83 Quotes by Bill Russell

What’s more important than who’s going to be the first black manager is who’s going to be the first black sports editor of the New York Times.

We learn to make a shell for ourselves when we are young and then spend the rest of our lives hoping for someone to reach inside and touch us. Just touch us – anything more than that would be too much for us to bear.

Heart in champions has to do with the depth of our motivation and how well your mind and body react to pressure – that is, being able to do what you do best under maximum pain and stress.

Remember that basketball is a game of habits. If you make the other guy deviate from his habits, you’ve got him.

Don’t knock the ball in the stands, keep it in your hands!

If Shakespeare can compare all of life to a stage, maybe it’s not odd to believe that part of the play can take place on a basketball court.

If you can take something to levels that very few other people can reach, then what you’re doing becomes art.

The last five or six days, I’ve been running. The last two days, I’ve been running pretty hard. Everybody’s got to be someplace.

We couldn’t sustain it. And they got a lot of kids that can shoot. We just couldn’t close out well enough.