Larry Bird Quotes
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.
Don't let winning make you soft. Don't let losing make you quit. Don't let your teammates down in any situation.
I've got a theory that if you give 100% all of the time, somehow things will work out in the end.
I learned what my weaknesses were and I went out the next day to turn those weaknesses intro strengths.
My coach told me, "Larry, no matter how much you work at it, there's always someone out there who's working just a little harder - if you take 150 practice shots, he's taking 200." And that drove me.
I wasn't real quick, and I wasn't real strong. Some guys will just take off and it's like, whoa. So I beat them with my mind and my fundamentals.
There are many times when you are better off practicing than playing; but most people just don't understand that
I don't know if I practiced more than anybody, but I sure practiced enough. I still wonder if somebody - somewhere - was practicing more than me.
You never make any of the shots you never take. 87% of the ones you do take, you'll miss too. I make 110% of my shots.
You can make all the excuses you want, but if you're not mentally tough and you're not prepared to play every night, you're not going to win.
As far as playing, I didn't care who guarded me - red, yellow, black. I just didn't want a white guy guarding me, because it's disrespect to my game.
It makes me sick when I see a guy just stare at a loose ball and watch it go out of bounds.
When I go to the line I'm thinking 'All net.' When I don't think that, I'm likely to miss.
Strength is not nearly as important as desire. I don't think you can teach anyone desire. I think it's a gift. I don't know why I have it, but I do.
When I was young, I never wanted to leave the court until I got things exactly correct. My dream was to become a pro.
The one thing that always bothered me when I played in the NBA was I really got irritated when they put a white guy on me.
Eminem. My son was listening to that and I was like, “What is that junk?” Then I started listening and I thought, You know, that kid is pretty good. It's the storytelling.
When I was a kid, like 14 or 15, I played with the waiters from the hotel, 'cause that was the best game. And these guys, they'd let me play. And they were black guys.
I really don't like talking about money. All I can say is that the Good Lord must have wanted me to have it.
I knew I was as good as anybody. That's not really bragging; it's just that I'd put the time in.
In the closing seconds of every game, I want the ball in my hands for the last shot - not in anybody else's, not in anybody else's in the world.
Once you are labeled 'the best' you want to stay up there, and you can't do it by loafing around.
I've always been interested in jobs in the NBA. But I've been in this for 20 years and it might be time to do something else.
Coaches can talk and talk and talk about something, but if you get it on tape and show it to them, it is so much more effective.
My opinion about basketball, the way I was taught, was when you step on the court, you play to win.
When I was a player, I didn't expect my teammates to play the way I did. I did expect them to work hard every day and get better. And I never learned anything by losing.
If you tell a teammate you're ready to play as tough as you're able to, you'd better go out there and do it.
If there was a payment to the bank due, and we needed shoes, she'd get the shoes, and then deal with them guys at the bank. I don't mean she wouldn't pay the bank, but the children always came first.
