Quotes by LeBron James

Nothing is given. Everything is earned.

I like criticism. It makes you strong.

There are always people always asking you for something. But I feel like I have a foundation. I have a supporting cast where it doesn't bother me too much.

You know, I'm just 6'9 and 260. And just so happen to be very good at playing the game of basketball.

I'm ready to accept the challenge. I'm coming home.

If they are the league ain't doing a good job of it.

Being the only man in the household with my mom definitely helped me grow up fast.

I do Pilates and yoga to stay in front of the curve. I feel like it's helping me. Does it work for everybody? I don't know. I'm not a guru on how to be in the best condition. Let me sit here and tell you that. But it works for me.

Every practice, every film session, every game will help our chemistry.

I might play in shorts, but I wear the pants.

They continue to criticize me for my outside shooting, but I continue to make outside shots.

I'm like a superhero. Call me Basketball Man.

I never rushed the fact that I wanted to be in the NBA or rushed the fact, you know, they asked me about the NBA. I always (unintelligible) back to the fact that I just love playing with my teammates.

That's all our team is about. If we stop people, we're the most athletic team in this whole tournament and we can get out and get easy buckets.

The man above has given me some unbelievable abilities to play the game of basketball. I just try to take advantage of it every night. I got the trust of my teammates and my coaching staff to go in there and let it go.

There's no encyclopedia or book about parenthood. You learn on the fly.

I'm a pretty funny guy, and I would love to do a comedy with a bunch of funny guys -- movie-star guys, where they could help me through it.

I'm very, very confident in my ability to see the game -- even before it's played.

But I mean, even my family gets spoiled at times watching me doing things that I do, on and off the court.

I just do what I got to do and go out and be myself, on and off the court, and take care of my obligations. That's generally your own destiny-knowing what you have to take care of.

Ask me to play. I'll play. Ask me to shoot. I'll shoot. Ask me to pass. I'll pass. Ask me to steal, block out, sacrifice, lead, dominate. Anything. But it's not what you ask of me. It's what I ask of myself.

Losing a basketball game hurts but when you see what you've been through, you look on it and say well if this is the worst thing that can happen to me, then I'm okay.

You know, when I have a bad game, it continues to humble me and know that, you know, you still have work to do and you still have a lot of people to impress.

Everywhere I've been, I've been the best player. I love being a leader, and I love being the best. I just want to get better. It's not about being cocky or selfish or anything like that. It's just how I am.

The best thing that ever happened to me was losing last year in the Finals. I had to change.

I've given these guys the blueprint on how to win a premiership, now I just have to be patient until they're ready.

That's one of my biggest obstacles. I'm afraid of failure. I want to succeed so bad that I become afraid of failing.

That's crazy, because I had no idea what the word 'contraction' meant before I saw it on the Internet.

In fourth grade, I missed 82 days of school. Out of 160.

Some times your best effort just isn't good enough.

As a society how do we do better and stop things like this happening time after time! I'm so sorry to these families. Violence is not the answer people. Retaliation isn't the solution as well.

I love the success of my teammates more than my individual achievements. I've just always cared more about that since I started playing.

It's a humbling experience for me to be in this position.

Commitment is a big part of what I am and what I believe. How committed are you to winning? How committed are you to being a good friend?

I love showcasing my talents -- not only to my hometown fans and my own team but to the world.

You learn from mistakes, you learn from losses, but this game doesn't put something on me where it's, 'Hey, I've finally done it. This was a big game. We won it and we have to move on.'

Sometimes the coaches tell me to be selfish, but my game won't let me be selfish.

I have a responsibility to lead, in more ways than one, and I take that very seriously.

A kid with a dream from Akron Ohio. Now chopping it up with the Prez. Life is Good.

I can't play the game of basketball and live my life on what other people expect me to do or what they think I should do. That doesn't make me happy. What makes me happy is being able to make plays for my teammates, to be able to represent the name on the back of my jersey.

I'm under a super microscope. I've got my friends to keep me cool. As long as you've got friends, you've got nothing to worry about.

It all depends on how you want to define what an MVP is. I've been fortunate to win the trophy four times, but I've been the MVP of my team for a long time -- just because of the way I lead and the way I approach us being professionals off the floor.

My favorite thing about being a father is just seeing my kids grow and do some of the same things that I did when I was a kid, man.

I never thought basketball was going to be my future. I just wanted to play because it gets you girls.

I'm not promising a championship. I know how hard that is to deliver. We're not ready right now.

Just because we are back home, don't get comfortable. Have that same uptight feeling like it's just us against everyone.

We have to continue at a high level and make them take tough shots.

The group of guys I have... They are playing off straight motivation.

