“I don’t discuss basketball. I dictate basketball. I’m not interested in philosophy classes.”

The only mystery in life is why the kamikaze pilots wore helmets.

I believe in a business boarding up early. If you make a mistake, you put the boards in the window of the store and say, “Hey, I made a mistake.

All love affairs end. Eventually the girl is gonna put curlers in her hair.

There’s no one who’s dropped on top of the mountain. You’ve got to work your way to the top.

When a guy takes off his coat, he’s not going to fight. When a guy takes off his wristwatch, watch out!

So they should make a great effort, a Mount Everest type effort, to live up to their potential. Success is a communal type thing.

I want my team to have my personality: surly, obnoxious, and arrogant.

I just can’t recruit where there’s grass around.

They call me eccentric. They used to call me nuts. I haven’t changed.

I’m not saying that they were Einsteins; they were marginal students. But every ballplayer whoever touched me has moved up his station in life. And the players moved up my station.

Dean Meminger was quicker than 11:15 Mass at a seaside resort.

It’s a profession in which, the longer you stay, the closer you are to being fired.

Butch, you come from DeWitt Clinton. There are five thousand brothers in that school.

A box score does not properly represent the most important thing – team play. It shows some guy scoring 27 points, but it doesn’t show that my 27-point man let his guy score 30.

A team should be an extension of a coach’s personality. My teams are arrogant and obnoxious.

Most people zero in on their failures. I try to keep all my attention on a pyramid type philosophy rather than the averaging-down philosophy.

Writing is just work-there’s no secret. If you dictate or use a pen or type or write with your toes-it’s still just work.

The important thing is fear should not control your actions. It should not dictate what you do.

Courage that comes from cultivating the habit of refusing to let fear dictate one’s actions, courage that could be described as ‘grace under pressure’ – grace which is renewed repeatedly in the face of harsh, unremitting pressure.

Fearlessness may be a gift, but perhaps most precious is courage from cultivating the habit of refusing to let fear dictate one’s actions.

“Duty, Honor, Country” – those three hallowed words reverently dictate what you ought to be, what you can be, what you will be. They are your rallying point to build courage when courage seems to fail, to regain faith when there seems to be little cause for faith, to create hope when hope becomes forlorn.

I’m at peace with myself. The main thing is not letting people dictate what I do or what I am.

History will dictate what my legacy is. And ‘maverick’ is fine, because I am.

The public one and the secret one, and you can dictate a sentence prepared by the political and security apparatuses that are behind this trial.