Rick Pitino Quotes

Humility is the true key to success. Successful people lose their way at times. They often embrace and overindulge from the fruits of success. Humility halts this arrogance and self-indulging trap. Humble people share the credit and wealth, remaining focused and hungry to continue the journey of success.

If I had one regret in life ... it's that I was not more humble at an earlier age.

I am a slow walker," Lincoln said. "But I never walk backwards.

Those who work the hardest are the last to surrender.

I just don't deal with the negativity. I can't get involved in that side of it. I don't understand it, and you can't let it take away from your life and what you are trying to do.

When you coach Russ Smith, you have a nervous breakdown on every possession. He's not from a different country. He's from a different planet.

Nothing meaningful or lasting comes without working hard at it.

I plan to coach at University of Louisville for as long as I can maintain the passion I have for the game of basketball. I don't want to coach anywhere else. I don't believe in anything else as much as I believe in this university and this state. I want to coach as long as they will have me.

When you build bridges you can keep crossing them.

Live in the precious present.

I'd tell any coach not to move for money ... Stay at your job if you're really happy.

Tackle the difficult things first in the morning; make changes in the way you network. Treat everyone with respect and dignity. This stops you from cynicism and negativity. End your day with that same attitude you started. Renew your contract with a day well completed.

Basketball is my passion, and I love it, and I love to see my players succeed. I'm here for them and my children. That's my passion.

Long term success is a direct result of what you achieve everyday. Goals provide your daily routine

Lying makes a problem part of the future; truth makes a problem part of the past.

I give myself 24 hours after a loss. After that, I'm totally on to the next game. But for 24 hours, I'm not a happy man.

Self-esteem is directly linked to deserving success. You must deserve victory to feel good about yourself.

True motivation is not getting people to play to their potential. It's getting people to play beyond their potential

The one thing I've always said: Let your family and close friends be the judge of who you are as a person. Don't worry about being judged by others who don't know you, because your family and close friends know what you're all about, good and bad.

If you are not willing to work hard and establish discipline in your life, then all your dreams are merely pipe dreams.

People with high self esteem are risk takers, but more importantly, they are achievers.

Inferior guards play on the sidelines and great guards play in the middle. Isiah, Magic, Chris Paul, all get to the middle

Humility is what makes teams great. I've preached it for a long period of time.

You are trying not only to reach your potential but to move beyond it. If you are not in the best shape you can be, these things simply become more difficult to achieve.

I loved going to the Knicks because we won the Atlantic Division championship. We went from winning 21 games or 19 games to winning 52 games in a short period of time. I loved coaching Patrick Ewing and Charles Oakley and all those guys.

The bone's 6 inches out of his leg and all he's yelling is, 'Win the game, win the game.' I've not seen that in my life. Pretty special young man. I don't think we could have gathered ourselves - I know I couldn't have - if Kevin didn't say over and over again, 'Just go win the game,' I don't think we could have gone in the locker room with a loss after seeing that. We had to gather ourselves. We couldn't lose this game for him. We just couldn't.

Avoid cynical and negative people like the plague. They are killers of potential.

I care what people think, but it doesn't change my opinion of how to do things.

Passion and hunger are the two ingredients that I look for in first making the judgment on - whether an athlete, an assistant coach, or a horse trainer or anybody I do business with.

When you describe passion at any age, passion is derived from everything, from the people you work with to enjoying the last years.

At Boston University, I motivated negatively, and I found that although it can work at first, by the end of the year everyone is dying for the year to end and you have lost them. The last two years at BU, I motivated positively and got much better results.

When it comes to team dynamics - on a basketball court or in a corporate setting - maintaining a positive atmosphere is crucial.

Football is only once a week. NASCAR is once a week. Those sports are insanely popular. Horse racing is oversaturated. Unless tracks cut back to three days a week of full fields, a lot of people will really hurt down the road. Horse racing, to survive, has to go to that. Let's face it: Churchill Downs only does well on Derby Week.

When love and discipline come together you have great chemistry.

All good things have to come to an end, and the male cheerleader has come to an end

I don't get into these petty things, Kentucky-Louisville. To me, it's nonsense ... There will be people at Kentucky that will have a nervous breakdown if they lose to us ... They've got to put the fences up on bridges. There will be people consumed by Louisville.

It could happen to anyone when you get hired by a different president. There's a difference in philosophies. It happens. It's a change in CEOs. They have their own people, their own philosophies, and it's different than what Bob stands for.

Dreamers are not content with being mediocre.

I'd learned how much happiness money can bring you. Very little.

When you have a problem, if you tell the truth, the problem becomes part of your past. If you lie, it becomes part of your future.

Excellence is the unlimited ability to improve the quality of what you have to offer.

Never let anyone out work you or out hustle you. Ever.

The basic premise of my system is to fatigue your opponents with constant pressure defensively and constant movement offensively.