92 Michael Jordan Quotes for Inspiration and Motivation

"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

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

- Michael Jordan

"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

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

- Michael Jordan

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

- Michael Jordan

"If you quit once, it becomes a habit. Never quit!"

- Michael Jordan

"You must expect great things of yourself before you can do them."

- Michael Jordan

"If you're trying to achieve, there will be roadblocks. I've had them; everybody has had them. But 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

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

- Michael Jordan

"Limits, like fear, is often an illusion."

- Michael Jordan

"My attitude is that if you push me towards something that you think is a weakness, then I will turn that perceived weakness into a strength."

- Michael Jordan

"I've never been afraid to fail."

- Michael Jordan

"You have to expect things of yourself before you can do them."

- Michael Jordan

"If you do the work, you get rewarded. There are no shortcuts in life."

- Michael Jordan

"Heart is what separates the good from the great."

- Michael Jordan

"Failure makes me work even harder."

- Michael Jordan

"The key to success is failure."

- Michael Jordan

"I know fear is an obstacle for some people, but it is an illusion to me. Failure always made me try harder next time."

- Michael Jordan

"To learn to succeed, you must first learn to fail."

- Michael Jordan

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

- Michael Jordan

"Everybody has talent, but ability takes hard work."

- Michael Jordan

"If it turns out that my best wasn't good enough, at least I won't look back and say I was afraid to try."

- Michael Jordan

"Failure is acceptable. but not trying is a whole different ball park."

- Michael Jordan

"Always turn a negative situation into a positive situation."

- Michael Jordan

"I hope the millions of people I've touched have the optimism and desire to share their goals and hard work and persevere with a positive attitude."

- Michael Jordan

"One day, you might look up and see me playing the game at 50. Don't laugh. Never say never, because limits, like fears, are often just an illusion."

- Michael Jordan

"The game has its ups and downs, but you can never lose focus of your individual goals and you can't let yourself be beat because of lack of effort."

- Michael Jordan

"My father used to say that it's never too late to do anything you wanted to do. And he said, 'You never know what you can accomplish until you try.'"

- Michael Jordan

"If you accept the expectations of others, especially negative ones, then you never will change the outcome."

- Michael Jordan

"Learning is a gift, even when pain is your teacher."

- Michael Jordan

"Make It Happen."

- Michael Jordan

"Learning's a gift, even when pain is your teacher!"

- Michael Jordan

"I realized that if I was going to achieve anything in life I had to be aggressive. I had to get out there and go for it."

- Michael Jordan

"Champions do not become champions when they win an event, but in the hours, weeks, and months, and years they spend preparing for it. The victorious performance itself is merely a demonstration of their championship character."

- Michael Jordan

"To be successful you have to be selfish, or else you never achieve. And once you get to your highest level, then you have to be unselfish. Stay reachable. Stay in touch. Don't isolate."

- Michael Jordan

"I play to win, whether during practice or a real game. And I will not let anything get in the way of me and my competitive enthusiasm to win."

- Michael Jordan

"I never looked at the consequences of missing a big shot... when you think about the consequences you always think of a negative result."

- Michael Jordan

"You have competition every day because you set such high standards for yourself that you have to go out every day and live up to that."

- Michael Jordan

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

- Michael Jordan

"Be true to the game, because the game will be true to you. If you try to shortcut the game, then the game will shortcut you. If you put forth the effort, good things will be bestowed upon you. That's truly about the game, and in some ways that's about life too."

- Michael Jordan

"Sometimes, things may not go your way, but the effort should be there every single night."

- Michael Jordan

"I've never lost a game, I just ran out of time."

- Michael Jordan

"Don't let them drag you down by rumors just go with what you believe in."

- Michael Jordan

"The minute you get away from fundamentals – whether its proper technique, work ethic or mental preparation – the bottom can fall out of your game, your schoolwork, your job, whatever you're doing."

- Michael Jordan

"My mother is my root, my foundation. She planted the seed that I base my life on, and that is the belief that the ability to achieve starts in your mind."

- Michael Jordan

"You can practice shooting 8 hours a day, but if your technique is wrong, then all you become is very good at shooting the wrong way. Get the fundamentals down and the level of everything you do will rise."

- Michael Jordan

"Sometimes you need to get hit in the head to realize that you're in a fight."

- Michael Jordan

"Once I made a decision, I never thought about it again."

- Michael Jordan

"What is love? Love is playing every game as if it's your last!"

- Michael Jordan

"Enjoy every minute of life. Never second-guess life."

- Michael Jordan

"I'm not out there sweating for three hours every day just to find out what it feels like to sweat."

