Michael Jordan Quotes

No brain, no gain. Stay in school.

I am privileged to have played basketball.

If I thought of the number of people who were watching me as I got ready to shoot, I?d miss it.

Playing sick. That is so hard to do. It has to be a total mental challenge, as well as the physical challenge.

It's probably a twelve-day. He needs two days to wake up.

Since I've been in chiropractic, I've improved by leaps and bounds both mentally and physically.

It's always been said that when I can't find a way to do anything, I will find a way to do it.

If I had stood at the free-throw line and thought about 10 million people watching me on the other side of the camera lens, I couldn't have made anything. So I mentally tried to put myself in a familiar place. I thought about all those times I shot free throws in practice and went through the same motion, the same technique that I had used thousands of times. You forget about the outcome. You know you are doing the right things. So you relax and perform.

The basketball court for me, during a game, is the most peaceful place I can imagine. On the basketball court, I worry about nothing. When I'm out there, no one can bother me.

To be successful you have to be selfish, or else you never achieve. And once you get to your highest level, then you have to be unselfish. Stay reachable. Stay in touch. Don't isolate.

I viewed it as a business, but I always viewed it as a game. An opportunity to show my skills, my basketball skills, amongst the best in the world.

But my drive to win is so great ... I just step over that line. ... It's very embarrassing, ... one of the things you totally regret. So you look at yourself in the mirror and say, 'I was stupid.'

Patience. I will become what I know I am.

I went to a bookstore to try to find a book. The bottom line is, it all comes by trial and error. It was scary and exciting at first you don't know what to expect. But once you look into your child's eyes, you forget about that.

Authenticity is about being true to who you are, even when everyone around you wants you to be someone else

If you quit ONCE it becomes a habit.Never quit!!!

If you're trying to achieve, there will be roadblocks. I've had them; everybody has had them

We had to be to the stadium at six o'clock for home games, and traffic was so bad it would take us an hour and fifteen or an hour and thirty minutes to drive. So now I'm sitting in a car for almost an hour and a half and I'm very tense. I'm worried about the traffic. So I started smoking a cigar going to the games.

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

Earn your leadership every day.

Sometimes I wonder what it will be like to look back on all this. Whether it will seem real.

My fellow Wilmington, North Carolina native Meadowlark Lemon is a true national treasure. I watched him play for the Harlem Globetrotters when I was growing up and his skill with the basketball and dedication to the game were an inspiration not only to me, but to kids all around the world.

Being nervous isn't bad. It just means something important is happening.

Look me in the eye. It’s ok if you’re scared. So am I. But we are scared for different reasons. I am scared of what I won’t become. And you are scared of what I could become. Look at me. I won’t let myself end where I started. I won’t let myself finish where I began. I know what is within me, even if you can’t see it yet. Look me in the eyes. I have something more important than courage. I have patience. I will become what I know I am.

I never feared about my skills because I put in the work. Work ethic eliminates fear. So if you put forth the work, what are you fearing? You know what you're capable of doing and what you're not.

You have competition every day because you set such high standards for yourself that you have to go out every day and live up to that.

Once I get the ball, you're at my mercy. There is nothing you can say or do about it. I own the ball.

It doesn't matter who scores. If you have an opportunity to score, you score.

If you are confident you have done everything possible to prepare yourself, then there is nothing to fear.

When I play against someone that's new in the league, I make him respect me. They may have heard about me, but now you get to see me actually in front of you. That drives me.

If it turns out that my best wasn't good enough, at least I won't look back and say that I was afraid to try; failure makes me work even harder.

Isn't (life) all about trying?

Be optimistic about everything in life.

A leader can't make excuses. There has to be quality in everything you do. Off the court, on the court, in the classroom.

I've missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I've lost almost 300 games. 26 times, I've been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I've failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.

I think the players win the championship, and the organization has something to do with it, don't get me wrong. But don't try to put the organization above the players.

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

If you're trying to achieve, there will be roadblocks. I've had them; everybody has had them. But obstacles don't have to stop you. If you run into a wall, don't turn around and give up. Figure out how to climb it, go through it, or work around it.

I truly love the game; I wouldn't be playing if I didn't love the game. I'm not getting paid astronomical dollars; it's truly for the love of the game of basketball.

Other than my parents, no one had a bigger influence on my life than Coach Smith. He was more than a coach – he was my mentor, my teacher, my second father. Coach was always there for me whenever I needed him and I loved him for it. In teaching me the game of basketball, he taught me about life. My heart goes out to Linnea and their kids. We've lost a great man who had an incredible impact on his players, his staff and the entire UNC family.

Just play. Have fun. Enjoy the game.

Never say never, because limits, like fears, are often just an illusion.

My attitude is that if you push me towards something that you think is a weakness, then I will turn that perceived weakness into a strength.

A loss is not a failure until you make an excuse.

I don't do things half-heartedly. Because I know if I do, I can expect half-hearted results. Most people get it the honest way by setting their goals and committing themselves to achieving their goals. That's the only way I did it anyway. Talent wins games, but teamwork and intelligence wins championships.

The NBA is the strongest professional sports league in the world. The league and the game is bigger than any one person, Michael Jordan included, and they always will be. I hope that today players, especially our young players, continue to recognize that simple fact. Nothing is more important than the game itself and the fans who support it.

The best evaluation I can make of a player is to look in his eyes and see how scared they are.

Accept a loss as a learning experience, and never point fingers at your teammates