Quotes By Julius Erving

One of the most predictable things in life is there will be change. You are better off if you can have a say in the change. But you are ignorant or naive if you don't think there will be change, whether you want it to or not.

You know, we always tried to rationalize by saying you take the good, you take the upside, you got to deal with the downside, you've to take the downside.

To be great we need to win games we aren't supposed to win.

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

They are taking steps, but they are baby steps.

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.

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

In a lot of areas of my life, particularly in my teenage years, I began to think about the world, and to think about the universe as being a part of my conscious everyday life.

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.

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

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

Goals determine what you're going to be.

One of the things in the back of my mind is that, after my sports experience, I never want to be, totally consumed by any one endeavor, other than my family life.

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.

I keep both eyes on my man. The basket hasn't moved on me yet.

There's the typical books, Moby Dick and, I guess in my adult life I began to read biographies more than fiction. I started to want to relate to other people's lives, things that had really happened.

If you get depressed about being the second-best team in the world, then you've got a problem.

One of the commitments that I personally have now is to a diverse approach to buying businesses, and the operation of those businesses.

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

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.

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.

You can feel the vibes, feel the people pulling for you.

I always try to keep a pretty conservative demeanor on the court.

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.

I liked the game, I enjoyed the game, and the game fed me enough, and gave me enough rewards to reinforce that this is something that I should spend time doing, and that I could possibly make a priority in my life, versus other sports.

When I went to Philadelphia I was 26 years old and really sitting on top of the world. Family life, a professional career, plenty of friends and associates, and a good reputation, a wish list that could be the envy of many.

If you don't do what's best for your body, you're the one who comes up on the short end.

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.

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

As a kid, I played a lot of one-on-none.