But I think the image that's thrown out on television is a bad image. Because you see players who want to imitate hip-hop stars. And the NBA is taking advantage of the situation.

This is where young players today want to land. They want to be NBA players because of the money.

When you play against different people from all walks of life you can't do the same thing against every player defensively or offensively. You have to change up the way you go at a player.

I'd like to think that the nature of the two teams - Boston being a championship team over the years and the Lakers, same thing - was a lot bigger than Larry Bird or Magic Johnson.

It's a sad commentary when I have to say that sometimes in our country we are real sensitive to race.

Some players are more physical than others, some play with more finesse. Some are just really great all-around players. So you have to change your game.

I played when I played, and played, I think, against the greatest players in the greatest time in the history of basketball.

I think that everyone should be able to dribble. Everyone should be able to pass. Otherwise, why are you out there?

You have to teach now - tell a kid how to box out, tell him how to pass, teach him footwork. Players don't understand that anymore.

We're all Americans trying to compete. Magic was competing for his team and Larry for his team.

Actually, Magic and the Lakers beat Philadelphia for Magic's first NBA Championship.

Your love taught me to grieveand I have been needing, for centuriesa woman to make me grievefor a woman, to cry upon her armslike a sparrowfor a woman to gather my pieceslike shards of broken crystal

There is a cosmic law which says that every satisfaction must be paid for with a dissatisfaction.

God had mercy, he knew. The Mongols had none.

The impact on a customer of a bad buying decision is usually greater than the impact of a salesperson of a lost deal.

My purpose is to make my narrative as truthful as possible.

Science probes; it does not prove.

I take in a lot of stuff from real life, movies, television, news and it all gets mixed in my head and somehow turns into a story idea.

I was such a nerd. It just wasn't something I would have wanted. And I didn't want to act like an adult.

I believe democracy will succeed in Tunisia, but I also believe that it will succeed in the other Arab Spring countries.

Take the platypus - that is not a finished product. It is clearly still in beta.