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You are here: Home / Language / Where Did the Phrase “It’s Not Whether You Win or Lose, But How You Play the Game” Originate?

Where Did the Phrase “It’s Not Whether You Win or Lose, But How You Play the Game” Originate?

May 31, 2020 by Karen Hill

The noble expression about how you play the game is a Greek historian’s fifth-century B.C. reference to the Olympians.

He wrote, “Tis not for Money they contend, but for Glory”.

The phrase resurfaced in 1927 when the great sportswriter Grantland Rice wrote,

“For when the great scorer comes to write against your name, He marks not that you won or lost but how you played the game.”

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Filed Under: Language

About Karen Hill

Karen Hill is a freelance writer, editor, and columnist. Born in New York, her work has appeared in the Examiner, Yahoo News, Buzzfeed, among others.

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