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.
BILL RUSSELLIf a guy pays you five dollars, you give him seven dollars worth of work.
More Bill Russell Quotes
-
-
Concentration and mental toughness are the margins of victory.
BILL RUSSELL -
What’s more important than who’s going to be the first black manager is who’s going to be the first black sports editor of the New York Times.
BILL RUSSELL -
My most prized possession was my library card from the Oakland Public Library.
BILL RUSSELL -
To me, the most important part of winning is joy. You can win without joy, but winning that’s joyless is like eating in a four-star restaurant when you’re not hungry. Joy is a current of energy in your body, like chlorophyll or sunlight, that fills you up and makes you naturally want to do your best.
BILL RUSSELL -
We overreached our decision power. Sometimes our decisions have to fit the reality of the outside world.
BILL RUSSELL -
What distinguishes a great player is his presence. When he goes on to the court, his presence dominates the atmosphere.
BILL RUSSELL -
Learning is a daily experience and a lifetime mission. I truly believe in the saying “We work to become, not to acquire.”
BILL RUSSELL -
The idea is not to block every shot. The idea is to make your opponent believe that you might block every shot.
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 -
I think that David Stern is probably the greatest commissioner that any sport has ever had in the history of this country.
BILL RUSSELL -
The morale and the camaraderie that we had for one another earlier in the year is starting to come under duress because of all the losses. Some of the guys are feeling the pressure now from the last year when they were not successful.
BILL RUSSELL -
My 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.
BILL RUSSELL -
If a guy pays you five dollars, you give him seven dollars worth of work.
BILL RUSSELL -
Remember that basketball is a game of habits. If you make the other guy deviate from his habits, you’ve got him.
BILL RUSSELL -
The magic to a great meeting is all of the work that’s done beforehand.
BILL RUSSELL