50 Inspirational Basketball Quotes to Ignite Your Passion and Drive

"If you don't believe in yourself, nobody else will."

- Kobe Bryant

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

- Tom Landry

"I’ve missed more than 9,000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games. Twenty-six times, I’ve been trusted to take the game-winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed."

- Michael Jordan

"You can’t be afraid to fail. It’s the only way you succeed—you’re not gonna succeed all the time, and I know that."

- LeBron James

"I've missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I've lost almost 300 games. 26 times, I've been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I've failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed."

- Michael Jordan

"Good, better, best. Never let it rest. Until your good is better and your better is best."

- Tim Duncan

"Hard work beats talent when talent fails to work hard."

- Kevin Durant

"Excellence is not a singular act, but a habit. You are what you repeatedly do."

- Shaquille O’Neal

"I’ve missed more than 9,000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games. Twenty-six times I’ve been trusted to take the game-winning shot and missed it. I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeeded."

- Michael Jordan

"It’s not the will to win that matters – everyone has that. It’s the will to prepare to win that matters."

- Paul “Bear” Bryant

"The strength of the team is each individual member. The strength of each member is the team."

- Phil Jackson

"Yelling doesn’t win ball games. It doesn’t put any points on the scoreboard. And I don’t think words win ball games all the time. Players do. Preparation does."

- Jerry Tarkanian

"Concentration and mental toughness are the margins of victory."

- Bill Russell

"My belief is stronger than your doubt."

- Dwyane Wade

"Things turn out best for the people who make the best of the way things turn out."

- JOHN WOODEN

"One man can be a crucial ingredient on a team, but one man cannot make a team."

- Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

"As teachers and coaches, we must remember that when mere winning is our only goal, we are doomed to disappointment and failure. But when our goal is to try to win, when our focus is on preparation and sacrifice and effort instead of on numbers on a scoreboard then we will never lose."

- Mike Krzyzewski, Duke University basketball coach

"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

"A lot of people say they want to be great, but they’re not willing to make the sacrifices necessary to achieve greatness."

- Jason Kidd

"Being a professional is doing the things you love to do, on the days you don’t feel like doing them."

- Julius Erving

"Each moment of my life I was dreaming of how great I could be, and continued working hard. Each time I closed my eyes I could see me shining bright like a sun."

- Kobe Bryant

"You win by effort, by commitment, by ambition, by quality, by expressing yourself individually but in the team context."

- José Mourinho

"I've failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed."

- Michael Jordan

"If you're afraid to fail, then you're probably going to fail."

- Kobe Bryant

"To be the best, you have to work the hardest. You have to chase what seems impossible over and over and over again, because giving up is not an option, and when you feel like you've reached your limit, it's only the beginning, that's when it's time to dig deep, to find the courage to push some more."

- LeBron James

"Poise and confidence are not possible unless you have prepared correctly. Failing to prepare is preparing to fail. Poise and confidence are a natural result of proper preparation."

- John Wooden

"If you don't fall how are you going to know what getting up is like."

- Steph Curry

"The only person who can really motivate you is you."

- Shaq

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

- Magic Johnson

"Confidence is everything in this game, if you don’t think you can, you won’t."

- Jerry West

"If you run into a wall, don't turn around and give up. Figure out how to climb it."

- Michael Jordan

"Some people want it to happen, some wish it would happen, others make it happen."

- Michael Jordan

"I can accept failure, everyone fails at something. But I can't accept not trying."

- Michael Jordan

"Never say never, because limits, like fears, are often just an illusion."

- Michael Jordan

"Another day, another opportunity to prove everyone who doubts you wrong."

- Michael Jordan

"Don't be afraid to fail. Be afraid not to try."

- Michael Jordan

"It doesn't matter if you fall down, it's whether you get back up."

- Michael Jordan

"Its better to shoot and miss, then to let time run out and wonder what if."

- Michael Jordan

"I've always believed that if you put in the work, the results will come."

- Michael Jordan

"I have nothing in common with lazy people who blame others for their lack of success."

- Kobe Bryant

"Everything negative - pressure, challenges - is all an opportunity for me to rise."

- Kobe Bryant

"I never tried to prove anything to someone else. I wanted to prove something to myself."

- Kobe Bryant

"Talent wins games, but teamwork and intelligence wins championships"

- Michael Jordan

"It's not about what you have or don't have. It's about what you make of what you've got."

- Stephen Curry

"It’s not whether you get knocked down. It’s whether you get up again."

- Vince Lombardi

"You can't be afraid to fail. It's the only way you succeed - you're not gonna succeed all the time, and I know that."

- LeBron James

"My message to myself is always, 'If you don't believe in yourself, who will?'"

- Ja Morant

"I’ve got a theory that if you give 100% all of the time, somehow things will work out in the end."

- Larry Bird

"Champions aren't made in gyms. Champions are made from something they have deep inside them-a desire, a dream, a vision. They have to have the skill, and the will. But the will must be stronger than the skill."

