I have always tried to be true to myself, to pick those battles I felt were important. My ultimate responsibility is to myself. I could never be anything else.

You really are never playing an opponent. You are playing yourself.

Wherever I am when you feel sick at heart and weary of life, or when you stumble and fall and don’t know if you can get up again, think of me. I will be watching and smiling and cheering you on.

When we were together, I loved you deeply and you gave me so much happiness I can never repay you.

One important key to success is self-confidence. An important key to self-confidence is preparation.

...I spent many, many hours in...libraries. Libraries became courts of last resort, as it were.

Seven out of 10 black faces you see on television are athletes. The black athlete carries the image of the black community. He carries the cross, in a way, until blacks make inroads in other dimensions.