Bobby Orr

“We're professional athletes. People know who we are, and if there's some way we can help with a friend or someone in need, that's a responsibility we have. I really strongly believe that.”

“My Dad was my biggest supporter. He never put pressure on me.”

“You hear all the time about European players playing the game. These players that come over at 17, 18 and 19, they just don't all of a sudden become skilled. From the time they were little fellas, they learned the fundamentals of the game. Let them create.”

“If you talk to most athletes, the place you're most comfortable is your playing field. I'm not so comfortable at a podium or talking about events.”

“There are no environments where you're only going to win, because life just isn't like that.”

“Growing up, if I hadn't had sports, I don't know where I'd be. God only knows what street corners I'd have been standing on and God only knows what I'd have been doing, but instead I played hockey and went to school and stayed out of trouble.”

“Once you turn pro and you're making the big money and kids are buying your sneakers and your skates and your gloves and so on, you are a member of that role model club.”

“I'm a terrible dancer! Oh, I'm an awful dancer!”

“The love and passion I had for the game was my key. I never had that taken out of me by my parents or a silly coach.”

“Developing better people should be the number one goal for any coach when dealing with kids. In trying to develop better people, we are going to develop more and better pros.”

“I didn't want to do a book just to do a book. I wanted to do a book that, if you should read it, you might take one thing from it. Until that was clear in my mind, I wasn't going to do one.”

“If you're going to help somebody, sneak in, sneak out, do what you can. I just sneak along and do my thing and meet wonderful people, some people I've never met, new friends.”

“I don't spend a lot of time here in New York. I didn't realize there were so many Bruins fans in New York.”

“I never looked at hockey as work. Now that I'd finished playing, I had to go to work.”

“You hear peewee coaches teaching the 'trap'. What the heck are we doing teaching the 'trap'? Let the kids go, let them have fun; that's how you improve.”

“Growing up in Canada, most kids from Canada dream of playing in the NHL, and they also hope one day to be on a Stanley Cup team. That was a big goal.”

“I was the happiest guy in the world when I was on the ice. You're being paid to play a game! That's pretty special.”

“Staying out of the penalty box will really help.”

“If a player is trying to intimidate a skilled player on your team, what do we want? We want our skilled players playing, so we shouldn't be doing that.”

“So many of today's programs are about trophies and jackets, and we think that's a big mistake.”