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Michael Jordan Quotes

20 quotes from Michael Jordan — Six-time NBA champion with the Chicago Bulls and widely considered the greatest basketball player of all time..

Read the full Michael Jordan playbook →

“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.”

Perseverance

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

Motivation

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

Perseverance

“Always turn a negative situation into a positive situation.”

Positivity

“There is no 'i' in team but there is in win.”

Teamwork

“Limits, like fear, is often an illusion.”

Fear

“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.”

Competition

“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.”

Success

“I play to win, whether during practice or a real game.”

Competition

“Be true to the game, because the game will be true to you.”

Integrity

“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.”

Resilience

“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.”

Freedom

“God, is this what the NBA is about?”

— Michael Jordan, on his rookie-year hotel room encounter with teammates

“I think it puts you on a different level when you start asking for things. When you want to be in an influential space with someone, you want not to have that detriment, that little layer between you, that just makes a difference.”

— Phil Jackson, on building trust with Jordan

“There's Michael Jordan and then there is the rest of us.”

— Magic Johnson

“I think he's God disguised as Michael Jordan.”

— Larry Bird, after Jordan scored 63 points against Boston, April 20, 1986

“That's tough. You try to find other ways of providing that energy. There's business, and my attitude to prove that I can be successful in that world. Everyone thinks I did such a terrible job in Washington. And now it's a challenge to prove them wrong.”

— Michael Jordan, on his competitive drive (GQ, 2007)

“Other than my parents, no one had a bigger influence on my life than Coach Smith. He was more than a coach — he was my mentor, my teacher, my second father.”

— Michael Jordan, on Dean Smith's influence

“I wasn't afraid. It needed to be looked at from a whole different perspective, and that's why we are here.”

— Michael Jordan, testifying in federal court, December 5, 2025

“If they are going to be mad at me because I'm trying to lead a positive life, then I must be steppin' on some very soft toes there.”

— Michael Jordan, on drug use among teammates (GQ, 1988)

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Michael Jordan

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Michael Jordan

Six-time NBA champion with the Chicago Bulls and widely considered the greatest basketball player of all time.