Larry Bird
While day by day the overzealous student stores up facts for future use, he who has learned to trust nature finds need for ever fewer external directions. He will discard formula after formula, until he reaches the conclusion: Let nature take its course.Collection: Future
I really don't like talking about money. All I can say is that the Good Lord must have wanted me to have it.Collection: Money
Leadership is getting players to believe in you. If you tell a teammate you're ready to play as tough as you're able to, you'd better go out there and do it. Players will see right through a phony. And they can tell when you're not giving it all you've got.Collection: Leadership
I've got a theory that if you give 100% all of the time, somehow things will work out in the end.Collection: Work
The best players will play. That's the way it will always be.Collection: Best
Leadership is diving for a loose ball, getting the crowd involved, getting other players involved. It's being able to take it as well as dish it out. That's the only way you're going to get respect from the players.Collection: Respect
A winner is someone who recognizes his God-given talents, works his tail off to develop them into skills, and uses these skills to accomplish his goals.
Push yourself again and again. Don't give an inch until the final buzzer sounds.
As far as playing, I didn't care who guarded me - red, yellow, black. I just didn't want a white guy guarding me, because it's disrespect to my game.
It doesn't matter who scores the points, it's who can get the ball to the scorer.
I wasn't real quick, and I wasn't real strong. Some guys will just take off and it's like, whoa. So I beat them with my mind and my fundamentals.
I mean, the greatest athletes in the world are African-American.
When I was a kid, I never thought about anything. Never had to think about where I was going to school or what I was going to do. I just lived minute to minute.
I'm a loner.
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.
But it is a black man's game, and it will be forever.
I like being by myself.
When it gets down to it, basketball is basketball.
When I was a kid, like 14 or 15, I played with the waiters from the hotel, 'cause that was the best game. And these guys, they'd let me play. And they were black guys.
What's better? Dogs or broomsticks? I mean will the world really ever know?
It's been a journey, the NBA. It's taken me a lot farther than I ever expected.
The best player I ever played with was Dennis Johnson.
I've been around a while. I kinda know these things.
The one thing that always bothered me when I played in the NBA was I really got irritated when they put a white guy on me.
Once you are labeled 'the best' you want to stay up there, and you can't do it by loafing around.
I used to love the feeling of running, of running too far. It made my skin tingle.
If there was a payment to the bank due, and we needed shoes, she'd get the shoes, and then deal with them guys at the bank. I don't mean she wouldn't pay the bank, but the children always came first.
I get homesick.
Don't let winning make you soft. Don't let losing make you quit. Don't let your teammates down in any situation.Collection: Basketball
I learned what my weaknesses were and I went out the next day to turn those weaknesses intro strengths.Collection: Next Day
I hate to lose more than I like to win.Collection: Basketball
My coach told me, "Larry, no matter how much you work at it, there's always someone out there who's working just a little harder - if you take 150 practice shots, he's taking 200." And that drove me.Collection: Softball
You can make all the excuses you want, but if you're not mentally tough and you're not prepared to play every night, you're not going to win.Collection: Basketball
Practice habits were crucial to my development in basketball. I didn't play against the toughest competition in high school, but one reason I was able to do well in college was that I mastered the fundamentals. You've got to have them down before you can even think about playing.Collection: Basketball
I don't think that once you get to one level, you can relax. You've got to keep pushing.Collection: Motivational
There are many times when you are better off practicing than playing; but most people just don't understand thatCollection: Basketball
First master the fundamentals.Collection: Basketball
You're all playin' for second place.Collection: Second Place
Strength is not nearly as important as desire. I don't think you can teach anyone desire. I think it's a gift. I don't know why I have it, but I do.Collection: Thinking
You never make any of the shots you never take. 87% of the ones you do take, you'll miss too. I make 110% of my shots.Collection: Basketball
I'm a firm believer in that you play the way you practice.Collection: Basketball
Michael Jordan is God disguised as a basketball player.Collection: Basketball
I just shoot until I feel good.Collection: Feel Good
It makes me sick when I see a guy just stare at a loose ball and watch it go out of bounds.Collection: Sick
Before every game I used to go out and shot the same shots over and over and over. In the summer time I spent a lot of time just shooting. So really it just came natural. Whether it's a tie game or down by 1 or up by five, it was always the same shot. So I always felt comfortable with the ball in my hands because it was in there a million times before.Collection: Summer
My opinion about basketball, the way I was taught, was when you step on the court, you play to win.Collection: Basketball
My name's been on this check for a week now.Collection: Basketball
You know when I played, you had me and Kevin (McHale) and some others throughout the league. I think it's good for a fan base because as we all know the majority of the fans are white America. And if you just had a couple of white guys in there, you might get them a little excited.Collection: Basketball
Anytime you've got an opportunity to play for your country and win a gold medal, I think that takes it all. That's the greatest thing you could ever achieve in your sport. So, I have been very fortunate to play on great teams, but the gold medal was probably the best.Collection: Sports
My goal was just to try and be the best player on my high school team, and look where I am now. And that was still my goal as a young kid, just to try and be a little better than my brother was.Collection: Basketball