- Michael Jordan

"When I was young, I had to learn the fundamentals of basketball. You can have all the physical ability in the world, but you still have to know the fundamentals."

- Michael Jordan

"I believe greatness is an evolutionary process that changes and evolves era to era."

- Michael Jordan

"I want to be the bridge to the next generation."

- Michael Jordan

"Just play. Have fun. Enjoy the game."

- Michael Jordan

"We all fly. Once you leave the ground, you fly. Some people fly longer than others."

- Michael Jordan

"I Own the guy guarding me"

- Michael Jordan

"I will not quit this game because of what the media has done to me."

- Michael Jordan

"Live the moment for the moment."

- Michael Jordan

"I built my talents on the shoulders of someone else's talent."

- Michael Jordan

"In college I never realized the opportunities available to a pro athlete. I've been given the chance to meet all kinds of people, to travel and expand my financial capabilities, to get ideas and learn about life, to create a world apart from basketball."

- Michael Jordan

"Winning isn't always championships."

- Michael Jordan

"I never thought a role model should be negative."

- Michael Jordan

"The game of basketball has been everything to me. My place of refuge, place I've always gone where I needed comfort and peace. It's been the site of intense pain and the most intense feelings of joy and satisfaction. It's a relationship that has evolved over time, given me the greatest respect and love for the game."

- Michael Jordan

"The game is my wife. It demands loyalty and responsibility, and it gives me back fulfillment and peace."

- Michael Jordan

"There is no 'i' in team but there is in win."

- Michael Jordan

"There is no 'I' in 'team,' but there is in 'win.'"

- Michael Jordan

"The basketball court for me, during a game, is the most peaceful place I can imagine. On the basketball court, I worry about nothing. When I'm out there, no one can bother me..."

- Michael Jordan

"My challenge when I came back was to face the young talent, dissect their games, and show them maybe that they needed to learn more about the game than just the money aspect."

- Michael Jordan

"It's heavy duty to try to do everything and please everybody. My job was to go out there and play the game of basketball as best I can and provide entertainment for everyone who wanted to watch basketball. Obviously, people may not agree with that; again, I can't live with what everyone's impression of what I should or what I shouldn't do."

- Michael Jordan

"I want to wake up every day and do whatever comes in my mind, and not feel pressure or obligations to do anything else in my life."

- Michael Jordan

"I think the players win the championship, and the organization has something to do with it, don't get me wrong. But don't try to put the organization above the players."

- Michael Jordan

"The best evaluation I can make of a player is to look in his eyes and see how scared they are."

- Michael Jordan

"There's only one Michael Jordan."

- Michael Jordan

"There is no such thing as a perfect basketball player, and I don't believe there is only one greatest player either."

- Michael Jordan

"My heroes are and were my parents. I can't see having anyone else as my heroes."

- Michael Jordan

"When I was playing before I retired, I never really understood the appreciation and the respect that people gave me. People had treated me like a god or something, and that was very embarrassing."

- Michael Jordan

"Ultimately, if you can say that I'm a bad owner and we're winning championships, I can live with that. But if we're not making the playoffs and we're spending and losing money, then I have to look in the mirror and say maybe I'm not taking the necessary steps to doing what it takes to run an organization."

- Michael Jordan

"I know the signs of scaredness."

- Michael Jordan

"Even when I'm old and gray, I won't be able to play it, but I'll still love the game."

- Michael Jordan

"The good part about being famous is being able to help people. The hard part is every day you have to be in a good mood, because that is what people expect. You learn to get good at it."

- Michael Jordan

"As athletes, we're used to reacting quickly. Here, it's 'come, stop, come, stop.' There's a lot of downtime. That's the toughest part of the day."

- Michael Jordan

"In reality, I never want to grow up."

- Michael Jordan

"I realize I'm black, but id like to be viewed as a person, and that is everybody's wish."

- Michael Jordan

"I want to play for years."

- Michael Jordan

"I'm patient."

- Michael Jordan

"How many times have your parents told you not to do things, and the next thing you know, you go do it? And you realized you shouldn't have done it."

- Michael Jordan

"In any investment, you expect to have fun and make money."

- Michael Jordan

"I won't have any competitive instincts in any sports, other than golf. I can't see being competitive in sports any more."

- Michael Jordan

"I can't speak for the future. I have no crystal ball."

- Michael Jordan

"It is nerve-wracking watching my kids' games."

- Michael Jordan

"I'm not a Twitterer, I'm not a twerker, I'm not a Facebooker, I'm not nothing. I'm old school."

- Michael Jordan