- Muhammad Ali

"It’s not what you tell your players that counts. It’s what they hear."

- Red Auerbach

"Failure doesn't exist"

- Kobe Bryant

"There can only be one winner, and the rest are losers, but winners know they are winners before the results are in."

- Pat Riley

"Winning is the science of being totally prepared."

- George Allen

"I really get motivated when I have doubters"

- Shaquille O'Neal

"If you do not believe in yourself, no one else will"

- Sheryl Swoopes

"Most men stop when they begin to tire. Good men go until they think they are going to collapse. But the very best know the mind tires before the body, and push themselves further and further, beyond all limits. Only when their limits are shattered can the attainable be reached."

- Mark Mysnyk

"Before I’d get in the ring, I’d have already won or lost it on the road. The real part is won or lost somewhere far away from witnesses – behind the lines, in the gym and out there on the road, long before I dance under those lights."

- Muhammad Ali

"If you work hard, have the right mindset, right intentions, things will fall into place."

- Shai Gilgeous-Alexander

"There's a lot of blood, sweat, and guts between dreams and success."

- Paul Bear Bryant

"There are no secrets to success. It is the result of preparation, hard work, and learning from failure."

- Colin Powell

"If you can’t outplay them, outwork them."

- Ben Hogan

"Dream big, anything's possible once you have that dream. You just have to work at it every single day."

- Gordon Hayward

"You know, at the end of the day, all you can do is work at it, perfect your craft, come in with a great attitude and just respect everybody in the building."

- Tyler Herro

"The most important thing is to try and inspire people so that they can be great in whatever they want to do."

- Kobe Bryant

"Don't count the days; make the days count."

- Muhammad Ali

"I try to keep my nose down and keep grinding. I keep working and having fun."

- Jordan Clarkson

"You can't control injuries, but you can control how hard you work to come back."

- Brittney Griner

"Everybody has bad days, but how you respond to it is a testament to whether you are a winner or a loser."

- Aaron Gordon

"I have to be a little bit selfish and give credit to myself. The actual amount, the work I put in - it's like, I can't even tell you how many hours I put in on a daily basis to work on my shot."

- Lauri Markkanen

"I can't sit here and try to do it all on my own because there's no way I'll be able to. It's a matter of trusting my teammates no matter what it looks like."

- Bradley Beal

"Until you're the best at something, you've always got to work on everything."

- Luka Doncic

"I've always said, 'Before you see the rainbow, it has to storm.'"

- Marcus Smart

"Your biggest opponent isn’t the other guy. It’s human nature."

- Derek Fisher

"Consistency is key."

- Evan Fournier

"There’s no substitute for guts."

- Paul Bear Bryant

"Be more concerned with your character than your reputation."

- John Wooden

"Things are not going to be easy, things are not going to be fair. Just do your best."

- Patrick Beverley

"He who is not courageous enough to take risks will accomplish nothing in life."

- Muhammad Ali

"You can never take your foot off the gas pedal. You have to play the right way at both ends."

- Avery Bradley

"It isn't the mountains ahead to climb that wear you out; it's the pebble in your shoe."

- Muhammad Ali

"The higher you want to climb, the more you need leadership. The greater the impact you want to make, the greater your influence needs to be. Whatever you will accomplish is restricted by your ability to lead others."

- John C. Maxwell

"Leadership, like coaching, is fighting for the hearts and souls of men and getting them to believe in you."

- Eddie Robinson

"Sometimes a player’s greatest challenge is coming to grips with his role on the team."

- Scottie Pippen

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

- Magic Johnson

"The only difference between a good shot and a bad shot is if it goes in or not."

- Charles Barkley

"Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss, you'll land among the stars."

- Norman Vincent Peale

"If you don’t know where you are going, you will probably end up somewhere else."

- David Campbell

"I make my practices real hard because if a player is a quitter, I want him to quit in practice, not in a game."

- Bear Bryant / Alabama

"If it was easy, everyone could do it."

- Jimmy Dugan (Tom Hanks)

"Always make a total effort, even when the odds are against you."

- Michael Jordan

"It's all about leading - leading and hard work. You don't get Eagle Scout by just showing up. You gotta put a lot of work in. Gotta sacrifice a lot of time. Put in a lot of weekends. Doing that taught me how to get serious, put my head down, and go to work."

- Josh Hart

"Attitude is a little thing that makes a big difference."

- Winston Churchill

"You may go through a lot of good times, you may go through a lot of bad times, you just have to try to prepare yourself as best as you can, and for me, that's just sticking with my family."

- Zion Williamson

"I can come out and lead a team defensively, pressure the ball, do what you need me to do. And offensively, I've been able to score."

- De'Aaron Fox

"I wake up each and every day and I want to manifest a beautiful day, so I don't wake up every day and try to be trash."

- Kelly Oubre, Jr.

"You play with a pure heart and a clear conscience and a clear soul, then good things happen."

- Fred VanVleet

"Show me a guy who's afraid to look bad and I show you a guy you can beat every time."

