Quotes & Sayings About The Underdog

Every athlete at his peak is going to perform with a different mental cocktail. I thrive in the underdog, reserved, it's-not-over-till-it's-over mindset. — Kevin Jorgeson

I'm the underdog, but know what I'm capable of. — Mark Philippoussis

I have my loyalty to the team of my youth. Everyone I knew was a Red Sox fan. The team that I grew up with was constantly the underdog but managed to prevail. — Bill De Blasio

I feel like I'm more of the underdog, which is kind of nice. — Katie Hoff

I always wanted to be the underdog. For me, as a portrait photographer, it's the kiss of death to become well known. I did my best work when no one knew who I was. People weren't threatened by me because they didn't think I was a big deal. — Platon

Sometimes it takes a lowly, title-less man to humble the world. Kings, rulers, CEOs, judges, doctors, pastors, they are already expected to be greater and wiser. — Criss Jami

It came down to so many factors: an underdog who refused to surrender, a presumed victor who refused to fight, disgruntled Democrats - on the left and right - who, by deserting their party, merely strengthened it, and fearful Republican farmers, who in the end, proved more farmer than Republican. — David Pietrusza

The feeling of being an underdog, not belonging, is very much me. You harbour a little feeling of resentment towards the 'upper dog'. — Asa Larsson

The world knows about our Jesus. They know about His poverty and love of the underdog. They know He told His followers to care for the poor and to share. They've heard about His radical economic theories and revolutionary redistribution concepts. They might not understand the nuances of His divinity or the various shades of His theology, but they know He was a friend of the oppressed. — Jen Hatmaker

Ultimately, 'Cinderella' is the story of the underdog. You root for her in this fairytale; the girl who has nothing, deserves so much more, and gets it. — Lily James

I've always been very outspoken and a supporter of the underdog, because I'm one as well. I — Patricia Montandon

The classic epic fantasy is good versus evil, underdog against power. — Laura Anne Gilman

When I see something unjust, I have to intervene - it's hard for me to watch the underdog suffer. — Kristen Bell

He's fighting the world." And now, I watch as the underdog in the middle of the circle fights on and stands and falls and returns to his haunches and feet and fights on again. He fights on, no matter how hard he hits the ground. He gets up. Some people cheer him. Others laugh now and rubbish him.
Feeling comes out of me.
I watch.
My eyes swell, and burn.
"Can he win?"
I ask it, and now, I too cannot take my eyes off the boy in the circle. — Markus Zusak

I think people have always liked in me the combination of being the underdog because I'm a tiny woman but I have enormous authority in myself. — Linda Hunt

You about to play an opponent who is either bigger, stronger, faster or more experienced than you. Is there any hope at all? Absolutely, because one factor is in your favor: You are the Underdog! — Micah Miller

It's never an upset if the so-called underdog has all along considered itself the better team. — Woody Hayes

Anyway, Angua seemed to have taken this case personally. She always had a soft spot for the underdog.
So did Vimes. You had to. Not because they were pure or noble, because they weren't. You had to be on the side of underdogs because they weren't overdogs. — Terry Pratchett

Be careful how you treat those who you perceive to be below you. The universe has a way of favoring the underdog. — Curtis Tyrone Jones

We grew up learning to cheer on the underdog because we see ourselves in them. — Shane Koyczan

I want to show that the underdog can win. I believe we're all the same: you, a slum girl, my mother. — Vikas Swarup

People only rooted for the underdog in movies, not in middle school. — David Wright

You can ride your bike to anywhere in Portland if you want to. I think there was a charming underdog mentality when I first moved here in the late '80s that is definitely gone. People acted more like underdogs, dressed more like underdogs. — Janet Weiss

As a human being, I will always feel that where there is oppression, I am with the underdog. — Hany Abu-Assad

As a viewer, I'm personally less interested in the damaged, white, middle-class male figuring out his dreams and more interested in maybe an underdog figuring out how they're going to survive in a world that doesn't necessarily invite them in. — Mackenzie Davis

