Michael Jordan Quotes

There's only one Michael Jordan.

If you pass the ball to Bill Cartwright, you'll never get the ball from me.

If you can't stop thinking about it, don't stop working on it.

When I play against someone that's new in the league, I make him respect me. They may have heard about me, but now you get to see me actually in front of you. That drives me.

When I got cut from the varsity team as a sophomore in high school, I learned something. I knew I never wanted to feel that bad again. I never wanted to have that taste in my mouth, that hole in my stomach. So I set a goal of becoming a starter on the varsity.

There is no 'i' in team but there is in win.

People can fly. Some people fly higher than others, that's all.

In reality, I never want to grow up.

The key to success is failure

Failure gave me strength. Pain was my motivation

I took cooking classes when I was younger; girls weren't interested in me, and I thought I may be alone for the rest of my life.

I would never play an extra year for money. I play the game because I love it. I just so happen to get paid. If I don't feel I still enjoy the game, I can care less what a year is worth. I'm not going to play the game just because of money.

We had to be to the stadium at six o'clock for home games, and traffic was so bad it would take us an hour and fifteen or an hour and thirty minutes to drive. So now I'm sitting in a car for almost an hour and a half and I'm very tense. I'm worried about the traffic. So I started smoking a cigar going to the games.

I play to win, whether during practice or a real game. And I will not let anything get in the way of me and my competitive enthusiasm to win.

I would tell players to relax and never think about what's at stake. Just think about the basketball game. If you start to think about who is going to win the championship, you've lost your focus.

To be successful you have to be selfish, or else you never achieve. And once you get to your highest level, then you have to be unselfish. Stay reachable. Stay in touch. Don't isolate.

People say they wish they were Michael Jordan. OK, do it for a year. Do it for two years. Do it for five years. When you get past the fun part, then go do the part where you get into cities at three a.m. and you have fifteen people waiting for autographs when you're as tired as hell.

Look me in the eye. It’s ok if you’re scared. So am I. But we are scared for different reasons. I am scared of what I won’t become. And you are scared of what I could become. Look at me. I won’t let myself end where I started. I won’t let myself finish where I began. I know what is within me, even if you can’t see it yet. Look me in the eyes. I have something more important than courage. I have patience. I will become what I know I am.

I can't speak for the future. I have no crystal ball.

You have to be uncompromised in your level of commitment to whatever you are doing, or it can disappear as fast as it appeared... Excellence isn't a one-week or one-year ideal. It's a constant. There will be days when you don't feel on top of your game, or meetings in which you aren't at your best, but your commitment remains constant. No compromises.

You remember the [remarks] you made in 1994 about, 'I think I can guard you, I can shut you down, I would love to play against you?' Well, you're about to get your chance.

The game has its ups and downs, but you can never lose focus of your individual goals and you can't let yourself be beat because of lack of effort.

A coach is someone that sees beyond your limits and guides you to greatness!

I like control.

A leader can't make excuses. There has to be quality in everything you do. Off the court, on the court, in the classroom.

I do not have a problem, I enjoy gambling, but I think people are trying to make it seem like I have a problem, because people really don't know.

You have to be able to say, OK, that happened back then. Now let's take it from here and see what happens. It would be very easy to hate people for the rest of your life, and some people have done that. You've got to deal with what's happening now and try to make things better.

I'm patient.

The greatest people that ever lived were also the greatest failures. They just didn’t let those failures affect them like they do most.

If nobody will help you do it alone!

I'm all about challenges and seeing if I can go out and see if I can achieve something. If at the end of the day I do it, great. If I don't, I can live with myself.

Sometimes you need to get hit in the head to realize that you're in a fight.

Every time I feel tired while I am exercising and training, I close my eyes to see that picture, to see that list with my name. This usually motivates me to work again.

Being Michael Jordan means acting the same as I always have.

I smoked my first cigar in 1991, when we won the championship. Up to that point, I had never smoked a cigar, never smoked anything.

Get the fundamentals down and the level of everything you do will rise

I've had tendinitis since college.

I didn't come here to be average.

I've always believed that if you put in the work, the results will come. I don't do things half-heartedly. Because I know if I do, then I can expect half-hearted results.

Being afraid on the court, means you're not confident of your skills

Heart is what separates the good from the great.

I am privileged to have played basketball.

I know what I would do if I were coach. I'd determine our strengths and weaknesses and utilize them. And it's pretty clear what our strength is.

A loss is not a failure until you make an excuse.

There was never any fear for me, no fear of failure. If I miss a shot, so what?

Focus like a laser, not a flashlight

Maybe it’s my own fault. Maybe I led you to believe it was easy when it wasn’t. Maybe I made you think my highlights started at the free throw line, and not in the gym. Maybe I made you think that every shot I took was a game winner. That my game was built on flash, and not fire. Maybe it’s my fault that you didn’t see that failure gave me strength; that my pain was my motivation. Maybe I led you to believe that basketball was a God given gift, and not something I worked for every single day of my life. Maybe I destroyed the game. Or maybe you’re just making excuses.

Excellence isn't a one-week or one-year ideal. It's a constant.

Patience. I will become what I know I am.

When I step onto the court, I'm ready to play. If you're going up against me, you'd better be ready. If you're not going to compete, I will dominate you.

Basketball isn't my job.

Sometimes I wonder what it will be like to look back on all this. Whether it will seem real.

If you are confident you have done everything possible to prepare yourself, then there is nothing to fear.

Can I still dunk... Are you stupid?

I'd take 12 guys who had a strong passion for the game over 12 guys who don't respect the game.

I'm not out there sweating for three hours every day just to find out what it feels like to sweat.

It's absolutely wrong that I don't want guys to challenge me. And the people who say that aren't in the room.

I've never been afraid to fail.

You have competition every day because you set such high standards for yourself that you have to go out every day and live up to that.

If I had stood at the free-throw line and thought about 10 million people watching me on the other side of the camera lens, I couldn't have made anything. So I mentally tried to put myself in a familiar place. I thought about all those times I shot free throws in practice and went through the same motion, the same technique that I had used thousands of times. You forget about the outcome. You know you are doing the right things. So you relax and perform.