Top 80 Magic Johnson Quotes (2025 Update)

1. “In life, winning and losing will both happen. What is never acceptable is quitting.”

— Magic Johnson

Featured in: Willpower Quotes, Dedication Quotes, Giving Up Quotes, Sports Quotes, Magic Quotes

2. “All kids need is a little help, a little hope and somebody who believes in them.”

— Magic Johnson

Featured in: Be Kind Quotes, Affirmation Quotes, Inspirational Quotes for Students, You Got This Quotes, Quotes About Childhood

3. “Talent is never enough. With few exceptions the best players are the hardest workers.”

— Magic Johnson

4. “I am a businessman. This is what I do each and every day. I love it. I love coming to work. I never have a bad day.”

— Magic Johnson

5. “When you face a crisis, you know who your true friends are.”

— Magic Johnson

6. “HIV changed my life, but it doesn’t keep me from living.”

— Magic Johnson

7. “You’re the only one who can make the difference. Whatever your dream is, go for it.”

— Magic Johnson

8. “For me, it always goes back to something I learned in basketball. There’s winning and there’s losing, and in life you have to know they both will happen. But what’s never been acceptable to me is quitting.”

— Magic Johnson

9. “If the community is happy, then they support your business and if your business is doing well, then you can give back even more to the community.”

— Magic Johnson

10. “Just celebrate the life you had, not the life you could’ve had.”

— Magic Johnson

11. “I’m a big believer in dreaming. If you don’t dream it, you can’t become it.”

— Magic Johnson

12. “I grew up poor, but I didn’t have poor dreams.”

— Magic Johnson

13. “If you want someone to be your mentor, you better be ready to listen and be humbled.”

— Magic Johnson

14. “Young people want you to be real with them.”

— Magic Johnson

15. “When you are a successful business person, you are only as good as your team. No one can do every deal alone.”

— Magic Johnson

16. “To me, everything is wonderful. Life is wonderful.”

— Magic Johnson

17. “Don’t give up! Be friends with people who help you work hard.”

— Magic Johnson

18. “If you want to be successful, you have to be willing to use every connection you’ve got.”

— Magic Johnson

19. “A woman always remembers. Remember that.”

— Magic Johnson

20. “Larry, you only told me one lie. You said there will be another Larry Bird. Larry, there will never, ever be another Larry Bird.”

— Magic Johnson

21. “Even as a fierce competitor I try to smile.”

— Magic Johnson

22. “My father is my idol, so I always did everything like him. He used to work two jobs and still come home happy every night.”

— Magic Johnson

23. “You don’t have to be Magic to be special. You’re already special, you’re you.”

— Magic Johnson

24. “It’s almost like we have ESPN.”

— Magic Johnson

25. “I strive on pressure.”

— Magic Johnson

26. “Everybody on a championship team doesn’t get publicity, but everyone can say he’s a champion.”

— Magic Johnson

27. “On the best tactic when playing alongside Kareem Abdul-Jabbar- Just give him the ball.”

— Magic Johnson

28. “I enjoy being the messenger for God in terms of letting people know about HIV and AIDS.”

— Magic Johnson

29. “God blessed me with two unbelievable parents, and I am just like both of them. I have the smile and charisma of my mother and the big heart of my mom, because she wants to save the world and help the world, so I am just like her.”

— Magic Johnson

30. “I’m at peace with myself. The main thing is not letting people dictate what I do or what I am.”

— Magic Johnson

31. “I love coming to work. I never have a bad day.”

— Magic Johnson

32. “If somebody says no to you, or if you get cut, Michael Jordan was cut his first year, but he came back and he was the best ever. That is what you have to have. The attitude that I’m going to show everybody, I’m going to work hard to get better and better.”

— Magic Johnson

33. “You can’t get AIDS from a hug or a handshake or a meal with a friend.”

— Magic Johnson

34. “If you’re a competitive person, that stays with you. You don’t stop. You always look over your shoulder.”

— Magic Johnson

35. “When I’m under the gun and I’ve got pressure on me, I don’t panic. I look for the right solution, and then I go for it.”

— Magic Johnson

36. “I want to be here for a long time, so I am going to do everything I have to do to be here.”

— Magic Johnson

37. “When you are honest and open with young people, they let you in.”

— Magic Johnson

38. “A lot of black guys always ask me, ‘Did Larry Bird really play that good?’ I said, ‘Larry Bird is so good it’s frightening.’”

— Magic Johnson

39. “They said playing basketball would kill me. Well, not playing basketball was killing me.”

— Magic Johnson

40. “Research your idea. See if there’s a demand. A lot of people have great ideas, but they don’t know if there’s a need for it. You also have to research your competition.”

— Magic Johnson

41. “If people around you aren’t going anywhere, if their dreams are no bigger than hanging out on the corner, or if they’re dragging you down, get rid of them.”

— Magic Johnson

42. “As an athlete, I understood the value of my health insurance. I knew that in my profession, injuries were common and could happen at any time.”

— Magic Johnson

43. “My diet is mostly chicken and fish. I make sure I get a lot of vegetables, a lot of fruit. I am a big fruit man, I am a vegetable man anyway. And I also get a lot of rest. That’s the key I may be up early, but I’m in bed early too.”

— Magic Johnson

44. “You know I was a shy guy and people didn’t know that and still don’t know it today. I’m sure basketball brought my shyness out because of the fact that you have to do interviews, and that people are always talking to you in terms of the fans and everything.”

— Magic Johnson

45. “It’s a burden trying to keep a secret. It’s hard. It probably takes more out of you trying to hold it and keep it than it does for you to really let it out.”

— Magic Johnson

46. “People don’t stop eating, and they don’t stop drinking coffee.”

— Magic Johnson

47. “Once Michael gets up there he says, ‘Well, maybe I’ll just hang up here in the air for a while, just sit back.’ Then all of a sudden, he says, ‘Well, maybe I’ll 360. No I changed my mind. I’ll go up on the other side.’ He’s just incredible.”

— Magic Johnson

48. “Any guy who can maintain a positive attitude without much playing time certainly earns my respect.”

— Magic Johnson

49. “Being able to touch so many people through my businesses and make money while doing it, is a huge blessing.”

— Magic Johnson

50. “A competent and self-confident person is incapable of jealousy in anything. Jealousy is invariably a symptom. Just like right now with the whole mortgage crisis, I want to help people get back into their homes.”

— Magic Johnson