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Motivation Quote by Guy Lafleur

"Play every game as if it is your last one"

About this Quote

"Play every game as if it is your last one" lands because it treats effort as a moral choice, not a mood. Coming from Guy Lafleur, it isn’t motivational poster foam; it’s a distillation of how elite sport actually feels when the clock is real, the body is breakable, and a career can turn on one awkward collision. The line borrows the urgency of mortality and smuggles it into routine. The subtext is blunt: you don’t get to bargain with time. You only get to decide how honestly you show up to it.

Lafleur’s context matters. He wasn’t just any NHL star; he was the face of a Montreal Canadiens dynasty in the 1970s, performing under a microscope of expectation where artistry and results were both demanded. In that environment, “last game” isn’t melodrama. It’s a useful mental trick for surviving the grind: collapsing the season into a single night so you can’t hide behind tomorrow’s chances, or let the schedule dull the stakes.

There’s also a quiet rebuke embedded here to coasting, to playing safe for stats, contracts, or reputation. “Last one” implies risk: finishing checks, taking the shot, skating like you mean it. It’s a philosophy of presence that doubles as legacy management. If the end could arrive anytime, you want your default setting to be full-speed, not careful. In Lafleur’s world, that’s how highlights happen, but it’s also how respect is earned.

Quote Details

TopicSports
SourceHelp us find the source
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Citation Formats

APA Style (7th ed.)
Lafleur, Guy. (2026, January 17). Play every game as if it is your last one. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/play-every-game-as-if-it-is-your-last-one-62655/

Chicago Style
Lafleur, Guy. "Play every game as if it is your last one." FixQuotes. January 17, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/play-every-game-as-if-it-is-your-last-one-62655/.

MLA Style (9th ed.)
"Play every game as if it is your last one." FixQuotes, 17 Jan. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/play-every-game-as-if-it-is-your-last-one-62655/. Accessed 5 Feb. 2026.

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Play Every Game as If It Is Your Last - Guy Lafleur
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About the Author

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Guy Lafleur (September 20, 1951 - April 22, 2022) was a Athlete from Canada.

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