Best Bill Russell Quotes On Greatness, Success, Love and Basketball

The best Bill Russell quotes

Bill Russell is a former professional basketball player who is widely regarded as one of the greatest basketball players of all time. He played in the NBA for the Boston Celtics from 1956 to 1969. 

Russell won an incredible 11 NBA championships during his career, the most by any player in NBA history.

In addition to his championships, he was a five-time NBA Most Valuable Player (MVP) and a 12-time NBA All-Star.

Russell was known for his ability to dominate a basketball game without having to score a lot of points. He had exceptional shot-blocking abilities, rebounding skills, defense and leadership on and off the court.

Off the court, Russell was also an influential figure in the civil rights movement. He used his platform to advocate for racial equality and social justice. He was the first African American coach in the NBA and played a significant role in breaking down racial barriers in professional basketball.

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Bill Russell Quotes About Greatness

"Concentration and mental toughness are the margins of victory."

"Durability is part of what makes a great athlete."

"You can do anything you want to do if you want it bad enough."

"What distinguishes a great player is his presence. When he goes on to the court, his presence dominates the atmosphere."

"Commitment separates those who live their dreams from those who live their lives regretting the opportunities they have squandered."

"You got to have the killer instinct. If you do not have it, forget about basketball and go into social psychology or something. If you sometimes wonder if you’ve got it, you ain’t got it."

"If a guy pays you $5, you give him $7 worth of work."

"I don’t have very many regrets, not because I lived a perfect life, but because life is a bunch of rolling hills, not mountains, or speed bumps instead of stop signs, and so you come to a situation and it’s neither good or bad. It just is, and what it means to you is what’s your take on it. But the second part of the equation is what are you going to do about it. A lot of times I’m completely wrong, but all you do is back up and start over."

"My father once told me that anyone who worked for three dollars an hour owed it to himself to put in four dollars' worth of work."

"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."

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Basketball Quotes From Bill Russell

"The idea is not to block every shot. The idea is to make your opponent believe that you might block every shot."

"On offense, it’s possible to take a break, to stand around a bit, let other players take over. On defense, if you take a break, a good offensive team will burn you. On the other hand, when you and your teammates are all doing the job – and you’re all that good – the great reward is watching the other team slowly suffocate."

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

"The only important statistic is the final score."

"A rebounder, or a shot-blocker for that matter, is always at a disadvantage if he tells himself the only way he can succeed is by out jumping the guy next to him. Sometimes he will have to, but most of the time he will not. Most of my rebounds came from positioning, where I was able to get the ball while in heavy traffic."

"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."

"I think what has happened to our basketball team, we’ve been badly distracted. They’re not reading too many positive things in the paper."

"The morale and the camaraderie that we had for one another earlier in the year is starting to come under duress because of all the losses"

"Because I knew Wilt as I did, I was always seeking to take advantage of his good nature. I did whatever I could to make sure I would never get him angry or fired up. My battle plan with him was always to keep him feeling as comfortable as possible with his own game. If he ever felt pressured or shown up, he would take notice and try that much harder. I was determined to make sure that never happened."

"Being part of that effort on the Celtics was very important to me. It helped me develop and grow, and I think it has helped prepare me for something other than playing basketball."

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

"The most important measure of how good a game I played was how much better I’d made my teammates play."

 "Most guys have a spot they like to start from, and nothing annoys them more than to see you there first, waiting for them. When I played Wilt, he used to get so annoyed when I would get to his spot because it meant he had to move me off his spot to start his game."

"Retiring was my final victory. Not staying a minute too long, or a season too long, let me leave on my own terms. Knowing when to retire is difficult for any athlete or businessperson. You have to give up so much and start another life. But making that decision and sticking to it is one of the most rewarding decisions you will ever make in your life. I encourage people to look at this moment as starting a new season in a different game."

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Best Quotes From Russell On Success

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

"Success is a result of consistent practice of winning skills and actions. There is nothing miraculous about the process. There is no luck involved."

"The magic to a great meeting is all of the work that’s done beforehand."

"When a team is functioning on all cylinders, listening is an essential component of success. A team, whether it’s a sports team, a business, or a family, cannot function effectively unless you and everyone else are prepared to drop the filters that get in the way of effective listening."

"To me, the most important part of winning is joy. You can win without joy, but winning that’s joyless is like eating in a four-star restaurant when you’re not hungry. Joy is a current of energy in your body, like chlorophyll or sunlight, that fills you up and makes you naturally want to do your best."

"I hope I epitomize the American dream. For I came against long odds, from the ghetto to the very top of my profession. I was not immediately good at basketball. It did not come easy. It came as the result of a lot of hard work and self-sacrifice. The rewards, were they worth it? One thousand times over."

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Russell On Love And Friendship

"Most people have a harder time letting themselves love than finding someone to love them."

"To love someone is nothing, to be loved by someone is something, to love someone who loves you is everything."

"Friendship is a full-time job."

"The most important thing to me is the friends that I’ve made."

"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."

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The Importance Of Learning

"My most prized possession was my library card from the Oakland Public Library."

"I’ve been fortunate to meet and work with a lot of really smart people. The thing that strikes me most about them is how they continue to explore and learn every day. I have tried to apply that approach in my modest career as well."

"Learning is a daily experience and a lifetime mission. I truly believe in the saying ‘We work to become, not to acquire.'"

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Other Inspirational Bill Russell Quotes

"If you really have integrity, there are very few people who can insult you, or honor you."

"In the middle of my playing career, I decided to stop signing autographs. In part, my feelings about autographs is based upon my belief that I’d rather meet someone who approaches me respectfully, talk to them for a minute and look them in the eye, rather than participate in the momentary ritual of signing something, never looking at the person I’m signing something for, never getting to know them, and then moving on."

"Create unselfishness as the most important team attribute."

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