I didn't think we'd get to this point that we're at now, but I was ready to lead If we got to this point.

Everything is sore right now. Everything. I look like I'm doing okay but I can't wait to get home.

We aren't comfortable. We are not satisfied. We have to stay even-keeled.

These fans here are unbelievable. They showed up and showed out tonight. We needed every little bit of it.

Tonight we had our chances but we ran out of talent.

That team across the way, you tip your hat to them. They did a great job. It showed in these Finals.

But put my body through a lot, you know, but it's the price for your body feeling this way for winning. Did I win? I didn't win a championship, but I've done a lot of good things in this first year back, and hopefully I can continue it.

We defended. We made them keep tough shots, and we executed offensively.

A team like Golden State, when they get into a rhythm they make shots.

My family is happy. That makes my job a lot easier. For the fans, I try to put it all out there on the floor.

I'm a guy who tries to be successful in all that I do, and when you fall short, it hurts.

I don't know any other other team that got to the finals without two all stars.

We ran out of talent tonight. The guys played as hard as they could, as long as we could.

The same way you slow me down: … You can't.

If you put everything together as far as my mind, my body, my game. If you put everything in one bottle, this is probably the best I've been.

I've got extra motivation that I won't talk about right now.

I wouldn't feel good about it at all. At the end of the day I'm here to win a team prize, and that's to win a championship, not an individual prize.

Obviously I'm not getting much sleep. You guys can see I'm not getting much sleep right now, but I'm OK with that. I'm OK with not sleeping to be able to prepare myself and mentally keep myself intact on what's the main objective for me right now.

To be honest, the play that was drawn up, I scratched it. I just told coach, 'Give me the ball.' We're either going to go to overtime or I'm going to win it for us. It was that simple.

They jumped on us. They were the aggressor. They had us on our heels from the beginning.

We lost one (Finals), we won two and we lost another one. (We'll) take 50 percent in four years in championships any day. Obviously, we want to win all of them, but that's just the nature of the game. Not proud of the way we played (in this series).

I'm feeling better after the game than I did when I came off the floor with cramps. ... I was going to try to give it a go, and 'Spo said 'No.' You know, after I came out of the game, they kind of took off. And it was frustrating sitting out and not being able to help the team.

Just wanted to inspire my teammates. Obviously, I didn't do enough.

I feel confident because I'm the best player in the world. It's that simple.

I don't need too much. Glamour and all that stuff don't excite me. I am just glad I have the game of basketball in my life.

I was so used to going out and winning state championships and playing in the postseason.

It's not just straight-line speed. He's got the agility and the quickness to go with it. His vision on the field is phenomenal. It just opens the playbook so much as a coach that I'm really looking forward to it.

This is a proud moment for our city. This is the first time we have won a Finals game in this city, and I'm happy to be part of the history.

A lot of people were saying that I was a selfish person and a selfish player. You know, it got to me.

I spoil a lot of people with my play. If you have three bad games in a seven-year career, people are going to point that out.

I'm going to take my talents to South Beach.

I'm taking my talents to South Beach.

You have to do what's best for you and what's going to make you happy at the end of the day, because no one can live with the consequences or anything that comes with your decision besides you.

The only thing on my mind right now is trying to win the whole thing.

Don't be afraid of failure. This is the way to succeed.

There's no reason to play in the NBA if you don't believe you can win it all.

I won at every level -- all the way since I started playing the game of basketball at nine. I've won at every level, won championships at every level. And, you know, it won't be fulfilled until I win at the highest level.

The best option for me to do was not to move. I tried, and any little nudge or step, it the cramping would get worse. It was the whole left leg ... nearly the whole left side. ... I drank a lot of fluids at halftime. I even changed my uniform.

As a man, if you got a problem with somebody, you sit down face to face and you talk to them eye to eye. And you hash it out and move on.

I will have no problem coming to practice on time. The locker room is great, but we have to prove ourselves on the court.

With that locker room I could sleep there after games.

I like to get out and get up the court, using my speed and aggressiveness toward the hoop.

James also revealed he and his teammates smoked marijuana one night after getting access to a hotel room in Akron.

I'm very good at noticing talent. I knew he was special then and obviously he is now.

Messi is the best player in the world. If he's not already, he'll be the best footballer of all time.

I just want you guys to see it also. To see what type of words that are said toward me, and towards us as professional athletes. Everybody thinks it is a bed of roses and it's not.

Once you become a professional athlete or once you do anything well, then you're automatically a role model ... I have no problem being a role model. I love it. I have kids looking up to me and hopefully I inspire these kids to do good things.

I don't want to be called a point guard, but I can't stop it.

