Best Quotes from Coming Back Stronger by Drew Brees with Page Numbers

The road to success is usually a pretty bumpy one. And there are no shortcuts.

Instead of seeing it as a bad thing, I chose to see it as something that made me unique and special.

It set me apart from everyone else. In a way, it became my trademark.

It helped me develop an inner toughness and an ability to shake off jabs and criticism.

Some things weren’t easy to go through, but I wouldn’t trade any of it.

I wouldn’t want to sit the bench any more than you do. So if you don’t want to play, you don’t have to play.

You never know when that opportunity will present itself, but all it takes is one play.

I had to make a decision: Was I going to quit or come back stronger? I chose to come back.

I want to be a problem solver, not a problem creator.

The glass is always half full for me. Make the best of every situation.

But I’ve learned that adversity is actually an opportunity.

The difficulties life throws at you can be a doorway to something better—something you hadn’t even dreamed was possible.

It was this crisis that created a defining moment for the rest of my life.

I want to be one of God’s few good men.

I knew that no matter what happened, I wanted to do things the right way—to please God and live my life for him.

I finally understood that God had a plan for me. He was in control.

I learned to give it my best and then commit the rest to the Lord.

I realized I could focus on my mistakes and feel sorry for myself, or I could learn from those mistakes and use them as motivation to come back stronger.

Under pressure, would I fold and disappear, or would I show everyone that when bad things happen, you fight?

I had time to make up for that mistake. Instead of kicking myself or replaying the interception, I focused on the task at hand.

That which does not kill you makes you stronger.

I was going to marry this girl.

It was time to seek my redemption.

I needed to suck it up.

The truth was, even though I’d been drinking the night I first met her, I didn’t go out a lot.

I was sure I’d ruined any opportunity to get to know her.

I believed God made us different so we’d be more fully one.

We complete and complement each other.

Quitting or giving up on each other was never an option.

Without her, I wouldn’t be where I am today.

“I could get stuck in disappointment because I hadn’t gone in the first round like I’d envisioned, or I could be thankful I’d landed in the right place.”

“Sometimes it’s not how you get to your destination that’s most important. The key is ending up in the right place—on the right team, in the right situation, with the right opportunity.”

“You don’t learn much from winning, but losing can make you a lot stronger.”

“Some say experience is what you gain when you don’t get what you want. In that case, I was gaining a lot of experience on the bench.”

“When you think negative thoughts, negative things usually happen. On the flip side, when you think positively and visualize success, that’s usually what you get.”

“It takes a stronger person to see the opportunity.”

“I knew I needed to relax and just play, but I couldn’t loosen up.”

“I’m going to be a great player in this league someday.”

“Being on the sideline gives you an advantage you don’t have when you’re playing: you get to observe like a spectator.”

“This is what I was meant to do. If I was given another opportunity, I knew I’d be ready.”

I always wanted to be striving to be better, to push myself past my limits, to be willing to try new things.

You’re only as strong as your weakest link.

All the muscles in the rest of your body can’t make up for a weak core.

If you can picture what success looks like—if you can put yourself in the moment, prepare for it, and play that scenario over in your mind—then when you actually get there, what you visualized can happen.

There’s a big difference between sight and vision.

I made a choice: instead of being spurred on by those who doubted me, I’d be motivated by those who had faith in me.

Forget all the doubters. Forget all the critics.

When you feel like you have been beaten down so much, all you need is for someone to show that they believe in you.

Show them what you got.

I wasn’t going to show up as the same player. I was coming back stronger and better than ever.

I refused to let myself dwell on it, though. And I certainly wasn’t going to admit that possibility to anyone else.

My faith was being tested, but I stood firm, knowing even then that God had a plan.

This was the hope I held on to: I would put on my blue and gold again.

The real question is how committed you are to the rehab. If you’re even going to have a chance at coming back, that’s what will get you there.

Each morning when you wake up, think about winning the day.

Before I knew it, I would be on the field again.

I was just as determined to heal as I’d ever been to win a game.

God gets the ultimate credit for healing my body.

When I was at my lowest—when I didn’t know if I’d ever play football again—I discovered the people who were truly there for me.

I believed God wasn’t finished with me in the NFL yet, and I was going to return better than before.

Football is all about timing.

When you come out on the other side, you just may be amazed at the things God has allowed you to accomplish—things you might not have believed were possible.

If God leads you to it, he will lead you through it.

Everything happens for a reason, and everything is part of his master plan.

God sometimes puts us in the fire, and it’s going to hurt, but it will mold and shape us into the people he intends for us to be.

I had to trust and believe that there was a purpose for all this and take things one day at a time.

They wanted me to be part of their team. They thought I could come back and play as well as, if not better than, before. They believed in me.

Maybe it was because we could approach the city from a different angle than perhaps anybody else. Where some people might look at the city and see disaster, we saw opportunity.

Do they get that kind of tug from the Almighty?

What if God wanted us in New Orleans for such a time as this?

"If God calls you to it, he will give you the power to walk through it."

"I want to give back a little of what has been given to me and in some way pay it forward to those who otherwise might not have as many opportunities as I’ve been given."

"You can’t always determine your circumstances, but you can always determine your attitude."

"The painful things we go through have a way of teaching us things we can’t learn any other way."

"You must be able to relax and compete aggressively while approaching the game with great confidence."

"There are no shortcuts to healing. You can’t rush it."

"You have to embrace the pain in order for it to have the desired effect."

"Belief isn’t enough on its own. Once you know the truth, you have to act on it."

"Faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see."

"You don’t just say it; be it."

When you’ve been beaten down and beaten down some more, human nature tells you that it’s not worth it to try to get up again.

You have to fight that mentality with everything in you.

