You have to expect things of yourself before you can do them.

If you pass the ball to Bill Cartwright, you'll never get the ball from me.

Being Michael Jordan means acting the same as I always have.

I hope the millions of people I've touched have the optimism and desire to share their goals and hard work and persevere with a positive attitude.

Maybe it’s my own fault. Maybe I led you to believe it was easy when it wasn’t. Maybe I made you think my highlights started at the free throw line, and not in the gym. Maybe I made you think that every shot I took was a game winner. That my game was built on flash, and not fire. Maybe it’s my fault that you didn’t see that failure gave me strength; that my pain was my motivation. Maybe I led you to believe that basketball was a God given gift, and not something I worked for every single day of my life. Maybe I destroyed the game. Or maybe you’re just making excuses.

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

There are no shortcuts. I approached practices the same way I approached games. You can't turn it on and off like a faucet. I couldn't dog it during practice and then, when I needed that extra push late in the game, expect it to be there. Very few people get anywhere by taking shortcuts.