"I stopped living according to my core values. I knew what I was doing was wrong, but thought only about myself and thought I could get away with whatever I wanted to"
About this Quote
The second sentence sharpens the psychology. “I knew” kills the easy alibi of confusion; “but thought only about myself” admits motive without inviting debate over circumstance. Then comes the most revealing line: “I could get away with whatever I wanted to.” That’s not just selfishness, it’s entitlement produced by fame’s physics. Success becomes a private law, and consequences feel optional. Woods is confessing to a mindset as much as misconduct: the bubble that forms when the world rewards you faster than it corrects you.
Context matters because Woods wasn’t only an athlete; he was an era’s proof-of-concept for disciplined excellence, the hyper-optimized champion sold as squeaky-clean. The quote is calibrated to address that fracture. By blaming a lapse in “core values,” he gestures toward the narrative that made him marketable in the first place: control, focus, principle. The subtext is clear: the fall was real, but it was an aberration from the system. The intent is accountability, yes, but also a bid to restore trust by describing the problem as internal, containable, and therefore fixable.
Quote Details
| Topic | Honesty & Integrity |
|---|---|
| Source | Help us find the source |
| Cite |
Citation Formats
APA Style (7th ed.)
Woods, Tiger. (2026, February 18). I stopped living according to my core values. I knew what I was doing was wrong, but thought only about myself and thought I could get away with whatever I wanted to. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/i-stopped-living-according-to-my-core-values-i-83771/
Chicago Style
Woods, Tiger. "I stopped living according to my core values. I knew what I was doing was wrong, but thought only about myself and thought I could get away with whatever I wanted to." FixQuotes. February 18, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/i-stopped-living-according-to-my-core-values-i-83771/.
MLA Style (9th ed.)
"I stopped living according to my core values. I knew what I was doing was wrong, but thought only about myself and thought I could get away with whatever I wanted to." FixQuotes, 18 Feb. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/i-stopped-living-according-to-my-core-values-i-83771/. Accessed 18 Feb. 2026.









