Slam Dunk Your Goals with These 50 Basketball Quotes

July 30, 2025

“I can accept failure, everyone fails at something. But I can’t accept not trying.” — Michael Jordan
“Hard work beats talent when talent doesn’t work hard.” — Tim Notke
“You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.” — Wayne Gretzky*
“Failure is an option. It’s a required ingredient for success.” — Charles Barkley
“It’s not about the shoes—it’s what you do in them.” — Michael Jordan
“If you’re afraid of failure you don’t deserve to be successful.” — Charles Barkley
“Push yourself again and again. Don’t give an inch until the final buzzer sounds.” — Larry Bird

“Talent wins games, but teamwork and intelligence wins championships.” — Michael Jordan
“The strength of the team is each individual member. The strength of each member is the team.” — Phil Jackson
“You can’t win unless you learn how to lose.” — Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
“Coaches want players who hustle. I just love to run.” — Magic Johnson
“Great players are willing to give up their own personal achievement for the achievement of the group.” — Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
“A team is not a group of people who work together. A team is a group of people who trust each other.” — Simon Sinek
“Leaders don’t force people to follow—they invite them on a journey.” — Charles S. Lauer

“I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life—and that is why I succeed.” — Michael Jordan
“Champions keep playing until they get it right.” — Billie Jean King
“You have to expect things of yourself before you can do them.” — Michael Jordan
“Winning isn’t everything, but wanting to win is.” — Vince Lombardi
“Pressure is a privilege.” — Billie Jean King
“If you don’t believe in yourself, no one will.” — Kobe Bryant
“Confidence is silent. Insecurities are loud.” — Unknown

“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
“The best teachers are those who show you where to look but don’t tell you what to see.” — Alexandra K. Trenfor
“There is no substitute for hard work.” — Thomas Edison*
“Success is no accident. It is hard work, perseverance, learning, studying, sacrifice and most of all, love of what you are doing.” — Pelé*
“Every strike brings me closer to the next home run.” — Babe Ruth*
“The difference between ordinary and extraordinary is that little extra.” — Jimmy Johnson
“Don’t practice until you get it right. Practice until you can’t get it wrong.” — Jerry West

“The game is my wife. It demands loyalty and responsibility.” — Michael Jordan
“I play to win, whether during practice or a real game.” — Michael Jordan
“Basketball is like photography, if you don’t focus, all you have is the negative.” — Dan Frisby
“Some people want it to happen, some wish it would happen, others make it happen.” — Michael Jordan
“The most important thing is to try and inspire people so that they can be great in whatever they want to do.” — Kobe Bryant
“Be so good they can’t ignore you.” — Steve Martin*
“You can’t put a limit on anything. The more you dream, the farther you get.” — Michael Phelps*

“You have to expect things of yourself before you can do them.” — Michael Jordan
“The more difficult the victory, the greater the happiness in winning.” — Pelé*
“Push yourself again and again. Don’t give an inch until the final buzzer sounds.” — Larry Bird
“I play to win all the time.” — Michael Jordan
“Sometimes you win, sometimes you learn.” — John Maxwell*
“Excellence is the gradual result of always striving to do better.” — Pat Riley
“Don’t let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do.” — John Wooden
“Adversity causes some men to break; others to break records.” — William Arthur Ward*
“Great things come from hard work and perseverance.” — Kobe Bryant
“Dream as if you’ll live forever. Live as if you’ll die today.” — James Dean*
“In order to succeed, we must first believe that we can.” — Nikos Kazantzakis*
“You can’t get much done in life if you only work on the days you feel good.” — Jerry West
“It’s not whether you get knocked down; it’s whether you get up.” — Vince Lombardi
“What you’re thinking is what you’re becoming.” — Anonymous
“You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.” — Wayne Gretzky