Charles Barkley Quotes

You got to believe in yourself. Hell, I believe I'm the best-looking guy in the world and I might be right.

It ain't like we're curing cancer or anything, we're watching basketball.

As long as anti-gay legislation exists in any state, I strongly believe big events such as the Final Four and Super Bowl should not be held in those states' cities.

My initial response was to sue her for defamation of character, but then I realized that I had no character.

Hakeem couldn't kick your ass cause you were too close, kissing his!

When you read the book you see that these guys aren't holding any punches. They're straightforward. They're honest. They're giving you their honest opinion.

I don't believe athletes should be role models. . . . We're a one-shot deal, one in a million, so we should be the least likely role models. . . . I think one of the problems in society today is that we don't stress education enough, because we glorify athletes, actors and actresses.

If ifs were gifts, every day would be Christmas.

I don't know what that gas is made of, but it can't smell any worse than Ernie Johnson 's gym bag.

I don't believe professional athletes should be role models. I believe parents should be role models.... It's not like it was when I was growing up. My mom and my grandmother told me how it was going to be. If I didn't like it, they said, Don't let the door hit you in the ass on your way out. Parents have to take better control.

You know it's going to hell when the best rapper out there is white and the best golfer is black.

I think the biggest problem is parents are so concerned with being friends with their kids. You're not their friend. You're their parent.

Well, all I can say is that people know I'm not saying anything out of malice.

America is divided by economics, and we as Americans, we've got to do a better job of supporting poor people.

One thing about being famous is the people around you, you pay all their bills so they very rarely disagree with you because they want you to pick up the check.

I'm just what America needs: another unemployed black man. (on his retirement from basketball)

I love New York City; I've got a gun.

I don't worry about playing basketball; that comes natural. I just want to have fun. David Robinson, Patrick Ewing, Michael Jordan: this is like spring break in the ghetto.

My family got all over me because they said Bush is only for the rich people. Then I reminded them, 'Hey, I'm rich'.

I'm serious. I've got to get people to realize that the government is full of it. Republicans and Democrats want to argue over stuff that's not important, like gay marriage or the war in Iraq or illegal immigration... When I run - if I run - we're going to talk about real issues like improving our schools, cleaning up our neighborhoods of drugs and crime and making Alabama a better place for all people.

I want to be a politician. I think I understand how the system works, I think a lot of politicians are corrupt, and it's about time we put some people in there who are going to look out for the majority of the people instead of the rich people.

You know what I always say about basketball whenever anybody tried to tell me the Knicks are gonna be good: They're old. Old people don't get healthy. They die.

If somebody hits you with an object you should beat the hell out of them.

The main thing to do is relax and let your talent do the work.

If you go out with a girl and they say she has a great personality, she's ugly. If they tell you a guy works hard, he can't play a lick. Same thing.

Poor people have been voting for Democrats for the last 50 years and they're still poor.

People say I eat a lot. I really don't. More or less I just eat all the time.

The word conservative means discriminatory practically. It's a form of political discrimination. What do the Republicans run on? Against gay marriage and for a war that makes no sense. A war that was based on faulty intelligence. That's all they ever talk about. That and immigration. Another discriminatory argument for political gain.

My message is simple: take control of your life

I'm not paid to be a role model, parents should be role models.

Yeah, I regret we weren't on a higher floor.

See, my hope and dream is that people have a good time watching basketball. It's not church. It's not serious.

When you get arrested it's in big letters. When you get acquitted it's in small letters.

Somebody hits me, I'm going to hit him back. Even if it does look like he hasn't eaten in a while.

Everybody in New York thinks the Knicks are Playboy bunnies, and I have been telling them for years the Knicks are a rabbit. They're closer to a Playboy bunny this year but for the last few years these guys are like, 'We have a really good team!' And I say, 'You really think that?' And I say, 'No, they don't.' But this is the best team they've had in a while.

You can't start a diet in the middle of the week, that's just stupid.

I'm not a role model... Just because I dunk a basketball doesn't mean I should raise your kids.

I know I'm never as good or bad as one single performance. I've never believed in my critics or my worshippers, and I've always been able to leave the game at the arena.

White folks are not going to come to see a bunch of guys with tattoos, with cornrows. I'm sorry, but anyone who thinks different, they're stupid.

Any time a little midget does something like this, you gotta give him a 10!.

I don't mess with that cat. I'm pretty sure he carries a blade under his jersey.

If you can't slam with the best, then jam with the rest.

Unfortunately, as I tell my white friends, we as black people, we're never going to be successful not because of you white people but because of other black people.

But when I see a story on welfare on television, they only show black people.

They don't let many black people in the governor's mansion in Alabama, unless they're cleaning.

If you are an ugly woman, you have no chance of getting a TV job.

Hey Steve, no offense, but if you couldn't shoot, there would be no reason for you to be alive.

I remember sitting down with the Rockets and saying, 'Yeah. I'm going to retire.' They said, 'Well, we'll give you $9 million.' And I said, 'You got a pen on you?'