Larry Bird, born December 7, 1956, in West Baden, Indiana, is an iconic American basketball player.
He led the Boston Celtics to three NBA championships in the 1980s and is hailed as one of basketball’s best shooters. Bird’s college career peaked with a memorable face-off against Magic Johnson in the 1979 NCAA championship.
Entering the NBA with the Celtics in 1979, he secured the Rookie of the Year title.
Over 13 years, Bird’s prowess manifested in clutch performances, three MVP titles and 12 All-Star appearances.
Amassing 21,791 career points, he stood 11th in NBA scoring at retirement. A “Dream Team” member in 1992, Bird’s legend was cemented with a 1998 Basketball Hall of Fame induction.
Post-playing, he’s been instrumental with the Celtics and Indiana Pacers as both a coach and executive.
I have listed the top quotes by Larry Bird in this post.
Best Larry Bird Quotes
1. “A winner is someone who recognizes his God-given talents, works his tail off to develop them into skills, and uses these skills to accomplish his goals.” ~ (Larry Bird).
2. “Push yourself again and again. Don’t give an inch until the final buzzer sounds.” ~ (Larry Bird).
3. “First master the fundamentals.” ~ (Larry Bird).
4. “I hate to lose more than I like to win.” ~ (Larry Bird).
5. “I’ve been around a while. I kinda know these things.” ~ Larry Bird.
6. “Hey, coach, you better get somebody else out here to guard me because I’m killing this guy.” ~ Larry Bird.
7. “Who’s guarding me, Chuck? Is anyone guarding me? You better get someone on me or I’m gonna go for 60.” ~ Larry Bird.
8. “My coach told me, “Larry, no matter how much you work at it, there’s always someone out there who’s working just a little harder – if you take 150 practice shots, he’s taking 200.” And that drove me.” ~ (Larry Bird).
9. “I’m a firm believer in that you play the way you practice.” ~ (Larry Bird).
Inspirational Larry Bird Quotes
10. “It doesn’t matter who scores the points, it’s who can get the ball to the scorer.” ~ (Larry Bird).
11. “Don’t let winning make you soft. Don’t let losing make you quit. Don’t let your teammates down in any situation.” ~ (Larry Bird).
12. “Michael Jordan is God disguised as a basketball player.” ~ (Larry Bird).
13. “When I was young, I never wanted to leave the court until I got things exactly correct. My dream was to become a pro.” ~ (Larry Bird).
14. “In the closing seconds of every game, I want the ball in my hands for the last shot – not in anybody else’s, not in anybody else’s in the world.” ~ (Larry Bird).
15. “When I go to the line I’m thinking ‘All net.’ When I don’t think that, I’m likely to miss.” ~ (Larry Bird).
16. “Practice habits were crucial to my development in basketball. I didn’t play against the toughest competition in high school, but one reason I was able to do well in college was that I mastered the fundamentals. You’ve got to have them down before you can even think about playing.” ~ (Larry Bird).
17. “Basketball has been my life and I worked at it so hard because I enjoyed it so much.” ~ (Larry Bird).
18. “I think you have to work very hard and dedicate yourself and have the respect of your teammates before you’re about to go out and just try to take a game over by yourself.” ~ (Larry Bird).
19. “There are many times when you are better off practicing than playing; but most people just don’t understand that.” ~ (Larry Bird).
Motivational Larry Bird Quotes
20. “You never make any of the shots you never take. 87% of the ones you do take, you’ll miss too. I make 110% of my shots.” ~ (Larry Bird).
21. “As far as playing, I didn’t care who guarded me – red, yellow, black. I just didn’t want a white guy guarding me, because it’s disrespect to my game.” ~ (Larry Bird).
22. “I think a lot of blue collar people related to me because a lot of people work for their money.” ~ (Larry Bird).
23. “I don’t think that once you get to one level, you can relax. You’ve got to keep pushing.” ~ (Larry Bird).
24. “I just shoot until I feel good.” ~ (Larry Bird).
25. “You can make all the excuses you want, but if you’re not mentally tough and you’re not prepared to play every night, you’re not going to win.” ~ (Larry Bird).
