“I had to learn that some people are just not going to like you. I had to have thick skin when I would see what people would say or write about me.”

Being in a fishbowl, everybody looking at every move you make, talking about everything you do – it’s just a hard life to live.

I surround myself with people who make me laugh.

Sometimes it used to hurt so bad when people used to say stuff about me. It still does. But I’m at a level now that I’m like, ‘I ain’t surprised that they said this or that about me.’

All my tattoos are tattoos that I wanted to get, but I couldn’t afford.

As far as how I expressed ‘practice, practice, practice’ over and over again, I wouldn’t take that back because, obviously, that sound bite is great for the media and for the fans, because they love it.

I don’t want to just go to the playoffs, I don’t want to go to the playoffs and win the first round, second round, and not win the whole thing because it’s bittersweet.

Everybody talks about that one when they first meet me. ‘Man, I still remember the play you shook Jordan.’ Everybody gonna always remember it because it was Jordan.

I’ve accomplished so many things in basketball. I financially secured my kids’ life and their future. I’m just happy. I’m just blessed. So anything that I’m not awarded doesn’t matter because I’ve been rewarded enough in this lifetime.

People and what they say don’t bother me like they used to. When I was younger, I really couldn’t take it because I couldn’t understand where the criticism was coming from.

If that many people recognize how hard I go every night and what I put into my game, to make myself and my team better, it means a lot to me. I’m fortunate; I’m blessed to be in the situation that I’m in right now.

I wanted my fans and my family and my friends to be proud of me.

You don’t want to hear about how much money I donate to the Boys and Girls Clubs of America or to AIDS awareness or to give out scholarships. You don’t want to hear about that.

Coming into the league, if I would’ve had money, then obviously I would’ve had more tattoos.

I want to thank coach Thompson, for saving my life. For giving me the opportunity.

I used to say my biggest accomplishment was just getting drafted, whether it was the first pick or the 100th or whatever.

I don’t feel no type of way. I just understand that He helped me accomplish a lot of things in the NBA. I’ve done so many things that people thought that I couldn’t do.

The tiger will see you hundred times before you see it once.

I made wine from the lilac tree/Put my heart in its recipe/It makes me see what I want to see/And be what I want to be.

Black-ish is really a show about an American family and these are some of the topics that come up – for all of us, in different ways – and we get to see how this family is walking through it.

What we see, we see and seeing is changing

You see, to me, the art of music is listening to it, not playing it. The real art of it is hearing it.

You see, my mother was a district nurse until she died when I was 14, and we used to move from time to time because of her work.

I met my old lover on the street last night, she seemed glad to see me.

So it’s easy for me to see what it is. People say it’s all about age, but to me, it’s mind over matter.