adversarial mindset Quotes

When I face an opponent in the cage, it doesn't really matter who they are. Whether they're my buddy, like Scott Jorgensen, or someone I don't like, like Dominick Cruz, I'm going in there and realizing this guy is trying to hurt me, and that's what I'm going to do to him. I try to keep it real basic.

Nobody has anything to lose against me. And everybody would like to beat me.

I'm always thinking about the private battle, even in the field. I'm always trying to be better than the other person I'm against.

You wanted to compete against Michael Jordan, because they were the best. You wanted to beat them. Never once in my mind, I went, 'I would love to play with him.' I was always like, 'Man, we've got to beat them.'

People that I fight, they can tell you that I'm different and I'm hard to get to.

There is no such thing as 'social gambling.' Either you are there to cut the other bloke's heart out and eat it -- or you're a sucker. If you don't like this choice -- don't gamble.

In the ring I'm a different animal.

The win-win situation is the basis for America's entire business world. Instead of wasting our time attempting to defeat each other, let's find a way that will make both of us gain and go home satisfied. In Israel, it doesn't work because the only meaning of victory is seeing your rival's body lying trampled on the floor.

It is an undeniable privilege of every man to prove himself right in the thesis that the world is his enemy; for if he reiterates it frequently enough and makes it the background of his conduct he is bound eventually to be right.

The best thing I've ever heard another player say is, 'I hate playing against you.'

Play fair, be prepared for others to play dirty, and don't let them drag you into the mud.

[Football is] a game that requires the constant conjuring of animosity.

Chess is war over the board. The object is to crush the opponents mind.

I want to beat everyone I'm playing against.

Everyone who isn't us is an enemy." - Cersei

A fanatic is always the fellow that is on the opposite side.

When the ball is snapped I want to tackle the other guy, the other team is my enemy.

Smiley Bone: You can't feel safe unless there's something to be safe against! Phoney Bone: Exactly! People like to be victims! There's a certain unassailable moral superiority about it.

The first step on the way to victory is to recognize the enemy.

I can't say that I was my happiest on court, but I felt completely free. Free from family obligations, free from my own torment. In a real sense I was a different person. It was a place where I could not tolerate the idea of being beaten. I psyched myself up into a state where I felt something close to hatred towards my opponent, a state where I detested the idea of someone making his name at the expense of Jimmy Connors. I was in my element on court, measuring myself against someone else. I was not competitive for show. It came from deep within.

Resentment is at work when one so hates somebody for his more favorable circumstances that one is prepared to bear heavy losses if only the hated one might also come to harm. Many of those who attack capitalism know very well that their situation under any other economic system will be less favorable.

I don't ever go into a fight wanting to hurt someone. I just want to show them that I am better than them, and if they get hurt, it's part of the sport.

If it were up to me, I'd be fighting chumps.

I'm a firm believer that if the other side scores first, you have to score twice to win.

I live for the moment to hit people.