Magic Johnson Quotes

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

My first and only experience in baseball, the coach signed me up; he didn't tell me there's a thing called the curveball. I didn't know that. So the ball's coming at me and I start backing out, and then it broke inside. And the umpire says, 'Strike one!' And I'm saying, 'How is that a strike? It almost hit me!'

When you think about the NASCAR brand, it resonates everywhere. They have the No. 1 sports brand.

I thank Him every chance I get - on my knees praying.

When a woman is frustrated, and it's your wife, you as the husband get that frustration.

I don't care who is attacking my son. I still support him; I still love him.

I've always studied business. Even when I was a ball player, I'd read business journals and the business sections of newspapers.

I'm far from being a homosexual.

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

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

To me, everything is wonderful. Life is wonderful.

I grew up poor, but I didn't have poor dreams

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.

When I grew up, my family, we sat down, all of us to watch 'Good Times,' 'Sanford and Son,' all those shows that were out at that time.

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.

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

I'm the one who will take chances, not worry about the backlash.

It all started when I got injured early in my second season. This turned out to be as difficult emotionally as physically.

My dad worked two jobs his whole life, and so I told him he's the reason I have 20 jobs.

Young people want you to be real with them.

The looks, the stares, the giggles ... I wanted to show everybody that I could do better and also that I could read.

You don't have to be Magic to be special. You're already special, you're you.

I look three to five years ahead, not 10 years behind.

Magic is who I am on the basketball court. Earvin is who I am.

I love business. I love helping urban communities grow. I love putting people to work of color. I love making sure.. like right now the whole mortgage crisis, I want to help people get back into their homes.

I'm the one who started redevelopment in South Los Angeles, not Jan Perry. I did it. I love Jan. She's a good person, and she did a wonderful job with what she did downtown, but in L.A., South L.A., I'm the one.

I have a fond place in my heart for Seattle, so I hope that an NBA team comes back to this great city, this great sports city.

There's Michael [Jordan], then there's the rest of us.

You either have to be great or you have to be bad to get a good pick.

The best doctors and medicine in the world can't save you if you don't do what you're supposed to do.

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.

We cut him off and there was nowhere for him to go but out of bounds ... It's still the greatest move I've ever seen in basketball, the all-time greatest.

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.

I wouldn't do the 'Magic Hour' again, but I would do TV again. The 'Magic Hour' is not me. Anything I would do, I would have to be me. That is how it would work.

ObamaCare is working. I talk to a lot of CEOs of hospitals. It is working.

I learned to give him the ball ...

I only know how to play two ways: reckless and abandon.

The gay community has taken care of their issues and problems in terms of HIV/AIDS. They have done an incredible job. We as heterosexuals need to learn from the gay community because they have rallied together. They have sent a lot of information out there. They go get tested.

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

Urban America is like a foreign country in a sense.

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

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.

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

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.

Even when I went to the playground, I never picked the best players. I picked guys with less talent, but who were willing to work hard and had the desire to be great.

I tell people to look at me and understand that everybody first told me that I couldn't be a 6-foot, 9-inch point guard, and I proved them wrong. Then they told me I couldn't be a businessman and make money in urban America, and I proved them wrong. And they thought I couldn't win all these championships, and I proved them wrong there as well.

I got blessed from my mom. She's the personality; she's the one who smiled, so I took on part of her, and who also wanted to help and save the world. Then I took on part of my dad, who is tough.

I have to tell you, I'm proudest of my life off the court. There will always be great basketball players who bounce that little round ball, but my proudest moments are affecting people's lives, effecting change, being a role model in the community.

I motivate others by making sure that they understand to go after their dreams and don't let anyone tell you you can't. If you are motivated enough and put the work in that you can achieve anything in life that you set your mind to.

My having HIV has no bearing on my business.

On his telepathic understanding with James Worthy- It's almost like we have ESPN.

My father was a great example of a strong and good man and Christian man, and my mother taught all my six sisters how to be young ladies and mothers and how to take care of your family. And so I think they were - they still are - great examples for all of us to their kids and to the world, too.

I'm at peace with myself. The main thing is not letting people dictate what I do or what I am.

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.

I wanted to do two things when I was growing up, about your age. I wanted to play in the NBA, and I wanted to be a businessman after my basketball career was over, and that is what I am doing now.

My family is a praying family, a Christian family.

Assists is what Earvin is all about. That's what my whole life has been, assisting others.

People don't stop eating, and they don't stop drinking coffee.

I often tell people when you make a mistake, you not only hurt yourself, but you hurt the ones that love you.

A woman always remembers. Remember that.

My work ethic is from sports.

All students should have the opportunity to receive their high school diplomas and be fully prepared for college or the workplace.

For a long time, I'd work until 10 or 11. When I work, I'm on. I'm 'Magic.' I love it, but it takes a lot out of me.

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.

Ask not what your teammates can do for you. Ask what you can do for your teammates.

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

I like to take walks in the park by myself, where no one can bother me and I can think.

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

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.

I love putting people to work of color.

My dad was my hero. And I got my personality from my mother.

If you hate to lose, you do whatever you need to do to make sure you're business is successful.

I get up 5:30-6 every morning. I'm in the gym. I run a couple miles.

I was around when my father finished the last payment of his house. I remember like it was yesterday. He had worked all those years to own that house and he cried. He was so excited and so happy and I want to see other people get that feeling, too.

It's almost like we have ESPN.

I really want people to know that I've worked hard, very hard, to get to where I am today.. this didn't just happen overnight. I started in business over 25 years ago and have found a way to build on what I've learned through every partnership and opportunity.

The worst moment from all of this was driving from that doctor's office, to tell my wife that I was HIV positive.

If you come to me and say, 'Hey look I'm a racist,' or 'I discriminate against blacks,' or 'I don't like you because you're African American,' I respect that. I can respect you more by doing that. But don't smile in my face, shake my hand, and then you don't really respect me, or want me to be around, or come to your games as the owner of the Clippers.

I met wonderful people playing in the NBA. Whether it is the officials, the scorekeepers, all the people who work for the NBA, not just for the Lakers, but I'm talking about just for the league itself.

When I first found out I had HIV, I had to find somebody who was living with it, who could help me understand my journey and what I was going to have to deal with day-to-day. I found out that a person named Elizabeth Frazier was living with AIDS at the time, and so I called her up, and she took a meeting with me.

I was able to see what I wanted to do, I could see the opportunity, even when others could not, and I stay committed to doing it and doing it well, no matter what.

Athletes don't like to get up early, but it never bothered me.

I love to be in the ballpark. I love to just go in and enjoy a great baseball game, a great pitchers' duel.

I am and will always be a Laker for life.

I'm building shopping centers and movie theaters in the inner cities. So that means supplying jobs and letting blacks understand that we have to build our communities back, not looking to anybody else.

I'm glad that Gov. Scott down in Florida accepted ObamaCare, because it will work.

I'll hear people say every so often that having HIV must not be so bad - 'Just look at Magic and how well he's doing.'

You're the only one who can make the difference. Whatever your dream is, go for it.