“If somebody says no to you, or if you get cut, Michael Jordan was cut his first year, but he came back and he was the best ever. That is what you have to have.”

On the best tactic when playing alongside Kareem Abdul-Jabbar- Just give him the ball.

You either have to be great or you have to be bad to get a good pick.

Just celebrate the life you had, not the life you could’ve had.

The looks, the stares, the giggles . . . I wanted to show everybody that I could do better and also that I could read.

Standing on that platform, I said a silent prayer. I thanked God for giving me the strength and the opportunity to come back, to play basketball again, and to be part of that whole magnificent Olympic experience. It’s a memory I will always cherish.

I am a businessman. This is what I do each and every day. I love it. I love coming to work. I never have a bad day.

A woman always remembers. Remember that.

For me, it always goes back to something I learned in basketball.

And we knew that all of the other leagues were at home and millions of people were watching. So it made it a special day to play on Christmas.

When I’m under the gun and I’ve got pressure on me, I don’t panic. I look for the right solution, and then I go for it.

Larry, you only told me one lie. You said there will be another Larry Bird. Larry, there will never, ever be another Larry Bird.

Magic is who I am on the basketball court. Earvin is who I am.

I strive on pressure.

I want to be here for a long time, so I am going to do everything I have to do to be here. And I want to walk my daughter down the aisle and give her away to somebody some day.

If you come to me and say, ‘Hey look I’m a racist,’ or ‘I discriminate against blacks,’ or ‘I don’t like you because you’re African American.

I guess when people ask what is the biggest transition to the NBA from college, it is definitely defense and the mental part.

If you’d done a good job you’d just step back and let all these different chemistries interact and let it go.

If you use a cell phone – as I do – your wireless carrier likely has records about your physical movements going back months, if not years.

California, here I come, right back where I started from.

Any time a running back reaches the age of 31 or 32, he has to lose a step.

I go back with this woman down a murky hallway, and then without missing a beat – these ladies are all business – she goes.

I let ballplayers yell back at me because I wasn’t trying to prove I’m boss. I know I’m boss.

I called him over and told him about it. He told me that in the back there’s a tank they keep the lobsters in and while they’re in there, they fight and sometimes one loses a claw. I told him ‘then bring me a winner.’

On dope and crack I passed away deader than a door knob But now I’m back