I have a personality defect where I sort of refuse to see myself as an underdog ... It's because of my parents. They raised me with the entitlement of a tall, blond, white man. — Mindy Kaling

I think that everything I do tends to root for the underdog. — Judd Apatow

There are two good reasons for being nice to the underdogs in this life. One, because if the underdog grows up to be the kind of person that starts shooting, you'll have a chance at survival. Two, because it's the right thing to do the third reason being that the wheel of fortune is always spinning, spinning. And just because you're at the top today doesn't mean it'll always be so. When you're at the bottom, you'll want someone to be there for you too. — Lauren Baratz-Logsted

Literature, fiction, poetry, whatever, makes justice in the world. That's why it almost always has to be on the side of the underdog. — Grace Paley

It was not that I disliked people; some of them were interesting and kind. But even the nice ones were no more compelling or important to me than other creatures. Then, as now, to me humans are but one species among billions of other equally vivid and thrilling lives. I was never drawn to other children simply because they were human. Humans seemed to me a rather bullying species, and I was on the side of the underdog. — Sy Montgomery

A man needs to look, not down, but up to standards set so much above his ordinary self as to make him feel that he is himself spiritually the underdog. — Irving Babbitt

That's why I wrote 'Fighter'. I have that need in me to help people. I am all about the underdog. — Christina Aguilera

The fact that fairy tales remain a literary underdog-undervalued and undermined-even as they shape so many popular stories, redoubles my certainty that it is time for contemporary fairy tales to be celebrated in a popular, literary collection. Fairy tales hold the secret to reading. — Kate Bernheimer

I'm very open to fresh talent, and I love the underdog, people who have been counted out, because they come in with a different type of hunger. I'm all for the underdog, so I'd like to talk to anybody who shows up with that sort of thirst. — Tyler Perry

I'd said to my sweetheart a couple of days before that the SAG and Spirit Award nomination was amazing and I had no attachment to the Academy Award. I knew I was an underdog so I just decided to sleep through the announcement. — John Hawkes

Sometimes you can't help but root for the underdog. Most underdogs are complete losers, though. — A.D. Aliwat

If the underdog were always right, one might quite easily try to defend him. The trouble is that very often he is but obscurely right, sometimes only partially right, and often quite wrong; but perhaps he is never so altogether wrong and pig-headed and utterly reprehensible as he is represented to be by those who add the possession of prejudices to the other almost insuperable difficulties of understanding him. — Jane Addams

It seems to be the heart of much of my work. I grew up seeing a lot of racism in the South, but I've seen it all over the world. Don't care for it at all. I was poor, so I'm used to the underdog position. — Joe R. Lansdale

I love underdogs, people who have achieved extraordinary things against the odds. — Phil Keoghan

I didn't plan on running for speaker, but I don't see anyone else stepping up. I know I'm the underdog. — Jason Chaffetz

When I was thinking about How Poetry Saved My Life entering the "big literary world" I more so viewed it as sub genre or an underdog book because there are still comparatively so few books about sex work, especially from authors who once worked street, like I have. Disclosing to working street-level sex work still feels risky to me. Apart from Runaway by Evelyn Lau (published in 1989) I have yet to read a first person memoir about street work. More of these stories must be out there - perhaps I just haven't found them yet. — Amber Dawn

KFC is not black owned, but it sure knows to market heavily to African Americans - obviously hoping we won-t care about what they do the underdog, or in this case, the underchicken - So, if KFC wants to take our money and use it to pay for sloppy practices that hurt animals?I say we send them a message that this is not going to happen. I-m calling on people to boycott KFC until they adopt animal welfare systems recommended by PETA and until they stop the worst abuses of the birds they raise for their restaurants. — Bill Vaughan

It's always fun to be the underdog and surprise people. It certainly puts less pressure on you. — Derek Drouin

The fact of being an underdog changes people in ways that we often fail to appreciate. It opens doors and creates opportunities and enlightens and permits things that might otherwise have seemed unthinkable. — Malcolm Gladwell

