“I’m a Jewish boy from Jersey. I was born with a strong sense of right and wrong, and a strong sense that the world can be a ludicrous, unfair, inhumane place.”

I just felt like I had run out of steam. I just felt like it was my time.

As a kid, I played my share of football in the street or in a vacant lot. When we were playing in the street, it was more touch football, so we didn’t hit each other into cars.

According to the United Nations’ latest count, of the approximately 3,000 languages spoken in the world today, only some 78 have a literature. Of those 78, a scant five or six enjoy a truly international audience.

Life doesn’t stop with football.

I’m from Kansas, so there were a lot of vacant lots and open fields to tackle each other in so we could avoid tackling each other on the street. But running on the street and trying not to get taken down on the concrete, that will make you fast, that’s for sure.

I don’t know the right way to retire.

Maybe a good rule in life is never become too important to do your own laundry.

I don’t dream football. I dream the American Dream – two cars in a garage, be a happy father.

The Heisman is the biggest award I’ve ever won.

Nothing ever turns out the way people expect it to.

I quit because I didnt feel like the Detroit Lions had a chance to win. It just killed my enjoyment of the game.

I wish my teammates, coaches and the entire Lions organization all the best.

If I could start with anybody, I would initially draft Tom Brady. Then I would go get Ray Lewis, and then maybe an offensive lineman, or somebody like Adrian Peterson.

I really love peace and quiet.

I didn’t know exactly what I wanted to do in school, but I definitely didn’t have adequate time to reach my full potential as a student.

My desire to exit the game is greater than my desire to remain in it. I have searched my heart through and through and feel comfortable with this decision.

I would never let a white boy beat me. You can print that. I would never lose to a white person.

When beggars and shoeshine boys, barbers and beauticians can tell you how to get rich it is time to remind yourself that there is no more dangerous illusion than the belief that one can get something for nothing.

When you are no longer a boy, you have to be tough.

A political leader must keep looking over his shoulder all the time to see if the boys are still there. If they arent still there, hes no longer a political leader.

It was a huge deal, a huge musical discovery that became life lessons learned. You can’t return from having an experience like that. The Blind Boys are truly the deepest well of American musical heritage you can discover.

I hope it won’t come as a surprise to anyone that a big part of male homosexual behavior is interest in young boys.

One of the things that I found very confronting in my early working life was that people thought I was some sensitive doe-eyed lovelorn boy, because they’d seen me do that a couple of times. What tends to happen is you get a run of similar roles.

The Blind Boys are truly the deepest well of American musical heritage you can discover.