50 Short Inspirational Basketball Quotes to Ignite Your Passion

"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 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

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

- Phil Jackson

"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

"Winning isn’t everything, but wanting to win is."

- Vince Lombardi

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

- Kevin Durant

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

- Tim Duncan

"Life’s battles don’t always go to the stronger or faster man; but sooner or later the man who wins is the man who thinks he can."

- Vince Lombardi

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

- Michael Jordan

"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

"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

"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

"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

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

- Kobe Bryant

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

- Michael Jordan

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

- Kobe Bryant

"Once you know what failure feels like, determination chases success."

- Kobe Bryant

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

- Michael Jordan

"Hard work isn’t enough. You gotta believe."

- Derrick Rose

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

- Michael Jordan

"The key to success is failure."

- Michael Jordan

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

- 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

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

- Kobe Bryant

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

- Tom Landry

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

- Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

"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

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

- José Mourinho

"Instead of wanting to win, we expected to win. There’s a lifetime between wanting something and expecting something. When you expect something, it means you’ve prepared, done the work, and EXPECT TO WIN!!"

- Red McCombs

"The difference between a successful person and others is not a lack of strength, not a lack of knowledge, but rather in a lack of will."

- Vince Lombardi

"Winning is a habit, but unfortunately so is losing."

- Vince Lombardi

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

- Shaquille O'Neal

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

- Kobe Bryant

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

- Larry Bird

"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

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

- Michael Jordan

"Ask me to steal, block out, sacrifice, lead, dominate, anything. But it’s not what you ask of me; it’s what I ask of myself."

- LeBron James

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

- Magic Johnson

"Ability may get you to the top, but it takes character to keep you there."

- John Wooden

"A team will always appreciate a great individual if he’s willing to sacrifice for the group."

- Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

"No one plays this or any game perfectly. It’s the guy who recovers from his mistakes who wins."

- Phil Jackson

"Good teams become great ones when the members trust each other enough to surrender the Me for the We."

- Phil Jackson

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

- Stephen Curry

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

- Sheryl Swoopes

"Failure doesn't exist"

- Kobe Bryant

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

- Paul "Bear" Bryant

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

- Kobe Bryant

"I wasn’t a point guard. I was a killer."

- Allen Iverson

"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

"It’s OK to make mistakes. That’s how we learn. When we compete, we make mistakes."

- Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

"The important thing is that your teammates have to know you’re pulling for them, and you really want them to be successful."

- Kobe Bryant

"Create unselfishness as the most important team attribute."

- Bill Russell

"If you’re not making mistakes, then you’re not doing anything. I’m positive that a doer makes mistakes."

- John Wooden

"My whole life, people have doubted me. My mom did. People told me in high school I was too short and not fast enough to play basketball. They didn’t know my story. Because if they did, they’d know that anything is possible."

- Jimmy Butler

"A winner is someone who recognizes his God-given talents, works his tail off to develop them into skills, and uses these skills to accomplish his goals."

- Larry Bird

"Your mark is what you do on a day when you don't want to do it. How good are you on a day when you just don't have it? Can you push yourself that day? That's a mark of your character."

- Bob Hurley, Sr.

"I’d rather have more heart than talent any day."

- Allen Iverson

"Haters are a good problem to have. Nobody hates the good ones. They hate the great ones."

- Kobe Bryant

"The worst has happened. The best is next."

- Paul George

"He who expects not to achieve will never do so."

- Caron Butler

"Dream as if you’ll live forever. Live as if you’ll die today."

- LeBron James

"Trust the process."

- Joel Embiid

"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

"Don’t let what other people think decide who you are."

- Dennis Rodman

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

- Vince Lombardi

"I don't know what I'm going to do tomorrow. I just know for sure I'm going to keep playing basketball."

- Kevin Durant

"All dreams are crazy. Until they come true."

- Dirk Nowitzki

"So many people doubted me. They motivated me every single day to be who I am."

- Kevin Durant

"I've never been afraid of big moments. I get butterflies... I get nervous and anxious, but I think those are all good signs that I'm ready for the moment."

- Stephen Curry

"For a small player to make it, he has to work twice as hard. If you have the talent and motivation to work at it, you can make it."

- Earl Boykins

"When I played with Michael Jordan on the Olympic team, there was a huge gap between his ability and the ability of the other great players on that team. But what impressed me was that he was always the first one on the floor and the last one to leave."

- Steve Alford

"There are only two options regarding commitment. You're either in, or you're out. There's no such thing as 'life in-between'."

- Pat Riley

"Coaches shouldn't have to push you to work hard. You should push yourself because you want to be a great player."

- Bobby Knight

"No one is bigger than the team. If you can't do things our way, you're not getting time here, and we don't care who you are."

- Gregg Popovich

"Some say you have to use your five best players, but I found out you win with the five that fit together best as a team."

- Red Auerbach

"A lot of people notice when you succeed, but they don't see what it takes to get there."

- Dawn Staley

"It's what you get from games you lose that is extremely important."

- Pat Riley

"I really get motivated when I have doubters"

- Shaquille O'Neal

"What do you do with a mistake: recognize it, admit it, learn from it, forget it."

- Dean Smith

"Most people have the will to win, few have the will to prepare to win."

- Bobby Knight

"If you are afraid of failure, you don’t deserve to be successful!"

- Charles Barkley

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

- Bill Russell

"You can’t get much done in life if you only work on the days when you feel good."

- Jerry West

"We wait for life to get easier. But life never gets easier. What happens is you handle hard better."

- Kara Lawson

"Nothing can get to me – the criticism [or] the compliments."

