Bill Russell quotes

What do you think of the Chicago Bulls winning three in a row?" -- Russell: "Not much. (Bill Russell)
Concentration and mental toughness are the margins of victory. View quote
Bill Russell
The idea is not to block every shot. The idea is to make your opponent believe that you might block every shot. View quote
Bill Russell
Most people have a harder time letting themselves love than finding someone to love them. View quote
Bill Russell
We learn to make a shell for ourselves when we are young and then spend the rest of our lives hoping for someone to reach inside and touch us. Just touch us-anything more than that would be too much for us to bear. View quote
Bill Russell
Durability is part of what makes a great athlete. View quote
Bill Russell
To love someone is nothing, to be loved by someone is something, but to be loved by the one you love is everything. View quote
Bill Russell
What's more important than who's going to be the first black manager is who's going to be the first black sports editor of the New York Times. View quote
Bill Russell
How much does that guy make a year? It would be to our advantage if we paid him off for five years to get away from us in the rest of this series. View quote
Bill Russell
To me, one of the most beautiful things to see is a group of men coordinating their efforts toward a common goal, alternately subordinating and asserting themselves to achieve real teamwork in action. I tried to do that, we all tried to do that, on the Celtics. I think we succeeded. View quote
Bill Russell
I'm a pretty direct man. You say something I like, I'll tell you so; you say something I don't like, I'll tell you also. A diplomat I'm not. So I'll tell you right out that there are no secret or hidden or financial or philosophical reasons behind this. I just don't feel like playing anymore. As for coaching - that prime incubator of ulcers - no, thank you. I don't want to coach anymore, either. I never considered myself primarily a coach, anyway. Anytime I was ever around a group of coaches I'd feel nervous - all that nonsense about how to "handle" kids, how to "motivate" them! I was a player. Now I'm not a player or a coach anymore. (Bill Russell)
People didn't give us credit for being as good as we were last season. Personally, I think we won because we had the best team in the league. Some guys talked about all the stars on the other teams, and they quote statistics to show other teams were better. Let's talk about statistics. The important statistics in basketball are supposed to be points scored, rebounds and assists. But nobody keeps statistics on other important things - the good fake you make that helps your teammate score; the bad pass you force the other team to make; the good long pass you make that sets up another pass that sets up another pass that leads to a score; the way you recognize when one of your teammates has a hot hand that night and you give up your own shot so he can take it. All of those things. Those were some of the things we excelled in that you won't find in the statistics. There was only one statistic that was important to us - won and lost. View quote
Bill Russell