It would be easier if I didn't even make the playoffs, it would hurt less. But then I start thinking about how much fun it is.

There is no room for Donald Sterling in our league -- there is no room for him.

I mean, when you grow up in the inner city and you grow up in a single-parent household, that's -- those are humbling times, you know?

My game is really played above time. I don't say that like I'm saying I'm ahead of my time. I'm saying, like, if I'm on the court and I throw a pass, the ball that I've thrown will lead my teammate right where he needs to go, before he even knows that that's the right place to go to.

Once you squeeze toothpaste out, you can't put it back into the tube. The same is true with our words. Once we say something hurtful, we can't take it back.

Once you get on the playing field it's not about whether you're liked or not liked. All that matters is to play at a high level and do whatever it takes to help your team win. That's what it's about.

D-Wade is the unselfish guy here-he is welcoming Chris Bosh and LeBron James to his team.

I've always been an unselfish guy, and that's the only way I know how to play on the court and I try to play to the maximum of my ability -- not only for myself but for my team-mates.

I just bring the determination to win.

The Greater Man upstairs know when it's my time. Right now isn't the time.

Certain money is not always good money. It could be just being at the wrong place at the wrong time. I mean, if you have your priorities in check then for the most part it's easy.

Steph is scary. I've never seen anyone who can shoot the ball off the dribble like him. He got it going in 4th. Every game is different.

Basketball is my passion, I love it. But my family and friends mean everything to me. That's what's important. I need my phone so I can keep in contact with them at all times.

I assure you, you will never survive on your wits alone.

It's a lot of talent sitting in suits.

We have an opportunity to get better.

But ever since I was a kid, I was always the winner.

I don't read books much.

I went through a lot of battles in high school.

Know that I'm better solo. I invented solo.

I enjoy the competition and whatever it takes throughout the competition, I will do it.

I love seeing my teammates succeed. That's what I get more excited about than anything.

My dream has become a reality now, and it's the best feeling I've ever had.

You know, softball is the other sport I do besides basketball.

If I could have gave more, I would have done it. I gave everything I had.

I'm LeBron James, from Akron, Ohio, from the inner city. I'm not even supposed to be here. That's enough. Every night I walk into the locker room, I see a No. 6 with James on the back, I'm blessed. So what everybody says about me off the court, don't matter. I ain't got no worries.

I'm not afraid of nothing, I just like the challenge, and I love being here.

You can't let nobody run your train.

You have to do what's best for you and what's going to make you happy at the end of the day because no one can live with the consequences or anything that comes with your decision besides you.

A double-minded man is unstable in all his ways.

Be doers of the word and not hearers only, deluding yourselves.

I was blessed with a God-given talent and my mother raised me the right way.

The best teacher in life is experience.

Maybe my pain was my motivation.

I was a Chicago Bulls, Michael Jordan fan growing up.

In this fall -- this is very tough -- in this fall I'm going to take my talents to South Beach and join the Miami Heat.

Am I responsible or are you', a senior official asked his pilot, dubiously beginning a flight to Baghdad, 'for seeing that this machine is not overloaded?' 'That will have to be decided at the inquest.

You lose in the Finals, they're all disappointing. Doesn't matter if I'm playing in Miami, Cleveland or on Mars. You lose the Finals, it's disappointing.

I started thinking about what it would be like to raise my family in my hometown. I looked at other teams, but I wasn't going to leave Miami for anywhere except Cleveland. The more time passed, the more it felt right. This is what makes me happy.

We hated Cleveland growing up. There's a lot of people in Cleveland we still hate to this day.

I always believed that I'd return to Cleveland and finish my career there.

I never wanted to leave Cleveland. My heart will always be in that area -- in a perfect world I would have loved to stay.

I got a goal, and it's a huge goal, and that's to bring an NBA championship here to Cleveland, and I won't stop until I get it.

If it wasn't for the determination and the will power we have in each other, we wouldn't have pulled through and got this win. Much respect to Spain, but the U.S. is back on top again.

People who say It is better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all never felt a broken heart.

But I get a thrill out of bringing a group together and helping them reach a place they didn't know they could go. I see myself as a mentor now and I'm excited to lead some of these talented young guys.

Before anyone ever cared where I would play basketball, I was a kid from Northeast Ohio. It's where I walked. It's where I ran. It's where I cried. It's where I bled. It holds a special place in my heart.

In Northeast Ohio, nothing is given. Everything is earned. You work for what you have.

My relationship with Northeast Ohio is bigger than basketball. I didn't realize that four years ago. I do now.

Akron, Ohio, is my home. It will always be remembered. Akron, Ohio, is my life.

