Best Basketball Quotes

• Play the game with a smile.

  Earl Monroe

  Basketball, Games, Play

  44 Copy quote
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  Be more concerned with your character than your reputation, because your character is what you really are, while your reputation is merely what others think you are.

  John Wooden

  Inspirational, Success, Basketball

  John Wooden, Jack Tobin, Bill Walton (2004). “They Call Me Coach”, McGraw Hill Professional

  1715 Copy quote

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• They say that nobody is perfect. Then they tell you practice makes perfect. I wish they'd make up their minds.

  Winston Churchill

  Inspirational, Motivational, Basketball

  35 Copy quote
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  Some people want it to happen, some wish it would happen, others make it happen.

  Michael Jordan

  Inspirational, Life, Motivational

  291 Copy quote
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  I can accept failure, everyone fails at something. But I can't accept not trying.

  Michael Jordan

  Inspirational, Motivational, Change

  "I Can't Accept Not Trying : Michael Jordan on the Pursuit of Excellence". Book by Michael Jordan (p. 129), 1994.

  217 Copy quote

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• I've failed over and over and over again in my life and that is why I succeed.

  Michael Jordan

  Inspirational, Life, Motivational

  "Nike Culture : The Sign of the Swoosh". Book by Robert Goldman, Stephen Papson (p. 49), 1998.

  216 Copy quote

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• Be strong in body, clean in mind, lofty in ideals.

  James Naismith

  Inspirational, Motivational, Basketball

  61 Copy quote

• If you make every game a life and death proposition, you're going to have problems. For one thing, you'll be dead a lot.

  Dean Smith

  Inspirational, Funny, Basketball

  70 Copy quote

• If you meet the Buddha in the lane, feed him the ball.

  Phil Jackson

  Basketball, Sports, Balls

  "How Watching Football Can Make You More Spiritual" by Suzanne Gerber, www.huffingtonpost.com. February 3, 2013.

  15 Copy quote

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• Recognize and reward players who put the team first, not just the gifted ones.

  Don Meyer

  Basketball, Team, Player

  50 Copy quote
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  What to do with a mistake: recognize it, admit it, learn from it, forget it.

  Dean Smith

  Inspiring, Basketball, Sports

  75 Copy quote
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  A winner is someone who recognizes his God-given talents, works his tail off to develop them into skills, and uses these skills to accomplish his goals.

  Larry Bird

  Inspirational, Success, Basketball

  Biography/Personal Quotes, www.imdb.com.

  141 Copy quote

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  Things turn out best for the people who make the best of the way things turn out.

  John Wooden

  Inspirational, Motivational, Positive

  "The Wizard's wisdom: 'Woodenisms'", www.espn.com. June 4, 2010.

  74 Copy quote

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• Basketball is like war in that offensive weapons are developed first, and it always takes a while for the defense to catch up.

  Red Auerbach

  Motivational, Basketball, Sports

  23 Copy quote

• One man can be a crucial ingredient on a team, but one man cannot make a team.

  Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

  Basketball, Teamwork, Sports

  Twitter post from Mar 27, 2013

  88 Copy quote

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  You have to expect things of yourself before you can do them.

  Michael Jordan

  Inspirational, Motivational, Happiness

  84 Copy quote
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  Talent wins games, but teamwork and intelligence wins championships.

  Michael Jordan

  Inspirational, Basketball, Sports

  Michael Jordan (1994). “I can't accept not trying: Michael Jordan on the pursuit of excellence”

  143 Copy quote

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• Passing is your best weapon against man to man. Dribble penetration is your best weapon against zone.

  Bobby Knight

  Basketball, Men, Nba

  14 Copy quote

• Practice habits were crucial to my development in basketball. I didn't play against the toughest competition in high school, but one reason I was able to do well in college was that I mastered the fundamentals. You've got to have them down before you can even think about playing.

  Larry Bird

  Basketball, School, Thinking

  Larry Bird (1990). “Drive: The Story of My Life”, Bantam Books

  76 Copy quote

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• Failure is good. It's fertilizer. Everything I've learned about coaching I've learned from making mistakes.

  Rick Pitino

  Basketball, Mistake, Coaching

  19 Copy quote

• If the NBA were on channel 5 and a bunch of frogs making love were on channel 4, I'd watch the frogs, even if they were coming in fuzzy.

  Bobby Knight

  Basketball, Nba, Making Love

  79 Copy quote

• This is a team game and one man doesn't win and one man doesn't lose. In the end, the best team usually wins.

  Wilt Chamberlain

  Basketball, Team, Men

  31 Copy quote

• John Stockton is one of the true marvels, not just of basketball, or in America, but in the history of Western Civilization!

  Bill Walton

  Basketball, Civilization, America

  17 Copy quote

• How good can we expect to be if our best player is not our best teammate

  Brad Stevens

  Basketball, Player, Nba

  89 Copy quote

• A key basketball skill is imagery. The best players "see" situations before they happen so they can be prepared

  Jack Ramsay

  Basketball, Player, Nba

  10 Copy quote