People tend to favor the underdog, like in the movies we favor the underdog, but when it comes to voting, we vote for the bully. It's so strange. — Jon Gnarr

Humility is awareness that you are an underdog in the struggle against your own weakness. — David Brooks

A streak of Puritanism runs deep within American society. Permissive and pioneering as we may be on the one hand, we are strict and conservative on the other. As much as we may be a country of mavericks and entrepreneurs, we are also a country of finger waggers and name-callers. As much as we may be a country of compassion for the underdog, we are also a country that believes in self-reliance. — Edward M. Hallowell

It is easier and far more satisfying to retreat and compose yourself after every score - and execute perfectly choreographed plays - than to swarm about, arms flailing, and contest every inch of the basketball court. Underdog strategies — Malcolm Gladwell

Seven years, Dawn. Working with the Slayer. Seeing my friends get more and more powerful ... a witch. A demon. Hell, I could fit Oz in my shaving kit, but come a full moon, he had a wolfy mojo not to be messed with. Powerful, all of them. And I'm the guy who fixes the windows.
They'll never know how tough it is, Dawnie, to be the one who isn't Chosen, to live so near the spotlight and never step in it. But I know. I see more than anybody realizes because nobody's watching me.
I saw you last night, and I see you working here today. You're not special; you're extraordinary. — Joss Whedon

You can't go on all the time being whatever's necessary. Youve got to have some conviction, and I'm convinced I don't want to be anyone's underdog. — Tsitsi Dangarembga

The Britisher is the top dog and the Indian the underdog in his own country. — Mahatma Gandhi

Any time you have defensive ends going above you in the draft, when you know you put up numbers that were equal to better, you just have to use that as motivation. Whenever you're the underdog, you have to have the right attitude and just go out there and be yourself; just play. — Justin Tuck

I couldn't quit, because of all the kids, and the blacks, and the little people pulling for me. I represent both the underdog and the overdog in our society. — Reggie Jackson

Comeback stories are popular because there is truth in them. It is a morality tale. The good guy has to win. The underdog has to defeat the big bad wolf. David beat Goliath did he not? The bad guy has to lose. That is how it works. — Kambiz Mostofizadeh

For me, when I think about Christ, I think about this iconoclastic man who lived and died for the broken. And the paramount underdog, which is basically turning the world on it's head. Blessed are the poor and blessed are the hungry, blessed are the broken, all these things that feel very backwards in our fame, power, beauty, riches hungry world. That's who Christ is to me. — Jon Foreman

I'm used to being the underdog. — Mario Williams

Life is never more fun than when you're the underdog competing against the giants. — Ross Perot

With but few exceptions, it is always the underdog who wins through sheer willpower. — Johnny Weissmuller

Glee is more then just a show now. It's become a wonderful culture celebrating the underdog and glorifying individuality. — Darren Criss

This isn't some kind of inspirational story. Some scrappy, ragtag underdog tale, some pugilistic match where we're the goodhearted gladiator who brings down the oppressive regime that put him in the arena. They get to have that narrative. We are the ones who enslaved whole worlds full of alien inhabitants. We are the ones who built something called a Death Star under the leadership of a decrepit old goblin who believed in the 'dark side' of some ancient, insane religion. — Chuck Wendig

Growing up in the South, it was very patriarchal. When I applied to Stanford, I was told by a [male] college counselor, "You're never gonna get in, don't bother. They don't want you." I said, "I'm going to try." And I got in! But I wouldn't be the woman I am if I hadn't had that conflict to overcome. It has given me an underdog feeling all my life. — Reese Witherspoon

There was of course no point in trying to monitor Eisman. He saw himself as a crusader, a champion of the underdog, an enemy of sinister authority. He saw himself, roughly speaking, as Spider-Man. — Michael Lewis

The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that in 1975, 31 percent of college teachers were female; by 2009, the number had grown to 49.2 percent.7 There are more women teaching in college than ever, and it is quite possible that their presence, coupled with our discovery of the postmodern narrative, has had a feminizing effect on the collective unconscious of faculty thought. Strong winds of compassion blow across campus quads. Women are more empathetic than men, more giving, simply more bothered by anyone's underdog status. Many of the female adjuncts I have spoken to seem blessed and cursed by feelings of maternity toward the students. Women think about their actions, and the consequences of their actions, in a deeper way than do men. — Professor X.

