78 Magic Johnson Quotes About Basketball, Business, and Life

The top Earvin "Magic" Johnson quotes

Earvin "Magic" Johnson is a former professional basketball player who is known as one of the greatest point guards in NBA history.

He played for the Los Angeles Lakers from 1979 to 1991 and again in 1996. At 6 feet 9 inches tall, Magic revolutionized the point guard position.

He was known for his playmaking ability, court vision, versatility and basketball IQ. 

During his career, Earvin Johnson won five NBA championships with the Lakers in 1980, 1982, 1985, 1987, and 1988. He was also a three-time NBA Most Valuable Player (MVP) in 1987, 1989, and 1990 and a three-time NBA Finals MVP.

Magic's ability to make his teammates better was one of his greatest strengths. He led the league in assists four times and is currently ranked fifth on the NBA's all-time assists list.

He got the nickname "Magic" because of his flashy and creative style of play.

Magic has been as successful off the court as he was on. He is an entrepreneur and businessman with ownership stakes in various businesses, including the Los Angeles Dodgers baseball team and the Los Angeles Sparks women's basketball team. 

Read on to get a look inside the mind of the man they call, "Magic."

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What Makes Magic, Magic

1. "People see me high-fivin' and smiling on the court, and they don't think that's me. But it is. I just want to go out and be myself."

2. "Magic is who I am on the basketball court. Earvin is who I am."

3. "Magic is crazy. He is that crazy wild guy on the basketball court that is very intense and very serious. He is the guy who lives and eats and breathes basketball. Magic is a guy who would stand for nothing but winning and really prepared himself as well as he prepared his team. Earvin is the complete opposite."

  

 

4. "Assists is what Earvin is all about. That's what my whole life has been, assisting others."

5. "For a long time, I'd work until 10 or 11. When I work, I'm on. I'm 'Magic.' I love it, but it takes a lot out of me."

6. "I like to take walks in the park by myself, where no one can bother me and I can think."

7. "Even as a fierce competitor I try to smile."

8. "I was able to see what I wanted to do, I could see the opportunity, even when others could not, and I stay committed to doing it and doing it well, no matter what."

9. "I never think that there's something I can't do, whether it's beating my opponent one on one or practicing another hour because something about my game is just not right."

10. "I only know how to play two ways: reckless and abandon."

11. "My diet is mostly chicken and fish. I make sure I get a lot of vegetables, a lot of fruit. I am a big fruit man, I am a vegetable man anyway. And I also get a lot of rest. That's the key I may be up early, but I'm in bed early too."

12. "You know I was a shy guy and people didn't know that and still don't know it today. I'm sure basketball brought my shyness out because of the fact that you have to do interviews, and that people are always talking to you in terms of the fans and everything."

13. "I strive on pressure." 

 

 

14. "I'm at peace with myself. The main thing is not letting people dictate what I do or what I am."

15. "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."

16. "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."

17. "I do not have bad days. I don't wake up in the morning and think that I'm going to get AIDS. I don't dream bad dreams about it. If I did, I'd be giving in to the negativity."

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Magic Johnson Success Quotes 

18. "I think you just have to keep knocking down doors, you have to keep being aggressive, and even if somebody says 'No', then you have to knock on the next door."

19. "If you want to be successful, you have to be willing to use every connection you’ve got."

20. "When I'm under the gun and I've got pressure on me, I don't panic. I look for the right solution, and then I go for it."

  

21. "In life, winning and losing will both happen. What is never acceptable is quitting."

22. "If people around you aren't going anywhere, if their dreams are no bigger than hanging out on the corner, or if they're dragging you down, get rid of them."

23. "If you want someone to be your mentor, you better be ready to listen and be humbled."

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Magic Quotes About Work Ethic 

24. "I tell people to look at me and understand that everybody first told me that I couldn't be a 6-foot, 9-inch point guard, and I proved them wrong. Then they told me I couldn't be a businessman and make money in urban America, and I proved them wrong. And they thought I couldn't win all these championships, and I proved them wrong there as well."

25. "I think that there are always goals for me to try to achieve, and I'm going to work toward those goals."

26. "If you're a competitive person, that stays with you. You don't stop. You always look over your shoulder."

  

 

27. "If somebody says no to you, or if you get cut, Michael Jordan was cut his first year, but he came back and he was the best ever. That is what you have to have. The attitude that I'm going to show everybody, I'm going to work hard to get better and better."

28. "Talent is never enough. With few exceptions the best players are the hardest workers."

29. "Don't give up! Be friends with people who help you work hard."