The modern athlete is an individual corporation. I'm not quite sure it's very good for sport, or good for team work, or those different things that sport says it's about. This is about business.

There's that moment every morning when you look in the mirror: Are you committed, or are you not?

We did what we are supposed to. We protected home. We have to try to do it again Thursday night.

As loud as fans were , they need to go home now and start soaking up a lot of tea, drinking a lot of tea for the next 36 hours, whatever the case may be, 'cause they need to be just as loud Thursday night.

But then I lock back in and I start thinking about how fun it is to compete during the playoffs and the first round, the second round, and Eastern Conference Finals. If I'm lucky enough to get here again, it will be fun to do it.

When I miss you, sometimes I listen to music or look at pictures of you, not to remind me of you but to make me feel as if I'm with you. It makes me forget the distance and capture you.

I hear my friends and my mom tell me I'm special, but honestly, I still don't get it.

Cleveland fans are awesome.

Maybe the ones burning my jersey were never LeBron fans anyway.

Well, I mean, to me, I think my ultimate -- my ultimate goal is winning championships and -- and I understand that me going down as one of the greats will not happen until I, you know, win a championship.

For me, already being part of a single parent household and knowing it was just me and my mom, you'd would wake up times and hope that the next day you'd be able to be alongside your mother because she was out trying to make sure that I was taken care of. But all I cared about was her being home.

I played football for a team called the East Dragons on the east side of town. We only had six regular season games. And six games I played tail back and I had 18 touchdowns in six games. That's when I knew I had some athletic ability.

As a kid, we would drive up and down 77 North -- that's our highway -- there would be office buildings on the side of the highway and I'd be like, that's what my house is going to look like when I get older. I'm going to start making my house look like this.

There is a lot of pressure put on me, but I don't put a lot of pressure on myself. I feel if I play my game, it will take care of itself.

And winning is a huge thing for me.

Sometimes in the past when I played something might make me lose focus, or I would go home after a game where I thought I could have played better and I would let it hang over my head for a long time when it shouldn't.

There are some teams and logos you see, no matter where you are in the world, and you know exactly who they are and what they mean.

You know, God gave me a gift to do other things besides play the game of basketball.

Your teammates give you the confidence. They give me the confidence all year, all postseason.

But now, being a parent, I go home and see my son and I forget about any mistake I ever made or the reason I'm upset. I get home and my son is smiling or he comes running to me. It has just made me grow as an individual and grow as a man.

I never get too high on my stardom or what I can do.

But sports carried me away from being in a gang, or being associated with drugs. Sports was my way out.

You know, I'm just 6'9\ and 260. And just so happen to be very good at playing the game of basketball.

As a professional athlete a lot is going to be said about you -- but I just try to move forward and try to achieve my goals.

I'm not going to fight because I mean too much to our team, and I can't afford to be suspended for a game or do something stupid to get me kicked out of a playoff game.

The first time I stepped on an NBA court I became a businessman.

I do have motivation. A lot of motivation.

Warren Buffet told me once and he said always follow your gut. When you have that gut feeling, you have to go with don't go back on it.

My mom and I have always been there for each other. We had some tough times, but she was always there for me.

You have to be able to accept failure to get better.

You can't be afraid to fail. It's the only way you succeed -- you're not gonna succeed all the time, and I know that.

I am just happy to be part of the Nike family.

When I was 5, some financial things happened, and I moved seven times in a year. We moved from apartment to apartment, sometimes living with friends. My mom would always say, 'Don't get comfortable, because we may not be here long.'

I make impact plays. I make game-changing plays.

I always say, decisions I make, I live with them. There's always ways you can correct them or ways you can do them better. At the end of the day, I live with them.

I'm just a little kid from Akron.

If a great opportunity opens itself up, I would love to be involved... or star in a movie.

I love watching track and field -- the 4x100 relay, the 100-(meter) dash, the 200-(meter) dash. To see what they're able to do, I love watching that.

When did I know I had talent? I think it started when I first started playing sports, organized sports.

Akron, Ohio, is my home. I will always be here. I'm still working out at my old high school.

You know, my family and friends have never been yes-men: 'Yes, you're doing the right thing, you're always right.' No, they tell me when I'm wrong, and that's why I've been able to stay who I am and stay humble.

Where I grew up -- I grew up on the north side of Akron, lived in the projects. So those scared and lonely nights -- that's every night. You hear a lot of police sirens, you hear a lot of gunfire. Things that you don't want your kids to hear growing up.

When you work out or you're doing anything active, it's more fun as a group. You may lose track of the time, and the next thing you know, you're working out for two hours because you're having fun.

Volleyball, I could be pretty good. After a few practices I could be that striker, or whatever they call it.