Julius Erving

“But you know, we have a very normal family. We've had our ups and downs. You know, we've had our issues, but we've had great cause for celebration.”

“And from the first time I picked up a basketball at age eight - I had a lot of difficulty when I first picked up a basketball, because I was a scrub - there were things that I liked about it.”

“You know, just in terms of having to have a life on the road, you know, having the celebrity aspect be a burden for my family, friends and extended family.”

“Being a typical Pisces, I might have experienced mood shifts, but I don't remember any depression, or needing to do anything, or to have someone bring me out of being depressed.”

“Because of the makeup of the NBA, it cannot afford for the public to turn on them.”

“Every team that I've played on, I've either been the captain or co-captain.”

“With the crowds on your side, it's easier to play up to your potential.”

“Right up until the time I retired at age 37, I felt like there were still things that I could do better.”

“I demand more of myself than anyone else could ever expect.”

“When handling the ball, I always would look for daylight, wherever there was daylight.”

“I came from a broken home, so my mom was a major influence in my life.”

“I think I started learning lessons about being a good person long before I ever knew what basketball was. And that starts in the home, it starts with the parental influence.”

“I pulled the plug on it at a time that I thought was right for me to exit.”

“When the crowd appreciates you, it encourages you to be a little more daring, I think.”

“I firmly believe that respect is a lot more important, and a lot greater, than popularity.”

“If you've experienced having control, you don't want to be moved to a subordinate position, if you have your druthers.”

“That was just my own personal program: I didn't want to get too high over the good moments because I didn't want to be saddened and depressed when things didn't go as I had planned.”

“Teachers are sort of faced with a thankless task, because no matter how good they are, unless they find a way to personally rationalize the rewards of their effort, nobody else is really going to do it for them en masse.”

“I grabbed 19 rebounds in my first professional game, and somehow found a way to score 20 points. I felt real good about it. I felt that this was the beginning of something good.”

“If you do things with a certain type of result and cause a certain type of reaction or effect, then you increase your market value. It's very much a competition for the entertainment dollar, and that's never been more clearly evident than in today's NBA game.”