just want to be like my father.
The first World Cup I remember was in the 1950 when I was 9 or 10 years old. My father was a soccer player, and there was a big party, and when Brazil lost to Uruguay, I saw my father crying.
A penalty is a cowardly way to score.
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.
Wherever you go, there are three icons that everyone knows: Jesus Christ, Pele and Coca-Cola.
The World Cup is a very complicated tournament - six games, seven if you make it to the final - and maybe if you lose one game you're out, even if you're the best.
A lot of people, when a guy scores a lot of goals, think, 'He's a great player', because a goal is very important, but 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.
To be a striker you need to be in good shape. — © Pele
To be a striker you need to be in good shape.
Everything is practice.
Success is no accident. It is hard work, perseverance, learning, studying, sacrifice and most of all, love of what you are doing or learning to do.
Edson is the person that supports Pele. Edson is the base. Pele just comes and adds the face.
When I was a footballer, I surrounded myself with footballers. We were all friends. But in Brasilia you don't know who your friends are. It can be a dangerous place.
If I pass away one day, I am happy because I tried to do my best. My sport allowed me to do so much because it's the biggest sport in the world.
When I was minister of sport in Brazil, I tried to bring in a law that would make the chairmen of clubs reveal their accounts like other businesses. It was turned down, but I think it is an important story that will make a good film.
I represent Brazil all over the world. Wherever I go I have to do my best, to not disappoint the Brazilian people. And that I've done.
The World Cup is a very important way to measure the good players, and the great ones. It is a test of a great player.
No individual can win a game by himself.
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. — © Pele
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.
The more difficult the victory, the greater the happiness in winning.
I was born to play football, just like Beethoven was born to write music and Michelangelo was born to paint.
The head talks to the heart and the heart talks to the feet.
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.
Success is no accident. It is hard work, perseverance, learning, studying, sacrifice and most of all, love of what you are doing or learning to do
There is always someone out there getting better than you by training harder than you.
It was with a homosexual, I was barely 14 years old. But let's be fair, I wasn't the only one who did it. He was a man in Bauru that all our team visited.
Most important is be a good man.
Success isn't determined by how many times you win, but by how you play the week after you lose.
Football is like a religion to me. I worship the ball, and I treat it like a god. Too many players think of a football as something to kick. They should be taught to caress it and to treat it like a precious gem.
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