Bill Bradley

“Legislating is a very human experience in which trust and mutual respect play critical roles.”

“Al Gore clearly has the vision... it's a much better vision than that of George W. Bush.”

“The only way to be true to our American tradition is to maintain absolute governmental neutrality regarding religious beliefs and practices.”

“Look, I have no qualms about having played basketball. The game has done so much for me. Look at the places I've been, for one thing.”

“If you win a championship, you win it doing many of the same things you had to do when we won championships. You have to be unselfish. You have to work very hard. You have to be resilient. You have to have a passion for what you do.”

“When you make speeches you elicit expectations against which you will be held accountable.”

“Democrats must rally behind a low-rate, broad-based tax system that is fair, simple and efficient.”

“For Republicans, tort reform and its health care analogue, malpractice reform, speak to the goal of stronger economic growth and lower costs.”

“Trying to take money out of politics is like trying to take jumping out of basketball.”

“All I have are the people.”

“Since the days of Harry Truman, Democrats have wanted universal health coverage, believing that if other industrialized countries can achieve it, surely the United States can. For Democrats, universal coverage speaks to America's sense of decency and compassion. Democrats also believe that it will lead to a healthier and more productive country.”

“Imagination allows us to escape the predictable. It enables us to reply to the common wisdom that we cannot soar by saying, 'Just watch!'”

“Leaders should be collaborative, modest, and generous.”

“I've never allowed my political life, or my life as a basketball player, to define the totality of my humanity or my personality.”

“Whenever Congress undertakes large-scale reform, there are times when disaster appears certain - only to be averted at the last minute by the good sense of its sometimes unfairly maligned members.”

“The taste of defeat has a richness of experience all its own.”

“By the time I was 14, I had become self-motivated. Whatever raced inside me was more demanding than any pressure applied by parents or teachers.”

“That feeling of being the NBA Champion is really unparalleled, because you're the best in the world. Without question. How many people can say that in any profession?”

“Princeton ignited my intellectual curiosity and introduced me to a new social world. It... challenged me on the most fundamental levels imaginable. It was where I became a man.”

“I never allowed other people's expectations to determine whatever course I took. I had to reach a decision about what I was going to do based on what I felt inside myself.”