When I was nine years old, living on the south side of Chicago, my father was a minister and my mother used to scrub floors. I had seven brothers and four sisters. I told my mama, 'One of these days I'm going to be big and strong and buy you a beautiful house.' That's all I've ever wanted to do with my life, is to take care of my mother.

You're going through college, and you're going to be faced with a lot of things. You're going to face adversity, the main thing is don't quit. For many people it's easy to quit, but don't. That's what separates the winners from the losers, what separates the all-stars from the also-rans.

I'm a tough guy, but I'm a good guy, I'm durable because when you play football they want you being tough, not just because you sprain your ankle crying "Mama, mama!"

I talk to people and show 'em how to solve their problems and stop sitting around and complaining. So I just give people little T-isms, so that when they hear my story they know where I'm coming from and that I'm real.

You might not have the things you want, but if you check carefully, you got all you need.

I'm tender when I need to be. I'm tough when I should to be.

I have the Midas touch, in the way that when I hook up with a project, I feel, not speaking cocky or conceited, but there's a confidence I have. I learned that from Muhammad Ali; I used to bodyguard him. He taught me about confidence. So when it comes to any job I work, I'm gonna do it good; I'm going to bring it over the top.