Adversity equals opportunity.

The only way to believe that is to lift yourself up from the ground.

Getting up is always the first step.

We had faced adversity, and we hadn’t let it get us down.

We really believed we could overcome any situation we found ourselves in.

There was palpable electricity in the air.

This was our home. With this game we were going to show everyone the passion and emotion that New Orleans possessed.

Ultimately, we were coming back stronger.

We needed to play the entire season for the people of New Orleans, who had lived through so much.

In some small way, it was our contribution of hope.

This game was about heart and desire.

If playing this game with all the fire and passion in our hearts can give something to this city...we are going to lay it all on the line.

These people had seen enough nightmares from Katrina. They deserved our best.

We wanted to help people focus on what was ahead rather than on what was behind us.

That kid was doing what kids do on a football field—he was having fun. He was pretending he was Joe Horn or Deuce McAllister.

What made it most real for me was seeing those faces close-up. People hanging on to life by a thread.

You want to make this night special? Then you go out and win this game for these people. They deserve it.

It was a good lesson for me about focusing on the challenge ahead instead of being paralyzed by my mistakes.

"The media started out saying you wouldn’t win three games all year. Now they’re going to be telling you how great you are, and they’ll want you to look ahead and speculate about how far we’ll go."

"Let’s not forget what it has taken to get to this point. Remember that we need to continue to improve each day. Don’t eat the cheese."

"Your emotions and intensity have to match your preparation."

"Always expect the unexpected. When it feels like you’re walking up the down escalator, you’d better be ready with a good solution."

"In order to be considered a great team, you have to be able to handle the success just like you do the defeats. Learn from them and get better because of them."

"Closed doors mean God will open something else. A window, maybe, or a back door. Sometimes you just have to look hard for that opening."

"When you get knocked down, it’s how you respond that defines you."

"We knew why we were playing. Not just for a win, but for the people of New Orleans."

"This victory belonged to them as much as it did to us."

"It takes great fans to create a home field advantage. They need passion, emotion, and faith . . . and our fans have plenty of that."

I believe adversity is a path to opportunity.

It’s when the rug gets pulled out from under you that you really find your calling in life.

Those defining moments don’t have to be tragedies.

Every day you can dedicate yourself to becoming the best you can be.

God used all those things to work together for good in my life.

Just about every important stage in my life has begun with a huge negative.

You have to prepare now to trust and have faith that it’s happening for a reason.

The low points have given me the chance to regroup and refocus on what’s most important.

I’ll take the less talented guy with the big heart every time.

When God is with you, you can accomplish anything and overcome any obstacles.

To whom much is given . . . much will be required.

If you have been blessed, it’s your responsibility to bless others with what you’ve been given.

God hasn’t given those gifts just for your own good but for the good of others as well.

We wanted to help other Aunt Judies in the world.

It’s not just about being a good athlete on the field; it’s also about being a giving person off the field.

I want kids to look at me and say, “When I grow up, I want to make that kind of impact on the world.”

When you provide kids with a healthy learning environment and constructive after-school activities like sports or clubs or the arts, you are keeping them out of trouble.

The thought that this city could come back stronger was once only a dream. Now we can see the light at the end of the tunnel.

These kids may be our fans, but they are our heroes.

I will always be thankful—to the people of this city and to the God who called me here.

My goal for each year is simple: to be better than I was the year before.

Despite the odds stacked against me, New Orleans believed in me.

You have to go through some pain and tearing down before you can get to work on the rebuilding process.

Building a championship team is not an overnight process.

When you get knocked down, you learn to get back up.

Sometimes you have to take a few steps backward in order to advance to your ultimate goal.

As a leader, I needed to get outside my comfort zone.

In order to accomplish something you’ve never accomplished before, you have to do something you’ve never done before.

It’s all the little things added together that lead to victory.

Experience is what you gain when you don’t get what you want.

One of the strange things about life is the way our deepest sorrows can coexist with our greatest joys.

Before he was even able to talk, he was such an inspiration to me and helped me put life in perspective.

If you don’t believe in God or if you have any kind of reservations about your faith, watch a baby being born.

You see, the adversity can either pull you together or pull you apart.

I never want my child to have to experience growing up in two separate households.

If you allow yourself to say, 'Well, if it gets bad enough, I’ll leave,' how are you going to know when you’ve reached that point?

It’s not about being the perfect husband or the perfect wife, because you’re going to fail.

What you can forgive, you sometimes shouldn’t forget. You have to remember if you’re going to learn from those mistakes.

For the first time I was starting to realize how much her constant, internal pain drove her to do some of the things she did.

Somehow God has brought good out of it anyway.

If you want to do something you’ve never done, you have to prepare by doing something you’ve never done.

Champions are forged from commitment, preparation, and discipline.

Finish strong became one of our themes for the year.

We promised to make the last repetition the best of the day.

It was not just a mantra but a way of life.

You can never rest on your previous performance and let down your guard for the next game.

Adversity tests you, success will as well.

Sometimes a loss allows you to recognize your weaknesses and make corrections.

The will to win means nothing without the will to prepare.

It’s time to block everything else out and focus on the here and now.

In football and in life, it’s amazing how many big results depend on the little things.

When we took care of the process, the end result would take care of itself.

It was time for our offense to answer the call.

We could come back. We simply needed to focus on each play, each series, one at a time.

Don’t look at the scoreboard until the end of the game.

I’ve learned over the years that you have to take time to enjoy the moment and the fruit of your labor.

There will always be a special bond between the men in our locker room because we’ll know we did this together.

This was about so much more than football. We knew it, and the fans knew it.

Dreams had become reality. We had won the Super Bowl, and we had done it for our city and our fans.

I am truly blessed.