26. “When I was a player, I didn’t expect my teammates to play the way I did. I did expect them to work hard every day and get better. And I never learned anything by losing.” ~ (Larry Bird).
27. “The nature of competition is such that any number of people invariably have their eyes on the same prize you do. Recognize your assets and employ them to the best of your ability.” ~ (Larry Bird).
28. “Anytime you’ve got an opportunity to play for your country and win a gold medal, I think that takes it all. That’s the greatest thing you could ever achieve in your sport. So, I have been very fortunate to play on great teams, but the gold medal was probably the best.” ~ (Larry Bird).
29. “If there was a payment to the bank due, and we needed shoes, she’d get the shoes, and then deal with them guys at the bank. I don’t mean she wouldn’t pay the bank, but the children always came first.” ~ (Larry Bird).
30. “I wanted to compete at the highest level again – and that’s the NBA.” ~ (Larry Bird).
31. “I really don’t like talking about money. All I can say is that the Good Lord must have wanted me to have it.” ~ (Larry Bird).
Top Larry Bird Quotes
32. “What’s better? Dogs or broomsticks? I mean will the world really ever know?” ~ (Larry Bird).
33. “I can see why fans don’t like to watch pro basketball. I don’t, either. It’s not exciting.” ~ (Larry Bird).
34. “I always know what’s happening on the court. I see a situation occur, and I respond.” ~ (Larry Bird).
35. “Coaches can talk and talk and talk about something, but if you get it on tape and show it to them, it is so much more effective.” ~ (Larry Bird).
36. “My name’s been on this check for a week now.” ~ (Larry Bird).
37. “Strength is not nearly as important as desire. I don’t think you can teach anyone desire. I think it’s a gift. I don’t know why I have it, but I do.” ~ (Larry Bird).
38. “But it is a black man’s game, and it will be forever.” ~ (Larry Bird).
39. “I used to love the feeling of running, of running too far. It made my skin tingle.” ~ (Larry Bird).
40. “I like being by myself.” ~ (Larry Bird).
Famous Larry Bird Quotes
41. “My goal was just to try and be the best player on my high school team, and look where I am now. And that was still my goal as a young kid, just to try and be a little better than my brother was.” ~ (Larry Bird).
42. “My opinion about basketball, the way I was taught, was when you step on the court, you play to win.” ~ (Larry Bird).
43. “I learned what my weaknesses were and I went out the next day to turn those weaknesses into strengths.” ~ (Larry Bird).
44. “Who in their right mind wouldn’t listen to what Larry Bird tells them? He knows what it takes to be a successful player, and he’s letting us do the things to have the success.” ~ (Larry Bird).
45. “I have always been confident in my skills and once the game got going I knew I was probably the best player on the floor most of the time whether it was junior high, high school or college. I knew I had control of the game.” ~ (Larry Bird).
46. “Guys like Larry Bird – he played so hard, he wants everybody else to play hard. That’s not unreasonable. Any coach would want that and demand that.” ~ (Larry Bird).
47. “If you tell a teammate you’re ready to play as tough as you’re able to, you’d better go out there and do it.” ~ (Larry Bird).
Inspiring Larry Bird Quotes
48. “Basketball was always a game to me. One of the greatest things in life for me was to be able to play what I loved dearly and get paid for it. So it was always a game to me and that’s how I perceived everything.” ~ (Larry Bird).
49. “I’ve always been interested in jobs in the NBA. But I’ve been in this for 20 years and it might be time to do something else.” ~ (Larry Bird).
50. “I knew I was as good as anybody. That’s not really bragging; it’s just that I’d put the time in.” ~ (Larry Bird).
51. “I wasn’t real quick, and I wasn’t real strong. Some guys will just take off and it’s like, whoa. So I beat them with my mind and my fundamentals.” ~ (Larry Bird).
52. “Once you are labeled ‘the best’ you want to stay up there, and you can’t do it by loafing around.” ~ (Larry Bird).
53. “It makes me sick when I see a guy just stare at a loose ball and watch it go out of bounds.” ~ (Larry Bird).
