Michael Jordan

"In college I never realized the opportunities available to a pro athlete. I've been given the chance to meet all kinds of people, to travel and expand my financial capabilities, to get ideas and learn about life, to create a world apart from basketball."

"If you're trying to achieve, there will be roadblocks. I've had them; everybody has had them. But obstacles don't have to stop you. If you run into a wall, don't turn around and give up. Figure out how to climb it, go through it, or work around it."

"Always turn a negative situation into a positive situation."

"As athletes, we're used to reacting quickly. Here, it's 'come, stop, come, stop.' There's a lot of downtime. That's the toughest part of the day."

"Gambling is legal and betting is legal, for what I bet."

"I can accept failure, everyone fails at something. But I can't accept not trying."

"I wasn't really a work-conscious type of person. I was a player. I loved to play sports."

"I won't have any competitive instincts in any sports, other than golf. I can't see being competitive in sports any more."

"I'm patient."

"I've always believed that if you put in the work, the results will come."

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

"I've missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I've lost almost 300 games. 26 times, I've been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I've failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed."

"In any investment, you expect to have fun and make money."

"It's a heavy duty to try to do everything and please everybody. My job was to go out there and play the game of basketball as best I can and provide entertainment for everyone who wanted to watch basketball. Obviously, people may not agree with that; again, I can't live with what everyone's impression of what I should or what I shouldn't do."

"Just play. Have fun. Enjoy the game."

"My challenge when I came back was to face the young talent, dissect their games, and show them maybe that they needed to learn more about the game than just the money aspect."

"Obstacles don't have to stop you. If you run into a wall, don't turn around and give up. Figure out how to climb it, go through it, or work around it."

"The best evaluation I can make of a player is to look in his eyes and see how scared they are."

"The game is my wife. It demands loyalty and responsibility, and it gives me back fulfillment and peace."

"The game of basketball has been everything to me. My place of refuge, place I've always gone where I needed comfort and peace. It's been the site of intense pain and the most intense feelings of joy and satisfaction. It's a relationship that has evolved over time, given me the greatest respect and love for the game."

"When I was playing before I retired, I never really understood the appreciation and the respect that people gave me. People had treated me like a god or something, and that was very embarrassing."