Basketball Player Quotes

Michael Jordan

Magic Johnson

Kobe Bryant

R. Kelly

LeBron James

Shaquille O'Neal

Yao Ming

I don't know if I practiced more than anybody, but I sure practiced enough. I still wonder if somebody - somewhere - was practicing more than me.

The key is not the will to win... everybody has that. It is the will to prepare to win that is important.

I'm still glad that we didn't shake their hands. They were whiners and criers. Piss on them.

Science will never be able to reduce the value of a sunset to arithmetic. Nor can it reduce friendship or statesmanship to a formula. Laughter and love, pain and loneliness, the challenge of accomplishment in living, and the depth of insight into beauty and truth; these will always surpass the scientific mastery of nature.

The basketball is a tool that the black [man] has now, same as maybe once he had a plow. He can use it to make something of himself and make a life for his children.

Any coach needs talent. You start with talent. Without talent, we're all in the soup.

Leadership is not about forcing your will on others. It's about mastering the art of letting go.

Of Kobe Bryant:

I've been quoted in the past and I will continue to be quoted; I think he's the best player in our league right now.

Admiting to using steroids:

It is with a great amount of shame that I stand before you and tell you that I have betrayed your trust. I want you to know that I have been dishonest and you have the right to be angry with me. I have let them [my family] down, I have let my country down and I have let myself down.

No matter how far life pushes you down, no matter how much you hurt, you can always bounce back.

God blessed me with a lot of heart and no height, and I'll take that any day,

If there's no fire, there's no scream. If there's no scream, then no one hears you and no one comes to help you in the first place. The depth of my struggle has definitely determined the height of my success. To be able to teach my kids not just about success but about the struggle that comes with it.

I think at some point during the course of the game, I will have an impact - whether it's blocking or whether it's catching the football.

I'm an unorthodox type of guy, a funny guy - at least I think I'm funny. And one of the things I like to do is come up with nicknames for myself.

Shaquille O'Neal

My mustache speaks to me... it says, 'Together, we will return the NBA to the glory of its mustache days. Pistol Pete, Kurt Rambis and Clyde Frazier.' And in the offseason, my mustache and I will drive around in a muscle car solving mysteries. Times will be good. My mustache is very wise.

It's the mind that makes everything else work.

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

Group discipline produces a unified effort toward a common goal.

You create shots for yourself by what you do without the ball more than what you do after you get it

When you struggle, that's when you realize what you're made of, and that's when you realize what the people around you can do. You learn who you'd want to take with you to a war, and who you'd only want to take to lunch.

Chamique Holdsclaw

You know, I've always told him (Larry Brown) I wanted the relationship that Michael Jackson... Michael Jordan, I'm sorry. … I wanted the same relationship with him like Phil Jackson and Michael Jordan had.

may the tide
that is entering even now
the lip of our understanding
carry you out
beyond the face of fear.

Wilt Chamberlain

There'll be bluebirds over
The white cliffs of Dover
Tomorrow
Just you wait and see.
There'll be love and laughter
And peace ever after
Tomorrow
When the world is free.

I liked challenging people and making them uncomfortable. That's what leads to introspection and that's what leads to improvement. You could say I dared people to be their best selves.

In a team sport like basketball, every time you help somebody else, you help yourself.

Some guys smoke. Some guys drink. Some guys chase women.
I'm a big barbecue-sauce guy.