“I can accept failure, everyone fails at something. But I can’t accept not trying.” - Michael Jordan. Here are 42 Inspirational Basketball Quotes.
Basketball Quotes
1. “Never make excuses. Your friends don’t need them and your foes won’t believe them.” - John Wooden
2. “I can accept failure, everyone fails at something. But I can’t accept not trying.” - Michael Jordan
3. “Everything negative – pressure, challenges – is all an opportunity for me to rise.” - Kobe Bryant
4. “Hard work beats talent when talent fails to work hard.” - Kevin Durant
5. “I’m here. I’m not going anywhere. No matter what the injury – unless it’s completely debilitating – I’m going to be the same player I’ve always been. I’ll figure it out. I’ll make some tweaks, some changes, but I’m still coming.” - Kobe Bryant
6. “No matter how hard you work at your craft and no matter how successful you become, people just have to find something negative to hang on you. […] The bar is always being raised as you go. The rules are always being rewritten. There’s aggravation that comes with that, but that’s part of what makes triumph so sweet.” - Charles Barkley
7. “A lot of late nights in the gym, a lot of early mornings, especially when your friends are going out, you’re going to the gym, those are the sacrifices that you have to make if you want to be an NBA basketball player.” - Jason Kidd
8. “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.” - Larry Bird
9. “The only difference between a good shot and a bad shot is if it goes in or not” - Charles Barkley
10. “Some people want it to happen, some wish it would happen, and others make it happen.” - Michael Jordan
11. “Failure is acceptable. but not trying is a whole different ballpark.” - Michael Jordan
12. “Excellence is not a singular act, but a habit. You are what you repeatedly do.” - Shaquille O’Neal
Basketball Quotes
13. “Everything is habit-forming, so make sure what you do is what you want to be doing.” - Wilt Chamberlain
14. “I gave everything I had to basketball. The passion is still there, but the desire to play is not. It was a great ride.” -
Allen Iverson
15. “Everything is habit-forming, so make sure what you do is what you want to be doing.” - Wilt Chamberlain
16. “There’s a great quote by Julius Irving that went, ‘Being a professional is doing the things you love to do, on the days you don’t feel like doing them.'” - David Halberstam
17. “What is love? Love is playing every game as if it’s your last!” - Michael Jordan
18. “Nothing is given. Everything is earned.” - LeBron James
19. “Once I made a decision, I never thought about it again.” - Michael Jordan
20. “What do you do with a mistake: recognize it, admit it, learn from it, forget it.” - Dean Smith
21. “The most important measure of how good a game I played was how much better I’d made my teammates play.” - Bill Russell
22. “Concentration and mental toughness are the margins of victory.” - Bill Russell
23. “Goals determine what you’re going to be.” - Julius Erving
24. “Talent wins games, but teamwork and intelligence wins championships.” - Michael Jordan
Basketball Quotes
25. “They say that nobody is perfect. Then they tell you practice makes perfect. I wish they’d make up their minds.” - Wilt Chamberlain
26. “Basketball is a beautiful game when the five players on the court play with one heartbeat.” - Dean Smith
27. “Good thing in this business is that you just have to make one big shot and that’s enough to make you forget 9 other shots that you missed.” - Guy Zucker
28. “We old athletes carry the disfigurements and markings of contests remembered only by us and no one else. Nothing is more lost than a forgotten game.” - Pat Conroy
29. “How good can we expect to be if our best player is not our best teammate.” - Brad Stevens
30. “You can't win unless you learn how to lose.” - Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
31. “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.” - Michael Jordan
32. “Talent is God-given. Be humble. Fame is man-given. Be grateful. Conceit is self-given. Be careful.” - John Wooden
Basketball Quotes
33. “Ability may get you to the top, but it takes character to keep you there.” - John Wooden
34. “I always wanted to be a basketball player. Nothing more, nothing less.” - Dirk Nowitzki
35. “Leadership is diving for a loose ball. It’s about being able to take it as well as dish it out. That’s the only way you're going to get respect from other players” - Larry Bird
36. “It’s OK to make mistakes. That’s how we learn. When we compete, we make mistakes.” - Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
37. “You must expect great things of yourself before you can do them.” - Michael Jordan
38. “Coaches shouldn’t have to push you to work hard, you should push yourself to work hard because you want to be a great player.” - Bob Knight
39. “Good players want to be coached… Great players want to be told the truth.” - Doc Rivers
40. “I love seeing my teammates succeed. That’s what I get more excited about than anything.” - LeBron James
41. “Recognize and reward players who put the team first, not just the gifted ones.” - Don Meyer
42. “I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life and that is why I succeed.” - Michael Jordan