Skip to main content

Motivation Quote by Ian Botham

"The resilience of these people is amazing. I am a great believer that the sooner we get things up and running in terms of sport in this area, the better"

About this Quote

Botham’s compliment does two jobs at once: it praises a community’s toughness while quietly redirecting the story toward what he knows best, and what public life often craves after upheaval - a return to routine. “The resilience of these people is amazing” is admiration, but it’s also a framing device. Resilience can be an honest recognition of endurance; it can also be a polite way of saying, “They’ll cope,” which conveniently lowers the pressure on institutions to deliver more than sympathy.

Then comes the pivot: “the sooner we get things up and running... the better.” The phrasing is tellingly managerial - “up and running” sounds like infrastructure, not emotion. Sport becomes a kind of social utility: not mere entertainment, but proof of recovery, a public signal that the place is functional again. Botham is leaning into a familiar post-crisis logic: bring back the fixtures, the crowds, the rituals. Normality as therapy.

The subtext is a gentle insistence on action over mourning. For an athlete-turned-public figure, sport isn’t just a pastime; it’s a language of morale. Yet there’s an implicit gamble here: restarting sport can unify and energize, but it can also paper over unresolved damage if “resilience” becomes a substitute for resources.

In context - typically disaster-hit or economically battered areas where sport is one of the last strong civic identities - Botham’s line reads like a rallying call. It’s optimistic, practical, and slightly strategic: get the games back, and you get the story back.

Quote Details

TopicResilience
SourceHelp us find the source
Cite

Citation Formats

APA Style (7th ed.)
Botham, Ian. (2026, January 15). The resilience of these people is amazing. I am a great believer that the sooner we get things up and running in terms of sport in this area, the better. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/the-resilience-of-these-people-is-amazing-i-am-a-141004/

Chicago Style
Botham, Ian. "The resilience of these people is amazing. I am a great believer that the sooner we get things up and running in terms of sport in this area, the better." FixQuotes. January 15, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/the-resilience-of-these-people-is-amazing-i-am-a-141004/.

MLA Style (9th ed.)
"The resilience of these people is amazing. I am a great believer that the sooner we get things up and running in terms of sport in this area, the better." FixQuotes, 15 Jan. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/the-resilience-of-these-people-is-amazing-i-am-a-141004/. Accessed 12 Feb. 2026.

More Quotes by Ian Add to List
Ian Botham: Resilience and the Case for Restoring Sport
Click to enlarge Portrait | Landscape

About the Author

England Flag

Ian Botham (born November 24, 1955) is a Athlete from England.

19 more quotes available

View Profile

Similar Quotes

Francois de La Rochefoucauld, Writer
Francois de La Rochefoucauld