Famous Quotes & Sayings

Michael Jordan

The game of basketball has been everything to me. My place of refuge, place I've always gone where I needed comfort and peace. It's been the site of intense pain and the most intense feelings of joy and satisfaction. It's a relationship that has evolved over time, given me the greatest respect and love for the game.

Michael Jordan

People ask me if I could fly, I said, 'yeah....' for a little while.

Michael Jordan

You can practice shooting eight hours a day, but if your technique is wrong, then all you become is very good at shooting the wrong way. Get the fundamentals down and the level of everything you do will rise.

Michael Jordan

If nobody will help you do it alone!

Michael Jordan

Each time I step on the basketball court, I never know what will happen. I live for the moment. I play for the moment.

Michael Jordan

If you think and achieve as a team, the individual accolades will take care of themselves. Talent wins games, but teamwork and intelligence win championships.

Michael Jordan

Get the fundamentals down and the level of everything you do will rise

Michael Jordan

I would tell players to relax and never think about what's at stake. Just think about the basketball game. If you start to think about who is going to win the championship, you've lost your focus.

Michael Jordan

It's heavy duty to try to do everything and please everybody . . . My job was to go out there and play the game of basketball as best I can, ... People may not agree with that . . . I can't live with what everyone's impression of what I should or what I shouldn't do.

Michael Jordan

There are plenty of teams in every sport that have great players and never win titles. Most of the time, those players aren't willing to sacrifice for the greater good of the team. The funny thing is, in the end, their unwillingness to sacrifice only makes individual goals more difficult to achieve. One thing I believe to the fullest is that if you think and achieve as a team, the individual accolades will take care of themselves. Talent wins games, but teamwork and intelligence win championships.

Michael Jordan

If you accept the expectations of others, especially negative ones, then you never will change the outcome.

Michael Jordan

So, the next time you're out working on your game and they pass you the rock, don't just take it to the hole. Take it to the next level. Don't just bend rims. Bend expectations. Let them see you and feel you and by the very virtue of your love, the truth in your game, they will hear you. Let your game speak.

Michael Jordan

Sometimes you need to get hit in the head to realize that you're in a fight.

Michael Jordan

My heroes are and were my parents. I can't see having anyone else as my heroes.

Michael Jordan

Just play. Have fun. Enjoy the game.

Michael Jordan

If you run into a wall, don't turn around and give up. Figure out how to climb it.

Michael Jordan

It doesn't matter if you fall down, it's whether you get back up.

Michael Jordan

I know fear is an obstacle for some people, but it is an illusion to me . . . Failure always made me try harder next time.

Mia Hamm

I played basketball and soccer my freshman year in high school.

Michael Wilbon

We [Americans] are a football-baseball-basketball-golf culture with some ocassional forays into tennis and less often the winter sports ...

Michael Wilbon

Football can stand parity better than any of the other sports, I think. Baseball, basketball and hockey need a defining team, in essence to frame the season. Football? Not so much.

Michael Sandel

If parents are aiming at choosing children who will be good athletes, or great musicians, or who will get into Ivy League schools, or who will be tall enough to make the basketball team, then there is a danger that the life of the child will bear the burden of that expectation; and the risk of disappointment and the cost of disappointment will be even higher than they are now, and even now they can be considerable.

Michael Redd

It is all about confidence: 90% mental and 10% physical, that is what basketball is. I live by that and it seems to be working.

Michael Korda

If your position is everywhere, your momentum is zero.

Marla Maples

I was homecoming queen. I was star of my basketball team.

Merlin Olsen

It took me a while to realize that basketball wasn't football.

Merlin Olsen

Nobody cared about swimming. You could draw a crowd for basketball.

Merlin Olsen

The basketball coach cut me within two days, so I was back in the pool. I was the first one in the wall after the first 25 yards, but the last one out because I didn't have a flip turn.

Merlin Olsen

We need to know where we are going and how we plan to get there. Our dreams and aspirations must be translated into real and tangible goals with priorities and time frames.

Michael Franti

I went to the University of San Francisco on an athletic scholarship. I didn't study in high school. I was just there to get by and to play basketball. But a funny thing happened to me when I got to college. I got challenged by the work and the professors.

Michael Chang

In the tennis world, there weren't a whole lot of Asians playing. You see it a little bit more now. The same can really be said for basketball.

Michael Josephson

A good coach improves your game. A great coach improves your life.

Michael Jordan

I think school is very important and I personally had a great experience at North Carolina, which helped shape me as a basketball player and a person. Every once in a while, you will have a player who can make the jump and have an immediate impact on the professional level, but most of the players who come out would absolutely benefit from going to college.