One that we can admire aesthetically and participate viscerally in. So the goal here, and we've had some early, small screenings, what seems to be kind of happening is that you come in thinking you're going to see a cool robot boxing movie, you don't expect this emotional underdog, father/son movie. And it's not one that's soft and overly sentimental, but hopefully it's one that's poignant. — Shawn Anthony Levy

And he always stood up for the underdog--never realizing that because of his size he was one himself. — Eric Blehm

Compassion without wisdom is dangerous. It's what enables people to support the 'underdog,' even if the underdog is evil — Dennis Prager

I have my own rules and adhere to them. The rule is simple but inflexible. A James Stewart picture must have two vital ingredients. It will be clean and it will involve the triumph of the underdog over the bully. — James Stewart

The way I see it, you can live your life as is, continuing to feel like an underdog, or you can step up. Be someone who matters, and make a change. — Kayla Krantz

I don't know if I'm partisan to the underdog or whether I'm the underdog. — Studs Terkel

I love being the underdog. It's one of the reason I like making horror movies, because a lot of people don't like them or are prejudiced against them. So it's one of the many reasons I like horror and it's also the reason I like low budget, because it automatically makes us the underdog. — Jason Blum

We trust the bully much better than we trust the underdog. Maybe it's in our nature, but it is so that all around the world there is this certain type that can succeed in politics and it's people who are - alpha types. — Jon Gnarr

I've grown up playing pop music for the experimental crowd and I always feel like I'm pushing something weird on people. I had this underdog feeling. It's crazy that all of a sudden I'm the overhyped band you read about on the blogs. — Girl Talk

Don't talk to me about aesthetics or tradition. Talk to me about what sells and what's good right now. And what the American people like is to think the underdog still has a chance. — George Steinbrenner

Why do we place such a disproportionate emphasis on sporting achievement? Why doesn't success in other fields receive similar attention ... Maybe it's because in a country that prides itself on being egalitarian, sport is intellectually and socio-economically an equal playing field. In fact, the more humble your background, the better, the underdog-turned champion is a narrative that resonates powerfully. We're far less interested in the stories of our best doctors, writers, lawyers, engineers, teachers or social workers. Their triumphs do not capture our collective imaginations. — Mia Freedman

Everybody loves the underdog, and then they take an underdog and make him a hero and they hate him. But as long as they can knock you back down, it seems like if you're an underdog again, and things do surface, and they think this is real, 'these guys' intentions are genuine and sincere,' it seems like they will embrace you again. — Fred Durst

But, it's much easier to do that than produce the movies from scratch. It excites the same thing in me, whether we build it from the ground up, or whether we come on when the movie is done or almost done. The idea of supporting the underdog and getting a smaller movie out there in a big way is equally exciting. — Jason Blum

I've always felt like the underdog, and I'm comfortable with that label. — Pink

If skating got into the Olympics, I would be tempted to hold off on shredding for a year and just skate, to make that my new goal. In that sport, I'm still the underdog. — Shaun White

I'm for the individual as opposed to the corporation. The way it is the individual is the underdog, and with all the things a corporation has going for them the individual comes out banged on her head. The artist is nothing. It's really tragic. — Marilyn Monroe

The ant finds kingdoms in a foot of ground. — Stephen Vincent Benet

Hate it or love it, the underdogs come out on top. — Curtis Jackson

Goodie Mob is my passion, the core of me, the fight, the struggle. I'm still as much of an underdog as I ever was, and my music is still as anti-establishment as it ever was. I want to satisfy that rebel side. It's not null and void. I'm a whole being, and I'm just coming back full circle. — CeeLo Green

