If I don't ask Why me? after my victories, I cannot ask Why me? after my setbacks and disasters.

I have become convinced that we blacks spend too much time on the playing field and too little time in libraries.

When we were together, I loved you deeply and you gave me so much happiness I can never repay you.

My potential is more than can be expressed within the bounds of my race or ethnic identity.

A wise person decides slowly but abides by these decisions.

True heroism is remarkably sober, very undramatic. It is not the urge to surpass all others at whatever cost, but the urge to serve others at whatever cost.

One important key to success is self-confidence. An important key to self-confidence is preparation.

You really are never playing an opponent. You are playing yourself.

Wherever I am when you feel sick at heart and weary of life, or when you stumble and fall and don't know if you can get up again, think of me. I will be watching and smiling and cheering you on.

You learn about equality in history and civics, but you find out life is not really like that.

We must believe in the power of education. We must respect just laws. We must love ourselves, our old and or young, our women as well as our men.

From what we get, we can make a living; what we give, however, makes a life.

In America you're conditioned to regard everything as a contest. You have to make the Ten Best Dressed List, win this, win that. It drives me nuts sometimes. Who cares, for Christ's sake?

Sometimes, a defeat can be more beautiful and satisfying than certain victories. The English have a point in insisting that it matters not who won or lost, but how you played the game.

Someone once told me that God figured that I was a pretty good juggler. I could keep a lot of balls in the air at one time. So He said, Let's see if he can juggle another one.

Martina's like the old Green Bay Packers. You know exactly what she's going to do, but there isn't a thing you can do about it.

Fear isn't an excuse to come to a standstill. It's the impetus to step up and strike.

A couple of times a day I sit quietly and visualize my body fighting the AIDS virus. It's the same as me sitting and seeing myself hit the perfect serve. I did that often when I was an athlete.

I keep sailing on in this middle passage. I am sailing into the wind and the dark. But I am doing my best to keep my boat steady and my sails full.

If I were to say, 'God, why me?' about the bad things, then I should have said, 'God, why me?' about the good things that happened in my life.