- Muggsy Bogues

"I like the challenge of getting players to rise to certain levels, but that's the easy part. The biggest challenge is to get them to believe in what we're doing. They have to understand that it's O.K. to have good days and bad days."

- Dawn Staley

"I tell our guys everyday, every person on the roster can help us win a game by making just one play."

- Steve Kerr

"Be strong in body, clean in mind, lofty in ideals."

- James Naismith

"I think that my God-given physical attributes, big hands, and big feet, the way that I'm built, proportion-wise, just made basketball the most inviting sport for me to play."

- Julius Erving

"Average players want to be left alone. Good players want to be coached. Great players want to be told the truth."

- Doc Rivers

"Practice shared suffering. If one guy messes up, everyone runs. If one guy does well, everyone benefits."

- Don Meyer

"I believe you win games by what you do from your first practice until your first game."

- Dr. Jack Ramsay

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

- Walt Disney

"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

"Failure isn’t fatal, and success isn’t final."

- Don Shula

"If not us, who? If not now, when?"

- John F. Kennedy

"Your best player has to set a tone of intolerance for anything that gets in the way of winning."

- Jeff van Gundy

"It takes three things to be a 'special' player: talent, character, and competitive fire."

- Kevin Eastman

"Systems win! Believe in your system, and then sell it to your players."

- Billy Donovan

"Be a dreamer. If you don’t know how to dream, you’re dead."

- Jim Valvano

"Create havoc, create destruction."

- Dennis Rodman

"Winning is the science of being totally prepared."

- George Allen, Sr.

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

- Scottie Pippen

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

- Pat Riley

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

- Derek Fisher

"My philosophy of defense is to keep the pressure on an opponent until you get to his emotions"

- John Wooden

"Don’t think about winning. Think about dominating!"

- Pierre Pryor

"Don't ever have a rule that you won't enforce with your best player."

- Doug Collins

"Failure is the opportunity to begin again, more intelligently."

- Henry Ford

"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

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

- David Campbell

"The biggest thing that I felt basketball could do for me was help me get a good education."

- Julius Erving

"Defense tells you if you won or not, offense tells you by how much."

- Danny Hurley

"He who endures conquers."

- Italian Proverb

"Opportunities are usually disguised as hard work, so most people don’t recognize them."

- Ann Landers

"Find your own picture, your own self in anything that goes bad. It’s awfully easy to mouth off at your staff or chew out players, but if it’s bad, and your the head coach, you’re responsible. If we have an intercepted pass, I threw it. I’m the head coach. If we get a punt blocked, I caused it. A bad practice, a bad game, it’s up to the head coach to assume his responsibility."

- Paul "Bear" Bryant

"The more your players have to think on the basketball court, the slower their feet get."

- Jerry Tarkanian

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

- Wilt Chamberlain

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

- Charles Barkley

"The things which hurt, instruct."

- Ben Franklin

"Winning is overemphasized. The only time it is really important is in surgery and war."

- Al McGuire

"If anything goes bad, I did it. Anything goes semi-good, we did it. If anything goes really good, then you did it. That’s all it takes to get people to win football games for you."

- Paul “Bear” Bryan

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

- Hakeem Olajuwon

"Nothing is particularly hard if you divide it into small jobs."

- Henry Ford

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

- Michael Jordan

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

- Unknown

"Championships are won in empty gyms, long before the crowds fill the stands. Put in the work when no one's watching."

- Unknown

"A winning shot is the result of countless hours of practice, sweat, and unwavering belief in yourself."

- Unknown

"Champions aren't born, they're made through sweat, sacrifice, and the refusal to quit."

- Unknown

"Every loss is an opportunity to learn, grow, and come back stronger. Never let defeat define you."

- Unknown

"Don't let the fear of missing a shot hold you back. Take your chances, learn from your mistakes, and keep shooting for your dreams."

- Unknown

"When you're at the free-throw line, the crowd fades away. It's just you, the ball, and the net. That's pure focus."

- Unknown

"The scoreboard doesn't define you; your work ethic, your heart, and your passion do."

- Unknown

"The game is never over until the final buzzer. In life, there's always time for a comeback."

- Unknown

"The true champions aren't always the ones with the most trophies, but the ones who never give up on themselves or their teammates."

- Unknown

"Basketball is a game of heart, hustle, and the unwavering belief in yourself and your team."

- Unknown

"In the game of life, as in basketball, never stop shooting for your dreams."

- Unknown

"Basketball teaches us that with hard work, dedication, and the support of our friends, anything is possible."

- Unknown

"The three-point line is just a suggestion. Your range is limited only by your confidence and practice."

- Unknown

"In basketball, the ball is your voice. Make it speak with every dribble, pass, and shot you take."

- Unknown

"The greatest plays are born from the trust and understanding between teammates."

- Unknown

"On the court, we're a team. Off the court, we're family."

- Unknown

"A true teammate celebrates your successes as much as their own."

- Unknown

"The final buzzer doesn't end the passion; it ignites the hunger for next season."

- Unknown

"Every loss is a lesson, every win a stepping stone. The season's end is just the start of a new chapter."

- Unknown

"The true test of friendship is how we support each other through the tough times, both on and off the court."

- Unknown

"When we fall, our teammates are there to pick us up. That's what makes basketball friendships so special."

- Unknown

"The friendships we make through basketball are some of the strongest bonds we'll ever have."

- Unknown

"The scoreboard doesn't define us; it's how we played the game and what we learned that truly matters."

- Unknown

"Basketball is just a game, but the friendships we make are forever."

- Unknown

"Don't worry about getting older, you're just getting closer to being a basketball legend."

- Unknown

"Praise in public, criticize in private."

- Unknown