65 Michael Jordan Quotes on Excellence and Leadership
Explore Michael Jordan’s powerful quotes on excellence and leadership, offering timeless inspiration and lessons on overcoming challenges and achieving greatness.
Michael Jordan, widely celebrated as one of the greatest basketball players of all time, has also made a significant impact off the court with his inspirational words. His quotes, brimming with insight on excellence, determination, and leadership, offer valuable lessons that extend beyond the game. Here are some of the most famous Michael Jordan quotes, uncovering how his philosophy on success and overcoming challenges can inspire and motivate us all to reach our full potential.
Michael Jordan Quotes
- “I can accept failure. Everyone fails at something. But I can’t accept not trying.” ~ Michael Jordan
- “I’ve never lost a game, I just ran out of time.” ~ Michael Jordan
- “I’ve missed more than 9,000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games. Twenty-six times, I’ve been trusted to take the game-winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.” ~ Michael Jordan
- “My attitude is that if you push me towards something that you think is a weakness, then I will turn that perceived weakness into a strength.” ~ Michael Jordan
- “Obstacles don’t have to stop you. If you run into a wall, don’t turn around and give up. Figure out how to climb it, go through it, or work around it.” ~ Michael Jordan
- “Talent wins games, but teamwork and intelligence win championships.” ~ Michael Jordan
- “If it turns out that my best wasn’t good enough, at least I won’t look back and say I was afraid to try.” ~ Michael Jordan
- “Heart is what separates the good from the great.” ~ Michael Jordan
- “Once I made a decision, I never thought about it again.” ~ Michael Jordan
- “Once you leave the ground, you fly. Some people fly longer than others.” ~ Michael Jordan
- “The minute you get away from fundamentals—whether it’s proper technique, work ethic or mental preparation—the bottom can fall out of your game, your schoolwork, your job, whatever you’re doing.” ~ Michael Jordan
- “I believe greatness is an evolutionary process that changes and evolves era to era.” ~ Michael Jordan
- “I realized that if I was going to achieve anything in life I had to be aggressive. I had to get out there and go for it.” ~ Michael Jordan
- “It’s heavy duty to try to do everything and please everybody. My job was to go out there and play the game of basketball as best I can. People may not agree with that. I can’t live with what everyone’s impression of what I should or what I shouldn’t do.” ~ Michael Jordan
- “I never looked at the consequences of missing a big shot … When you think about the consequences you will always think of the negative result.” ~ Michael Jordan
- “If I had been playing for money I would have complained a long time ago that I was underpaid.” ~ Michael Jordan
- “Never say never, because limits, like fears, are often just an illusion.” ~ Michael Jordan
- “I know fear is an obstacle for some people, but it is an illusion to me. Failure always made me try harder the next time.” ~ Michael Jordan
- “Sometimes, things may not go your way, but the effort should be there every single night.” ~ Michael Jordan
- “Stay reachable. Stay in touch. Don’t isolate.” ~ Michael Jordan
- “You have competition every day because you set such high standards for yourself that you have to go out every day and live up to that.” ~ Michael Jordan
- “Enjoy every minute of life. Never second-guess life.” ~ Michael Jordan
- “Some people want it to happen, some wish it would happen, others make it happen.” ~ Michael Jordan
- “If you accept the expectations of others, especially negative ones, then you never will change the outcome.” ~ Michael Jordan
- “When I lose the sense of motivation and the sense to prove something as a basketball player, it’s time for me to move away from the game.” ~ Michael Jordan
- “Winning isn’t always championships.” ~ Michael Jordan
- “My heroes are and were my parents. I can’t see having anyone else as my heroes.” ~ Michael Jordan
- “If you quit once, it becomes a habit. Never quit!” ~ Michael Jordan
- “Sometimes you need to get hit in the head to realize that you’re in a fight.” ~ Michael Jordan
