Karl Malone

“I realize that things happen for a reason.”

“For me to be here tonight, everything had to be perfect. I had to get drafted by Utah, had to play with a point guard like John Stockton, and had to be coached by Jerry Sloan and Frank Layden.”

“You don't try to do more than you should.”

“If I could have come in for $10m, I would have done that. I've been pretty smart with my money. I'm playing because I want to play this game here - I want the opportunity.”

“Sometimes, you follow your dreams. I say to the young people, 'If you have a dream, chase it.'”

“I have to be working, doing things. That's the way I grew up and the way I was taught.”

“All records are not made to be broken.”

“I just work out hard enough that, if I'm craving something, I eat it and know I'm going to burn it off the next day with extra intensity.”

“I have such a profound respect for what they do day in and day out. This USO tour is especially meaningful because of the friends I have met and I am honored to be apart of it.”

“At some point in time I will be honored if I would be mentioned as a coach.”

“Some people might not like him because he's my son. But be respectful, go out there and enjoy the game.”

“Look at this, scabs and cuts all over me, I get these every night, every game. They can't tell you that you're not at risk, and you can't tell me there's one guy in the N.B.A. who hasn't thought about it.”

“I think we're a deeper team, a better team, we still have work to do... nothing is guaranteed, but hopefully we got the mentality to play on the road, and we're starting to get our home thing back in order now-if we can do that we'll be just fine.”

“Misery loves company. This is a Hollywood soap opera, and I'm not going to be a star in another Bryant soap opera.”

“You take the good with the bad and try not to listen to everything said about you because you know it's not good.”

“If I got something to say or do to a man, I'm going to look that man in the eye and tell him what is going to happen. That's just me now.”

“I have my life on a track that I want it on, and I don't want to get off.”

“You have injuries that bother you when you're not playing. When that horn blows, you don't feel it.”

“I hope I did it the way my peers did it before me. I didn't do anything but try to play hard.”

“When I said I retired from basketball playing, I have retired. You will not see me play again. That is a promise.”