Consciousness-one level is understanding where we are in space. Consciousness two is where we understand our position in society: who's top dog, who's underdog and who's in the middle. And type-three consciousness is simulating the future. And type-three consciousness, only humans have this ability to see far into the future. — Michio Kaku

The average American is for the underdog, but only on the condition that he has a chance to win. — Bill Vaughan

Neuroscientists rarely have to grapple with the issue of presentism versus existentialism. But in practice, neuroscientists are implicitly presentists. They view the past, present, and future as fundamentally distinct, as the brain makes decisions in the present, based on the memories of the past, to enhance our well being in the future. But despite its intuitive appeal, presentism is the underdog theory in physics and philosophy. — Dean Buonomano

I don't really need to appeal to some stockbroker, and I always sort of root for the underdog. I probably consider all that when I'm writing, but it's not in the forefront of my brain. — Eric Bachmann

It's harder to be funny if you're handsome than if you're very normal-looking. It's just more relatable. You're the underdog. I mean it's funny to see people struggle, and you don't buy that Brad Pitt is struggling, you know that guy could be the most skill-less guy in the world, but if you look like that you will be fine for the rest of your life. — Jonah Hill

We all love a good story. We all love a tantalizing mystery. We all love the underdog pressing onward against seemingly insurmountable odds. We all, in one form or another, are trying to make sense of the world around us. And all of these elements lie at the core of modern physics. The story is among the grandest
the unfolding of the entire universe; the mystery is among the toughest
finding out how the cosmos came to be; the odds are among the most daunting
bipeds, newly arrived by cosmic time scales trying to reveal the secrets of the ages; and the quest is among the deepest
the search for fundamental laws to explain all we see and beyond, from the tiniest particles to the most distant galaxies. — Brian Greene

I really liked 'Starter For Ten' because I grew up watching 1980s teen films like 'St. Elmo's Fire' and 'The Breakfast Club' and I've always wanted to play the underdog lead hero in a 1980s-inspired film. — James McAvoy

Victory is ten times sweeter for the underdog. — Jenny Han

I've always loved the underdog characters. — Jim O'Heir

You grow up skinny in Canada; in working-class Montreal, you're definitely the underdog. — Jay Baruchel

Sometimes I watch films that I can't believe got made. Especially because I read scripts that are truly incredible, that will never get made. I don't know who is behind those decisions. It's like you just have to doodle something on a page about the underdog who finally gets the girl and the film gets made. — Jennifer Lawrence

The lunatic fringe wags the underdog. — H.L. Mencken

I love being the underdog. — Matthias Schoenaerts

I was never supposed to play in college, let alone the NBA, so I always feel like I have something to prove. No one ever expected me to be here, so that feeling of being an underdog is ingrained in me. It's a natural part of my consciousness. — Steve Nash

He was an underdog and a misfit, and that gave him the freedom to try things no one else even dreamt of. — Malcolm Gladwell

Evsei Slonim would have seen himself as a member of the intelligentsia, a classless class whose features Nabokov described as""the spirit of self-sacrifice, intense participation in political causes or political thought, intense sympathy for the underdog of any nationality, fanatical integrity, tragic inability to sink to compromise, true spirit of international responsibility. — Stacy Schiff

But he had always believed in fighting for the underdog, against the top dog. He had learned it, not from The Home, or The School, or The Church, but from that fourth and other great moulder of social conscience, The Movies. From all those movies that had begun to come out when Roosevelt went in.
He had been a kid back then, a kid who had not been on the bum yet, but he was raised up on all those movies that they made then, the ones that were between '32 and '37 and had not yet degenerated into commercial imitations of themselves like the Dead End Kid perpetual series that we have now. He had grown up with them, those movies like the every first Dead End, like Winternet, like Grapes Of Wrath, like Dust Be My Destiny, and those other movies starring John Garfield and the Lane girls, and the on-the-bum and prison pictures starring James Cagney and George Raft and Henry Fonda. — James Jones

Victory is a thousand times sweeter when you're the underdog. — Jenny Han