Top 100 Basketball Quotes (2025 Update)
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51. “Ability may get you to the top, but it takes character to keep you there.”

— John Wooden

52. “People just don’t understand how obsessed I am with winning.”

— Kobe Bryant

53. “If you quit once, it becomes a habit. Never quit.”

— Michael Jordan

54. “Success isn’t something you chase. It’s something you have to put forth the effort for constantly. Then maybe it’ll come when you least expect it. Most people don’t understand that.”

— Michael Jordan

55. “It is what it is. But, it will be what you make it.”

— Pat Summitt

56. “Success is born out of faith, an undying passion, and a relentless drive.”

— Stephen Curry

57. “If you do the work you get rewarded. There are no shortcuts in life.”

— Michael Jordan

58. “All I knew was that I NEVER wanted to be AVERAGE.”

— Michael Jordan

59. “Success comes from knowing that you did your best to become the best that you are capable of becoming.”

— John Wooden

60. “If you want to make history, you have to do historic things.”

— Kobe Bryant

61. “Everybody shut up. Let us work.”

— Kobe Bryant

62. “Winning takes precedence over all. There’s no gray area. No almosts.”

— Kobe Bryant

63. “If you’re afraid to fail, then you’re probably going to fail.”

— Kobe Bryant

64. “Just play. Have fun. Enjoy the game.”

— Michael Jordan

65. “It doesn’t matter if you fall down, it’s whether you get back up.”

— Michael Jordan

66. “Good, better, best. Never let it rest. Until your good is better and your better is best.”

— Unknown

67. “Push yourself again and again. Don’t give an inch until the final buzzer sounds.”

— Larry Bird

68. “Everything negative – pressure, challenges – is all an opportunity for me to rise.”

— Kobe Bryant

69. “Always turn a negative situation into a positive situation.”

— Michael Jordan

70. “The price of excellence is discipline. The cost of mediocrity is disappointment.”

— William Arthur Ward

71. “What counts is not necessarily the size of the dog in the fight – it’s the size of the fight in the dog.”

— Dwight D. Eisenhower

72. “To be successful you have to be selfish, or else you never achieve. And once you get to your highest level, then you have to be unselfish. Stay reachable. Stay in touch. Don’t isolate.”

— Michael Jordan

73. “People ask me if I could fly, I said, ‘yes... for a little while.’”

— Michael Jordan

74. “Efforts and courage are not enough without purpose and direction.”

— John F. Kennedy

75. “There is no ‘i’ in team but there is in win.”

— Michael Jordan

76. “Get the fundamentals down and the level of everything you do will rise”

— Michael Jordan

77. “You must expect great things of yourself before you can do them.”

— Michael Jordan

78. “Some people want it to happen, some wish it would happen, and others make it happen.”

— Michael Jordan

79. “You’re never as good as everyone tells you when you win, and you’re never as bad as they say when you lose.”

— Lou Holtz

80. “I want to do for rebounds what Michael Jordan did for dunks.”

— Dennis Rodman

81. “Don't mistake activity with achievement.”

— John Wooden

82. “I would tell players to relax and never think about what’s at stake. Just think about the basketball game. If you start to think about who is going to win the championship, you’ve lost your focus.”

— Michael Jordan

83. “I play to win, whether during practice or a real game. And I will not let anything get in the way of me and my competitive enthusiasm to win.”

— Michael Jordan

84. “Even when I’m old and grey, I won’t be able to play it, but I’ll still love the game.”

— Michael Jordan

85. “My father gave me the greatest gift anyone could give another person, he believed in me.”

— Jim Valvano

86. “The harder you work, the harder it is to surrender.”

— Vince Lombardi

87. “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

88. “Winning takes talent, to repeat takes character.”

— John Wooden

89. “You can practice shooting eight hours a day, but if your technique is wrong, then all you become is very good at shooting the wrong way. Get the fundamentals down and the level of everything you do will rise.”

— Michael Jordan

90. “I know fear is an obstacle for some people, but it is an illusion to me. Failure always made me try harder next time.”

— Michael Jordan

91. “I’ve never been afraid to fail.”

— Michael Jordan

92. “I never looked at the consequences of missing a big shot. When you think about the consequences you always think of a negative result.”

— Michael Jordan

93. “Don’t give up. Don’t ever give up.”

— Jim Valvano

94. “You cannot escape the responsibility of tomorrow by evading it today.”

— Abraham Lincoln

95. “These young guys are playing checkers. I’m out there playing chess.”

— Kobe Bryant

96. “A coach is someone who can give correction without causing resentment.”

— John Wooden

97. “The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing.”

— Stephen R. Covey

98. “Everything happens for a reason. I’m used to it, I prepare for it. Like I say, at the end of the day, those in charge of their own destiny are going to do what’s right for them and their family.”

— Shaquille O'Neal

99. “A leader is one who knows the way, goes the way, and shows the way.”

— John C. Maxwell

100. “A life is not important except in the impact it has on other lives.”

— Jackie Robinson