Larry Bird Quotes

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.

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.

Push yourself again and again. Don't give an inch until the final buzzer sounds.

I learned what my weaknesses were and I went out the next day to turn those weaknesses intro strengths.

Leadership is diving for a loose ball, getting the crowd involved, getting other players involved. It's being able to take it as well as dish it out. That's the only way you're going to get respect from the players.

I hate to lose more than I like to win.

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.

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.

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.

It doesn't matter who scores the points, it's who can get the ball to the scorer.

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.

I don't think that once you get to one level, you can relax. You've got to keep pushing.

There are many times when you are better off practicing than playing; but most people just don't understand that

Leadership is getting players to believe in you. 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. Players will see right through a phony. And they can tell when you're not giving it all you've got.

First master the fundamentals.

You're all playin' for second place.

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.

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.

I'm a firm believer in that you play the way you practice.

Michael Jordan is God disguised as a basketball player.

It makes me sick when I see a guy just stare at a loose ball and watch it go out of bounds.

I just shoot until I feel good.

Before every game I used to go out and shot the same shots over and over and over. In the summer time I spent a lot of time just shooting. So really it just came natural. Whether it's a tie game or down by 1 or up by five, it was always the same shot. So I always felt comfortable with the ball in my hands because it was in there a million times before.

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.