A biography for Pelehasn’t been written yet.
“I sometimes lie awake at night and wonder why I am still so popular and, to be honest, I don't know.”
“I played for Santos at 16, and we had an excellent team, so it helped a lot. And then I played for Brazil at the Maracana against Argentina. So I get more experience. This was one year before the World Cup, and it made a lot of difference.”
“When I retired, at that time I had a lot of proposals to play in Europe, England, Italy, Spain, Mexico. But I said no, after 18 years I want to rest, because I want to retire.”
“The bicycle kick is not easy to do. I scored 1,283 goals, and only two or three were bicycle kicks.”
“I was really proud that I was named after Thomas Edison and wanted to be called Edson. I thought Pele sounded horrible. It was a rubbish name. Edson sounded so much more serious and important.”
“When you play against dirty players or very tough players, it's easy to escape because you know what they're going to do. But when the player is tough but intelligent, it's much more difficult.”
“At 17, I already had responsibility because I took care of my family, but in the football I was young; I wasn't experienced or the captain - I was just in the team.”
“Wherever you go, there are three icons that everyone knows: Jesus Christ, Pele and Coca-Cola.”
“Everything on earth is a game. A passing thing. We all end up dead. We all end up the same, don't we?”
“Success is no accident. It is hard work, perseverance, learning, studying, sacrifice and most of all, love of what you are doing or learning to do.”
“Enthusiasm is everything. It must be taut and vibrating like a guitar string.”
“Sport is something that is very inspirational for young people.”
“Lionel Messi is a wonderful player. Very skillful. Highly intelligent. He is not good in the air.”
“The level of football in England is the top. English football is the leader in the world.”
“I represent Brazil all over the world. Wherever I go I have to do my best, to not disappoint the Brazilian people. And that I've done.”
“To be a striker you need to be in good shape.”
“I have to trust something that gives me power; I have to believe in something, but in my career I have a lot of moments I cannot explain with God.”
“I don't think I'm a very good businessman. I act too much with my heart.”
“When I was minister of sport in Brazil, I tried to bring in a law that would make the chairmen of clubs reveal their accounts like other businesses. It was turned down, but I think it is an important story that will make a good film.”
“I've come to accept that the life of a frontrunner is a hard one, that he will suffer more injuries than most men and that many of these injuries will not be accidental.”