I think what has happened to our basketball team, we’ve been badly distracted. They’re not reading too many positive things in the paper.
BILL RUSSELLMy father once told me that anyone who worked for three dollars an hour owed it to himself to put in four dollars’ worth of work.
More Bill Russell Quotes
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You got to have the killer instinct. If you do not have it, forget about basketball and go into social psychology or something. If you sometimes wonder if you’ve got it, you ain’t got it. No pussycats, please.
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Create unselfishness as the most important team attribute.
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If you can take something to levels that very few other people can reach, then what you’re doing becomes art.
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People say it was the greatest individual rivalry they’ve ever seen. I agree with that. Let me assure you that if either Wilt’s or Russ’ coach had ever told one of them he couldn’t guard the other guy, he would have lost that player forever.
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The most important measure of how good a game I played was how much better I’d made my teammates play.
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What distinguishes a great player is his presence. When he goes on to the court, his presence dominates the atmosphere.
BILL RUSSELL -
If Shakespeare can compare all of life to a stage, maybe it’s not odd to believe that part of the play can take place on a basketball court.
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Learning is a daily experience and a lifetime mission. I truly believe in the saying “We work to become, not to acquire.”
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The idea is not to block every shot. The idea is to make your opponent believe that you might block every shot.
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I think that David Stern is probably the greatest commissioner that any sport has ever had in the history of this country.
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If a guy pays you five dollars, you give him seven dollars worth of work.
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Friendship is a full-time job.
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We overreached our decision power. Sometimes our decisions have to fit the reality of the outside world.
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Don’t knock the ball in the stands, keep it in your hands!
BILL RUSSELL -
We learn to make a shell for ourselves when we are young and then spend the rest of our lives hoping for someone to reach inside and touch us. Just touch us-anything more than that would be too much for us to bear.
BILL RUSSELL