Per Mertesacker Quotes

I've been shut down, run down, talked about, dogged out, but that never stopped me from the being the true me that's here and will be here.

I've been through my fair share of highs and lows. Yes, I've been written off, and it amazes me, and it amuses me, also, when I'm written off by the press cause then I tell them that's just the lull before the storm. And every time I've been down, I've been down, never out. So it just makes me work a lot harder.

I've always been seen as the underdog in everything I've ever done in my life, and it doesn't bother me in the slightest. The lessons have just made me stronger.

My job, my whole life, I've always had that kind of doubter, people have always doubted me. And I don't know how I would succeed without it. So I welcome it, and it gives me a challenge, and I will see if I can live up to my challenge.

There's always going to be someone out there who doesn't like what you do, doesn't like your style, your face. That's part of life. But I feed off that. I don't think I'd be where I am today if it wasn't for that. It puts a little fire in the belly, keeps me going so I can prove so many people wrong.

When people push back on you and don't think you can do it, and you struggle a little bit and wonder if they're right, it drives you to be successful and to be a great player.

I know how to swim through backlash. I can tread water through backlash... If anything, that's all giving me power.

When I have criticism that I feel is unfair, the rejection does disturb me, but it also strengthens me. I used to get turned down for all sorts of jobs. I used to writhe in pain, but then I would say, 'Good. Good. I will get stronger for this.'

I had a lot of negative comments, but it made me stronger and made me want to do more in my game. It made me more determined if anything.

I've been written off. But I don't go about crying. Nothing is going to stop me. Not Chisora. We're marching on.

I proved to myself that I can overcome a lot of things that probably would have broken some people.

I won't let anything destroy me.

When people talk trash about me and doubt me, I just use it as motivation.

I got joked on. You had people saying I was stupid, that I was lame, that I was feminine, this and that. I was like, 'OK, but I'm still gonna be successful, and you're not.'

People have talked down to me, and that fuels my fire.

People have been calling me names and setting me back my whole life. And with every fight it's just given me more fuel to my fire and in doing so I've become a success.

I turned sadness into an anthem for not letting anything or anyone slow you down.

I tell myself, 'You're too fast, you're too strong, you're too quick. You can't be broken, you can't be beat. If you can't be broken, you can't be beat.' And I just beat it into my head.

One girl came up to me - I remember it so vividly - she said, "You're not fit to model socks." It crushed me. But at the same time, it made me unbelievably determined to prove everybody wrong and prove to myself that I could live an incredible life.

First principle: never to let one's self be beaten down by persons or by events.

I have faced rejection in this business because of my appearance, but that has only made me stronger and more determined.

I won't back down. I get a satisfaction from being tested and defeating the test.

It is inevitable that some defeat will enter even the most victorious life. The human spirit is never finished when it is defeated... it is finished when it surrenders.

Every fighter has a story that could break your heart. We lose, we get hurt and everything comes apart. That's when it's so difficult to stay on the straight and narrow.

When I hear people boo, that just makes me want to go out there and work harder.