My Life in Red and White Quotes

“Passing the ball is communicating with another person; it’s being in the service of another person. It’s crucial. For the pass to be a good one, the player has to put himself in the position of the person who’s going to receive it. It’s an act of intelligence and generosity, what I call technical empathy.”
― Arsène Wenger, My Life and Lessons in Red & White

“Of course, to be a good football player, technique does matter, and that’s something you acquire when you’re between seven and twelve, but it’s not enough on its own: Not being afraid, knowing how to take the initiative, being resilient, reliable, showing solidarity, being a bit crazy, having one hell of a passion—”
― Arsène Wenger, My Life and Lessons in Red & White

“What matters, I think, is that you retain your childlike soul and never lose sight of your dreams: What are they, what do you need technically to make them come true? Discard any negative ideas that might prevent you from getting there, and above all, commit completely.”
― Arsène Wenger, My Life and Lessons in Red & White

“I remember that nobody taught me to dance: You learned by asking a girl, by throwing yourself into it, by forgetting to be afraid. Like swimming. There was no swimming teacher like there is today, either: Somebody would throw you in the water and you just had to figure it out for yourself.”
― Arsène Wenger, My Life and Lessons in Red & White

“I look at all these changes and I think about them, and yet I always see football for what it is and what it should be: a match where anything can happen; the players; ninety minutes; fantastic moves; an element of luck, talent, courage, a touch of magic; and, for those who are watching these men play, the search for excitement, for a memory, for a lesson in life.”
― Arsène Wenger, My Life and Lessons in Red & White

“I think about a story told by a Serbian player I very much admired. He must have lived in a village that was like mine but even poorer, far from everything, lost in the Yugoslavian countryside. When he was small, his uncle had given him a fabulous, shiny-white new ball. In order not to spoil it, he and his brother decided never to let it bounce on the ground and play only with their heads. There was only one ball, and they had to make it last. During one match, a coach from Red Star Belgrade spotted him. He was recruited thanks to the skills he had developed playing with his head in this way. What sort of player would he have been if he’d had access to twenty balls? Not spoiling the ball he was given, playing all the time, developing his own qualities through perseverance and training: I liked everything about this story. The white ball was sacred to me, too, and it remains so to this day. That was the kind of football I came from.”
― Arsène Wenger, My Life and Lessons in Red & White

“Having no jerseys was invaluable because it forced us to look up and develop our peripheral vision, to acquire vision that was deeper. Having no coach, when young, was also invaluable for allowing us to develop a game based on taking initiative. Have we perhaps fallen into the opposite extreme today?”
― Arsène Wenger, My Life and Lessons in Red & White