- Lou Brock

"Leaders are like eagles - they don't flock. You find them one at a time."

- Knute Rockne

"Well done is better than well said."

- Benjamin Franklin

"For as long as I could remember, I've wanted to play basketball at the University of North Carolina. Funny thing is, there was a long period of time when I wasn't sure how much they wanted me."

- Harrison Barnes

"If you look at the big picture, you start losing your focus on the little things."

- Julius Randle

"All our dreams can come true – if we have the courage to pursue them."

- Walt Disney

"If you want the rainbow, you gotta put up with the rain."

- Dolly Parton

"I go to sleep every single night thinking I'm not good enough. I really do. I don't know if that's healthy or not. But I really do have a fear of not being good, and I don't like that."

- Diana Taurasi

"This life is like a swimming pool. You dive into the water, but you can't see how deep it is."

- Dennis Rodman

"The things which hurt, instruct."

- Ben Franklin

"If you see me in a fight with a bear, pray for the bear."

- Kobe Bryant

"They say that nobody is perfect. Then they tell you practice makes perfect. I wish they’d make up their minds."

- Wilt Chamberlain

"You can run as much as you like or ride the bike as much as you want, but playing in an NBA game is way different than any type of conditioning that you're going to do off the court."

- Caris LeVert

"When people question your integrity, when people question who you are from afar, when they've never had a conversation with you, and don't know the time and effort you've put into your communities, but then you're kind of this thug, this out of control player, that makes no sense to me."

- Jermaine O'Neal

"I'm surrounded by nothing but great people. I've been blessed with that, so really, I've got no choice but to be an all-around good person."

- Tim Duncan

"The true measure of a man is not how he behaves in moments of comfort and convenience but how he stands at times of controversy and challenges."

- Martin Luther King Jr.

"The key to guarding Kevin Durant is to play really good team defense. One on one, it's just tough. So you try to get all five guys to play against him."

- Danilo Gallinari

"If you can't stand the heat, stay out of the kitchen."

- Harry S. Truman

"The best part of being with the Warriors has been the team camaraderie, the team meals, the team pranks, the bond we share."

- Shaun Livingston

"Let's be real, I've got a receding hairline, I'm slow and I'm probably not the most jacked up with abs and all that, but I'm still going to beat you one-on-one."

- Joe Ingles

"Unselfishness is contagious."

- Larry Nance, Jr.

"clean in mind, lofty in ideals."

- Dr. James Naismith

"I've put everything in my rearview mirror and I've continued to silence people. That's how I'm going to... continue to be happy living my life. And in the process, I silence haters."

- Austin Rivers

"The best part of when you reveal your authentic self publicly is that it will allow those people around you, whether it's your teammates or people who you thought were friends, you will see their true colors come out. Some people who you might have thought would not be supporters end up being some of your biggest supporters."

- Jason Collins

"You can't please everyone. You're not an avocado. Not everyone's going to love you."

- Liz Cambage

"I really haven't been trying to force or shoot outside of my comfort zone."

- John Collins

"As long as somebody 'CTC,' at the end of the day I'm with them. For all you that don't know what CTC means, that's 'Cut The Check.'"

- Rasheed Wallace

"I'm blessed to be where I am, but there are a lot of uncertainties in this life."

- Jrue Holiday

"I try to show a little bit of excitement, only when I'm on the court, but off the court I'm just chill."

- Collin Sexton

"I think people need to chill out on young guys and really let them develop."

- Channing Frye

"You can't judge a book by its cover until you open up and read it. There are going be a million stories out there, true or not true. I say get to know me first before you judge me."

- Dion Waiters

"Every team you play for, you meet new friends."

- Jonas Valanciunas

"My father used to play ball with me and my brother in the yard. My mother would say, 'You're tearing up the grass.' My Dad replied, 'We're not raising grass. We're raising boys.'"

- Harmon Killebrew

"I always keep a ball in the car. You never know."

- Hakeem Olajuwon

"My heritage and my culture and where I'm from mean the most to me, more than anything."

- Patty Mills

"My relationship with the Grizzlies might change, but my relationship with Memphis won't. What I feel inside and how I feel about Memphis and its people has nothing to do with a franchise or a temporary thing. It's not going to change."

- Marc Gasol

"I want make sure that I'm always looking good."

- Breanna Stewart

"A lot of times we overlook some of our priorities."

- John Havlicek

"I knew basketball was going to grow. But I never knew it would grow to the extent that it has."

- George Mikan

"Life is not hard. Life is very simple."

- Ben Wallace

"I've had my differences with the NBA in terms of cryptocurrency and contractual things."

- Spencer Dinwiddie

"For a nutrition tip, try implementing quinoa into your diet. It's a high source of protein."

- Al Horford

"Every morning you have two choices: continue to sleep with your dreams, or wake up and chase them."

- Unknown

"We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit."

"Sometimes the bad things that happen in our lives put us directly on the path to the best things that will ever happen to us."

"If you can't run with the big dogs, stay on the porch!"