Magic Johnson

“I enjoy being the messenger for God in terms of letting people know about HIV and AIDS.”

“I'm not cured, but the HIV is asleep deep in my body.”

“To me, everything is wonderful. Life is wonderful.”

“My having HIV has no bearing on my business.”

“I am a businessman. This is what I do each and every day. I love it. I love coming to work. I never have a bad day.”

“I have to tell you, I'm proudest of my life off the court. There will always be great basketball players who bounce that little round ball, but my proudest moments are affecting people's lives, effecting change, being a role model in the community.”

“Just celebrate the life you had, not the life you could've had.”

“The first year was hard for me to deal with. The second year was a little bit easier, but still difficult. It took me five years to get it out of me. It was a difficult moment, a difficult time.”

“I'm the one who started redevelopment in South Los Angeles, not Jan Perry. I did it. I love Jan. She's a good person, and she did a wonderful job with what she did downtown, but in L.A., South L.A., I'm the one.”

“When I first found out I had HIV, I had to find somebody who was living with it, who could help me understand my journey and what I was going to have to deal with day-to-day. I found out that a person named Elizabeth Frazier was living with AIDS at the time, and so I called her up, and she took a meeting with me.”

“I wanted to do two things when I was growing up, about your age. I wanted to play in the NBA, and I wanted to be a businessman after my basketball career was over, and that is what I am doing now.”

“I met wonderful people playing in the NBA. Whether it is the officials, the scorekeepers, all the people who work for the NBA, not just for the Lakers, but I'm talking about just for the league itself.”

“Everyone thought I was going to die like a year later, they didn't know. So I helped educate sports, and then the world, that a man living with HIV can play basketball. He's not going to give it to anybody by playing basketball.”

“I'm the biggest music lover in the world. I mean, I have seen everybody. I went on tour with Michael Jackson and the Jacksons four or five times.”

“The gay community has taken care of their issues and problems in terms of HIV/AIDS. They have done an incredible job. We as heterosexuals need to learn from the gay community because they have rallied together. They have sent a lot of information out there. They go get tested.”

“I've always been a leader my whole life. I've always led. I didn't know how to do anything else.”

“I'm a businessman, and what I know is numbers and business.”

“The important thing is this Just because I'm doing well doesn't mean that they're going to do well if they get HIV. A lot of people have died since I have announced. This disease is not going anywhere.”

“The audience likes their emotions to be touched. They want to laugh and cry and feel good.”

“I'm far from being a homosexual.”