Quotes by Jerry West

I've always been someone who has been very driven. I think my circumstances, how I grew up, hard work and work ethic are absolutely vital to any success that people might have, regardless of what they might be doing.

I think, at the end of the day, when you hear the same voice all the time, it goes in one ear and out the other when you're a player.

You have to win games by scoring points, of course, so that's important. But when you're having nights against a good defensive team, you have to win in a different manner. You have to win a defensive-type game.

Many people, men in particular, just can't not be active. I guess our minds demand that we seek other challenges.

That's a strong sign of a good coach, to let an assistant participate. It shows his confidence in the coach's ability not to have to dominate everything.

The passion to win games, the incredible, focused energy and also the camaraderie of the team were all things that I really loved.

I was disappointed if I didn't have a chance to win a game, and if I had the chance and didn't do it.

The NBA used to be a small band of basketball groupies. Now there are a lot more corporate-type people working in the league.

Don't let talent get in way of team performance. Great players do what's outstanding for team, not what makes them stand out.

Fear of failure, it's the greatest motivational tool. It drives me and drives me and drives me.

I've seen a lot in my life. I've seen a lot of winning. I've seen a lot of testing times. I think when you're tested, you really find out what you're made of.

Personalities seem in many cases to dominate the lucrative endorsement market. But that doesn't upset me. What upsets me is when not enough attention is paid to the product-the game.

If you can't see someone's got a game with great personality, you shouldn't be out there looking.

There are many players who don't measure up to their marketability.

The marketing of players has created untold wealth for many sports stars. You can't blame them or the company that covets the relationship with them, but that doesn't mean the player is good.

As a player all you can do is play within yourself, even in the context of a team sport.

When time is running out and the score is close, most players are thinking, I don't want to be the one to lose the game, but I'm thinking, What do I have to do to win?

The trick in writing children's books is to set up danger, mystery and excitement on page one. Force the kid to turn the page ... Then in the middle of each chapter there's a dramatic point of excitement, and at chapter's end, a cliffhanger.

You need lofty goals. Then cement it with a great work ethic.

I often do things that surprise me, not to mention others.

For some reason, I always wanted to work in an environment where things weren't so good. I'm no messiah, but I always wanted to try and make a difference where a team hadn't prospered.

Anything can happen with hard work and dedication.

To have harmony on a team, you need a coach who can get inside the head of every player and get them all pulling in one direction.

I'm still very much a West Virginia boy. I haven't forgotten my roots, because that's really who I am.

Obviously, stats are important tools, but I think there's something behind those things; somewhere along the way, you've got to try to look inside someone.

There's always two or three players I like, and why I like them, I can't tell you. There's just something about them I think would be great on a team.

When the Warriors are on, my wife keeps away from me. I'm a rabid fan, and my language sometimes is not too good.

A lot of people would be happy that they got through a long career and had a chance to play as many times in the finals. To me, I wanted to win for the franchise and for the people. And when you can't do that, it's devastating, particularly for someone like me.

The Lakers had been home to me, unlike the home I had grown up and felt apart from.

I went a few times, but I felt there was no way that any therapist could understand my particular torment and also felt in some respects they were sicker than I was.

I've been so low sometimes and when everyone else would be so high because I didn't like myself.

I've seen a lot in my life. I've seen a lot of winning. I've seen a lot of testing times. I think when you're tested, you really find out what you're made of, OK?

A couple teams will grind the shot clock down. Most of the time coaches do that, it's usually a talent deficit. They can't compete against the better teams.

At one time, we were asked to play your own man; you're responsible for your own man. And, if you were good enough and kind of a ball hawk, you helped everyone else. Now it's really much more of a team concept defensively than it was when we played.

I hated to miss games... at the height of my career, I missed a lot of games due to... just a hamstring pull. And I hated sitting out. I just hated it. You play for your team, but you also play for the people who attend the games.

I've always been really nationalistic, and I had a brother killed in Korea. And I think the 'Star Spangled Banner,' even today -- and I've heard it a heckuva lot of times, OK -- has always been a significant feeling to me.

The 3-point line has changed the game so much. The day of the big man, unless you're extraordinary good, is not numbered, but certainly you gotta be a lot more versatile to play the game today. You gotta be able to really run up and down the court.

I'm not one who likes to be honored, to be honest with you. That's never been who I am.

I have often wondered why I was never captain of the Lakers.

You need to possess more than a little nastiness to play basketball at the highest level.

I'd go fishing and always pretend I would catch the biggest fish. I'd stay out there for hours after everybody else left until I caught something. When I shot baskets, I was always the coach and star player and always made the winning shot.

Kevin Garnett was a great player, but he wasn't Kobe Bryant.

Some guys lay their fannies out there every night -- they play the game at such a high level, and they give so much that, frankly, they don't get credit for it. And I think it's tragic sometimes.

Everyone always says you have to be on the best team, the team that wins. Oh, no, no, no. I disagree with that.

I see people that have success, and I see how poised and polished they are and how they handle it. I wonder inside if they feel the same way that I feel.

Even though I felt, at times, 'My goodness, you're among the upper echelon,' there is still a huge void there. A huge void. It is about self-esteem. That's a thing that has always been a real complex part of my life.

Self-esteem is something I still battle. People look at me and say, 'You've got fame. You've got admiration. You've done this; you've done that.' As far as I'm concerned, I haven't done anything. I've just fulfilled a dream of competing.

I'm at the point where you look back on your life and reflect. I've always been an unbelievable critic of me. If we lost a game, I blamed myself every night. I'm very proud of some of the things I did as an athlete, as an executive.

A shot is a lever; it's all it is. You don't open a car door differently each time. A car door is efficient -- it opens and closes. So is a shot.

You get so addicted to winning that you don't want that feeling to stop.

In the playoffs, the best players are supposed to play better. I did. It made no difference.

If I'm not nervous, if I don't have at least a little bit of the same self-doubt and anxious feelings I had when I started playing, then it will be time for me to go on. I must have that tension.

I'm surprised when the ball doesn't go into the hoop. I think I should make every shot.

Defensively, from a team standpoint, I didn't feel I played very well. Very rarely was I satisfied with how I played.

There's been so many unbelievable players in Los Angeles, maybe the best of the best.

Coaches who have been players in the league, they get so attuned to playing how they were successful and who their coaches were.

I hate to say it's not a Laker but Michael Jordan. He's been the greatest player I've ever seen. And I'm probably a harsh judge of talent in the sense that I admire players that are really good defensive players and really good offensive players.

I remember, years ago, if I had had an opportunity to leave the Lakers, I would have left for one reason: because I did not like an owner that was not telling me the truth. And it would have made no difference what they would have offered me; I would have left.

The support this city and our fans have shown the Grizzlies made my decision to stay in Memphis an easy one. Memphis deserves a championship team, and I am committed to that.

I don't know anything else but the Lakers. This has certainly been more than a job for me as a player. It has certainly meant more to me than just an occupation.

It's discouraging for me to come out there and watch the lack of fan support for a good team.

Confidence is a lot of this game or any game. If you don't think you can, you won't.

When it's time for me to walk away from something, I walk away from it. My mind, my body, my conscience tell me that enough is enough.

I'm a Gemini. Know what that means? There are two very different sides to me.

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

To be candid with you, free agency hurts all sports. It's great for athletes making an enormous amount of money. But to say it helps the sports, I don't believe that.

I enjoy winning, but more importantly, I enjoy the people I'm around.

If you don't want to win, you don't want to be around me.

I'm just ultracompetitive. I will be till they put me in the grave.