Bill Russell Quotations

Concentration and mental toughness are the margins of victory.

What's more important than who's going to be the first black manager is who's going to be the first black sports editor of the New York Times.

Most people have a harder time letting themselves love than finding someone to love them.

The idea is not to block every shot. The idea is to make your opponent believe that you might block every shot.

Durability is part of what makes a great athlete.

This monument is going to be built as a symbol.

I think that David Stern is probably the greatest commissioner that any sport has ever had in the history of this country.

My father once told me that anyone who worked for three dollars an hour owed it to himself to put in four dollars' worth of work.

The most important thing to me is the friends that I've made.

People say it was the greatest individual rivalry they've ever seen. I agree with that. Let me assure you that if either Wilt's or Russ' coach had ever told one of them he couldn't guard the other guy, he would have lost that player forever.

The morale and the camaraderie that we had for one another earlier in the year is starting to come under duress because of all the losses. Some of the guys are feeling the pressure now from the last year when they were not successful.

We learn to make a shell for ourselves when we are young and then spend the rest of our lives hoping for someone to reach inside and touch us. Just touch us—anything more than that would be too much for us to bear.

We overreached our decision power. Sometimes our decisions have to fit the reality of the outside world.

Create unselfishness as the most important team attribute.

The magic to a great meeting is all of the work that's done beforehand.

If you can take something to levels that very few other people can reach, then what you're doing becomes art.

The last five or six days, I've been running. The last two days, I've been running pretty hard. Everybody's got to be someplace.

Don't knock the ball in the stands, keep it in your hands!

The only important statistic is the final score.

We couldn't sustain it. And they got a lot of kids that can shoot. We just couldn't close out well enough.

I hope I epitomize the American dream. For I came against long odds, from the ghetto to the very top of my profession. I was not immediately good at basketball. It did not come easy. It came as the result of a lot of hard work and self-sacrifice. The rewards, where they worth it? One thousand times over.

I don't have very many regrets, not because I lived a perfect life but because life is a bunch of rolling hills, not mountains, or speed bumps instead of stop signs, and so you come to a situation and it's neither good or bad, it just is, and what it means to you is what's your take on it. But the second part of the equation is what are you going to do about it. A lot of times I'm completely wrong, but all you do is back up and start over.

Friendship is a full-time job.

I think what has happened to our basketball team, we've been badly distracted. They're not reading too many positive things in the paper.

On females officiating in the NBA -Incompetence should not be confined to one sex.

Heart in champions has to do with the depth of our motivation and how well your mind and body react to pressure - that is, being able to do what you do best under maximum pain and stress.

What distinguishes a great player is his presence. When he goes on to the court, his presence dominates the atmosphere.

Remember that basketball is a game of habits. If you make the other guy deviate from his habits, you've got him

After I played him for the first time, I said 'Let's see. He's four or five inches taller. He's 40 or 50 pounds heavier. His vertical leap is at least as good as mine. He can get up and down the floor as well as I can. And he's smart. The real problem with all this is I have to show up.

I've been fortunate to meet and work with a lot of really smart people. The thing that strikes me most about them is how they continue to explore and learn every day. I have tried to apply that approach in my modest career as well.

A rebounder, or a shot-blocker for that matter, is always at a disadvantage if he tells himself the only way he can succeed is by out jumping the guy next to him. Sometimes he will have to, but most of the time he will not. Most of my rebounds came from positioning, where I was able to get the ball while in heavy traffic.

To me, the most important part of winning is joy. You can win without joy, but winning that’s joyless is like eating in a four-star restaurant when you’re not hungry. Joy is a current of energy in your body, like chlorophyll or sunlight, that fills you up and makes you naturally want to do your best.

My most prized possession was my library card from the Oakland Public Library.

If a guy pays you five dollars, you give him seven dollars worth of work.

You got to have the killer instinct. If you do not have it, forget about basketball and go into social psychology or something. If you sometimes wonder if you've got it, you ain't got it. No pussycats, please.

If Shakespeare can compare all of life to a stage, maybe it's not odd to believe that part of the play can take place on a basketball court.

If you really have integrity, there are very few people who can insult you, or honor you.

To love someone is nothing, to be loved by someone is something, to love someone who loves you is everything

Learning is a daily experience and a lifetime mission. I truly believe in the saying "We work to become, not to acquire."

You can do anything you want to do if you want it bad enough

Commitment separates those who live their dreams from those who live their lives regretting the opportunities they have squandered.

The most important measure of how good a game I played was how much better I’d made my teammates play.

Success is a result of consistent practice of winning skills and actions. There is nothing miraculous about the process. There is no luck involved.

Chris Hayes had a great game, just a fantastic game. He did a great job defensively for us too. It was a good win for us. Reedley is a very tough place to play.

If it's proven in a court of law she was wronged, she can sue for millions because this is defamation of character.

John Jones is a great initiator for us on the defensive end. He and Marques Jones did a good job of allowing us a time to get some guys with rest and also maintained the high intensity level.

Long-range planning is not possible. It's a short-range planning situation.

We played extremely well. Lamar Burton did a good job of distributing the basketball. Leslie and Ricardo Jenkins hit the boards really hard and we did a good job defensively.

What I think Columbia does is they just play real hard. I think that's what really helps their style.

To say that there was hard competition and therefore excusing him, excuses him from doing his job. If there is difficult competition, it is his job to compete.

We've put ourselves in the driver's seat, now we've just gotta take care of business.

We have done her injustice since the word go.

Once you reach a level communication where you have an exchange of ideas and some shared experiences, then eventually you get to the point where the color of your skin or your background is no longer what you use to describe a person. Now the coach-player relationship has more depth because it's based on more sincere feelings and respect.

All of my guys will be working. They'll all be out there over the break.

They have the right to protest, but are misguided in the views.

As soon as he's done a match he practices. It doesn't matter if he shot well or had a bad round. He was practicing his putting after he shot a 33.

It was down to my last guy. Steve Marsh beat his man by a stroke.

It's kind of tough. We have off Easter Monday and we can't practice.

It's been cold, but they embraced it. They bundled up. They knew they had to be out hitting the ball, and there hasn't been one complaint.

It was nasty. It was cold and wet and it had snowed that afternoon. It was a tough match and we were happy to come away with a win.

They built a company, built it big. ... but kept it here. No elected official, no politic body, can make this type of decision.

That's a monster match for us. It was a relatively close match last year. They beat us with their last two guys. That's how they beat a lot of teams, with their depth.

I had signed a letter of intent to go to a college near by home in Pittsburg, Kan., on a basketball scholarship, but Monty and scout John Keenan convinced me to sign with the Dodgers. It was the right move, for sure,

He's such a hard worker. Practice was canceled because of the cold, but he still went over to the course by himself and played.

He's the guy I send the freshman and sophomore out with. He gives them pointers, and helps them work through the course.

Andrew was a good golfer. He was just inexperienced. He got to work with Ben a lot.