30. "I really want people to know that I've worked hard, very hard, to get to where I am today... this didn't just happen overnight. I started in business over 25 years ago and have found a way to build on what I've learned through every partnership and opportunity."

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Magic Johnson on Chasing Your Dreams

31. "I grew up poor, but I didn't have poor dreams."

32. "I motivate others by making sure that they understand to go after their dreams and don't let anyone tell you you can't. If you are motivated enough and put the work in that you can achieve anything in life that you set your mind to."

 

 

33. "You're the only one who can make the difference. Whatever your dream is, go for it."

34. "I'm a big believer in dreaming. If you don't dream it, you can't become it."

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Leadership Quotes By Magic Johnson

35. "I'm the one who will take chances, not worry about the backlash."

36. "I try to hire people I don't have to motivate. But I do motivate the people working with and for me."

  

 

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

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Magic Johnson Basketball Quotes

38. "I guess when people ask what is the biggest transition to the NBA from college, it is definitely defense and the mental part."

39. "Magic is crazy. He is that crazy wild guy on the basketball court that is very intense and very serious. He is the guy who lives and eats and breathes basketball."

40. "Ask not what your teammates can do for you. Ask what you can do for your teammates."

41. "Athletes don't like to get up early, but it never bothered me."

42. "I am and will always be a Laker for life."

  

 

43. "They said playing basketball would kill me. Well, not playing basketball was killing me."

44. "Larry, you only told me one lie. You said there will be another Larry Bird. Larry, there will never, ever be another Larry Bird."

45. "Standing on that platform, I said a silent prayer. I thanked God for giving me the strength and the opportunity to come back, to play basketball again, and to be part of that whole magnificent Olympic experience. It's a memory I will always cherish."

46. "A lot of black guys always ask me, ‘Did Larry Bird really play that good?’ I said, ‘Larry Bird is so good it’s frightening.’"

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Best Magic Johnson Quotes About Life

47. "I look three to five years ahead, not 10 years behind."

48. "To me, everything is wonderful. Life is wonderful."

  

 

49. "Just celebrate the life you had, not the life you could've had."

50. "Life doesn't stop because something happens to you."

51. "It's a burden trying to keep a secret. It's hard. It probably takes more out of you trying to hold it and keep it than it does for you to really let it out."

52. "For me, it always goes back to something I learned in basketball. There's winning and there's losing, and in life you have to know they both will happen. But what's never been acceptable to me is quitting."

53. "HIV changed my life, but it doesn't keep me from living."

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Magic Johnson Quotes About Business

54. "Research your idea. See if there's a demand. A lot of people have great ideas, but they don't know if there's a need for it. You also have to research your competition."

55. "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."

56. "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."

57. "I'm a businessman, and what I know is numbers and business."

  

 

58. "When you are a successful business person, you are only as good as your team. No one can do every deal alone."

59. "If you hate to lose, you do whatever you need to do to make sure your business is successful."

60. "Being able to touch so many people through my businesses and make money while doing it, is a huge blessing."

61. "I've always studied business. Even when I was a ball player, I'd read business journals and the business sections of newspapers."

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Magic On Family and Friends

62. "God blessed me with two unbelievable parents, and I am just like both of them. I have the smile and charisma of my mother and the big heart of my mom, because she wants to save the world and help the world, so I am just like her."

63. "I'm gonna love my son until the end."

64. "My dad was my hero. And I got my personality from my mother."

65. "When you face a crisis, you know who your true friends are."

66. "My father is my idol, so I always did everything like him. He used to work two jobs and still come home happy every night."

 

 

67. "I got blessed from my mom. She's the personality; she's the one who smiled, so I took on part of her, and who also wanted to help and save the world. Then I took on part of my dad, who is tough."

68. "Sometimes friends move apart from each other for whatever reason."

69. "Manhood is taking care of your family and being able to bless other people. Not yourself - but whether you can bless other people."

70. "My father was a great example of a strong and good man and Christian man, and my mother taught all my six sisters how to be young ladies and mothers and how to take care of your family."

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Other Motivational Quotes From Magic

71. "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." 

72. "Young people want you to be real with them."

73. "When you are honest and open with young people, they let you in."

 

 

 74. "All kids need is a little help, a little hope and somebody who believes in them."

75. "We all have to play as a team to make the world a better place"

76. "I often tell people when you make a mistake, you not only hurt yourself, but you hurt the ones that love you."

77. "You don't have to be Magic to be special. You're already special, you're you."

78. "I thank Him every chance I get - on my knees praying."

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