“I’ve always been privileged to play for Coach Belichick, who I’ve always said is the best coach in the history of the league.”

A lot of people didn’t get to see Butler’s skills throughout the course of the season.

Every quarterback can throw a ball; every running back can run; every receiver is fast; but that mental toughness that you talk about translates into competitiveness.

I don’t care about three years ago – I don’t care about two years ago. I don’t care about last year. The only thing I care about is this week.

A lot of times I find that people who are blessed with the most talent don’t ever develop that attitude, and the ones who aren’t blessed in that way are the most competitive and have the biggest heart.

Too often in life, something happens and we blame other people for us not being happy or satisfied or fulfilled. So the point is, we all have choices, and we make the choice to accept people or situations or to not accept situations.

As athletes, we think we’re heroes, but when you witness firsthand what I saw yesterday, you realize who the real heroes are.

If you don’t play to win don’t play at all.

You can’t go out and practice average on Wednesday, average on Thursday, okay on Friday and then expect to play well on Sunday.

There’s a lot of people who don’t like Tom Brady and I’m OK with that.

I would never do anything outside of the rules of play.

On the field, you come into sync with your teammates and coaches and together you achieve something that you could never do on your own.

To me, if you’re trying to impress a girl, get a date, they’re gonna like that more because you’re a confident guy. That’s what it comes down to.

The true competitors, though, are the ones who always play to win.

To me, football is so much about mental toughness, it’s digging deep, it’s doing whatever you need to do to help a team win and that comes in a lot of shapes and forms.

We all have experiences in our lives that change us, and we all learn from people, like my dad, but at the end of the day, it’s only us. And we’re only responsible to make ourselves happy.

It’s never come easy for me. I don’t think my mind allows me to rest ever. I have, I think, a chip on my shoulder, and some deep scars that I don’t think were healed.

You’re the best there. You’ve been all-city two years in a row. How bad can you be? You come with me and we’ll make nice music.

I just learn from every legend that I’ve watched. I learned from the best.

Switching to the outfield was the best break I ever got.

As long as you gave it your best shot, even if in the opinion of others ‘you failed,’ you didn’t fail.

I want to be the best so I am ready to do anything.

I’ve come to realize that I perform best when I’m letting my subconscious mind hit the ball and my conscious mind is otherwise occupied.

If I’m fighting the best, then I can inspire a younger generation. I walk into the gyms and see girls boxing. They say I’m their inspiration. I love that.

The Velez fight wasn’t my best.