- “To learn to succeed, you must first learn to fail.” ~ Michael Jordan
- “In reality, I never want to grow up.” ~ Michael Jordan
- “If you do the work you get rewarded. There are no shortcuts in life.” ~ Michael Jordan
- “I hope the millions of people I’ve touched have the optimism and desire to share their goals and hard work and perseverance with a positive attitude.” ~ Michael Jordan
- “Be true to the game, because the game will be true to you. If you try to shortcut the game, then the game will shortcut you. If you put forth the effort, good things will be bestowed upon you. That’s truly about the game, and in some ways that’s about life too.” ~ Michael Jordan
- “Learning’s a gift, even when pain is your teacher.” ~ Michael Jordan
- “In any investment, you expect to have fun and make money.” ~ Michael Jordan
- “Best evaluation I can make of a player is to look in his eyes and see how scared they are.” ~ Michael Jordan
- “Everybody has talent, but ability takes hard work.” ~ Michael Jordan
- “I want to be the bridge to the next generation.” ~ Michael Jordan
- “I mean we all fly. Once you leave the ground, you fly. Some people fly longer than others.” ~ Michael Jordan
- “The game is my wife. It demands loyalty and responsibility, and it gives me back fulfillment and peace.” ~ Michael Jordan
- “I want to wake up every day and do whatever comes in my mind, and not feel pressure or obligations to do anything else in my life.” ~ Michael Jordan
- “I built my talents on the shoulders of someone else’s talent.” ~ Michael Jordan
- “My father used to say that it’s never too late to do anything you wanted to do. And he said you never know what you can accomplish until you try.” ~ Michael Jordan
- “Every time I feel tired while I am exercising and training, I close my eyes to see that picture, to see that list with my name. This usually motivates me to work again.” ~ Michael Jordan
- “There is no such thing as a perfect basketball player and I don’t believe there is only one greatest player either.” ~ Michael Jordan
- “To be successful you have to be selfish, or else you never achieve. And once you get to your highest level, then you have to be unselfish.” ~ Michael Jordan
- “How many times have your parents told you not to do things, and the next thing you know, you go do it? And you realized you shouldn’t have done it.” ~ Michael Jordan
- “You have to expect things of yourself before you can do them.” ~ Michael Jordan
- “Live the moment for the moment.” ~ Michael Jordan
- “The best come from the worst.” ~ Michael Jordan
- “Even when I’m old and gray, I won’t be able to play it, but I’ll still love the game.” ~ Michael Jordan
- “I’m not out there sweating for three hours every day just to find out what it feels like to sweat.” ~ Michael Jordan
- “The game has its ups and downs, but you can never lose focus of your individual goals and you can’t let yourself be beat because of lack of effort.” ~ Michael Jordan
- “Failure is acceptable. but not trying is a whole different ball park.” ~ Michael Jordan
- “There is no “I” in team but there is in win.” ~ Michael Jordan
- “I play to win, whether during practice or a real game.” ~ Michael Jordan
- “Always turn a negative situation into a positive situation.” ~ Michael Jordan
- “Don’t let them drag you down by rumors just go with what you believe in.” ~ Michael Jordan
- “You must expect great things of yourself before you can do them.” ~ Michael Jordan
- “My body could stand the crutches but my mind couldn’t stand the sideline.” ~ Michael Jordan
- “I would tell players to relax and never think about what’s at stake. Just think about the basketball game. If you start to think about who is going to win the championship, you’ve lost your focus.” ~ Michael Jordan
- “You can practice shooting 8 hours a day, but if your technique is wrong, then all you become is very good at shooting the wrong way. Get the fundamentals down and the level of everything you do will rise.” ~ Michael Jordan
- “Do I need my number retired throughout the course of the league to acknowledge what I’ve done? No.” ~ Michael Jordan
- “I want to be perceived as a guy who played his best in all facets, not just scoring. A guy who love challenges.” ~ Michael Jordan
