Charles Barkley quotes: Sir Charles shoots straight with us.
“You can’t sit on the sidelines of life.”
“You got to believe in yourself.”
“We’re not all supposed to think alike.”
“My message is simple: take control of your life.”
“You can’t fake hustle. You either have to be into the game or not.”
“Don’t be afraid of hard work but also treat everybody with respect and try to help as many people along the way as possible.”
“You guys don’t know how hard it is to get here. You’ve done all the heavy lifting. But the one thing I want to tell you, man, seize the opportunity. But don’t take this for granted.”
“If you’re scared to fail, you don’t deserve to be successful.”
“The bar is always being raised as you go. The rules are always being rewritten. There’s aggravation that comes with that, but that’s part of what makes triumph so sweet.”
“The main thing to do is relax and let your talent do the work.”
“I think you have an obligation to be honest.”
“If I screw up, I’m gonna say, ‘You know what? I really screwed up.’ That’s all you can do. Some people gonna forgive you, some people not gonna forgive you. That’s just the way it works.”
“Sometimes that light at the end of the tunnel is a train.”
“Being black or white isn’t an accomplishment. What you do with your life – or what you accomplish with your life – dictates what you should be proud of.”
“I just wish all these young black kids would realize how significant it is to stop acting a fool out there, killing each other, not getting their education. You know, people have died to put us in a situation to be successful. I know a lot of people did a lot of heavy lifting to make me successful and I do everything in my power not to screw it up.”
“When you steal from somebody, you are saying to them, ‘I don’t respect how hard you worked for your money.’ When somebody steals from you, that’s what they’re saying.”
“I was asked for years about being a Republican, probably because most black people are Democrats. My mother heard it once and called me and said, ‘Charles, Republicans are for the rich people.’ And I said, ‘Mom, I’m rich.’ Poor people have been voting for Democrats for the last 50 years and they’re still poor.”
“Unfortunately, as I tell my white friends, we as black people, we’re never going to be successful – not because of you white people, but because of other black people.”
“Poor people cannot rely on the government to come to help you in times of need. You have to get your education. Then nobody can control your destiny.”
“It’s my job, with the position of power that I’m in and being able to be on television, I’m supposed to stand up for the people who can’t stand up for themselves.”
“When terrible events happen, everyone has to pull together and help out.”
“I always laugh when people ask me about rebounding techniques. I’ve got a technique. It’s called: just go get the damn ball.”
“These are my new shoes. They’re good shoes. They won’t make you rich like me, they won’t make you rebound like me, they definitely won’t make you handsome like me. They’ll only make you have shoes like me. That’s it.”
“I don’t tell people that much about me. I think most people know that I’m a clean fanatic. Other than that I just want to do my job and be honest and fair – some people are going to like it, some people are not.”
“I don’t believe professional athletes should be role models. I believe parents should be role models. My mom and my grandmother told me how it was going to be. If I didn’t like it, they said, ‘Don’t let the door hit you in the ass on your way out.’ Parents have to take better control.”
“When I speak to kids I tell them, ‘Hey, you think your parents are a pain in the ass now, but they’re going to get smarter as you get older.'”
“I have nothing against old people; I want to be one myself one day.”
“If Michael Jordan was a damn plumber, he couldn’t get a date. Any guy got $500 million looks good.”
“It drives me crazy when guys making $30 million are complaining about playing basketball two days in a row.”
“Fame is fleeting and money has wings. When you have it, what good are you going to do with it?”
“One thing about being famous is the people around you, you pay all their bills so they very rarely disagree with you because they want you to pick up the check.”
“I’ve been rich and poor. Being rich is better.”
“I love sports because it takes me away from reality, and I tell people, ‘No matter how bad your life is, if you are having problems at home, you are having problems at work, that’s the beauty of sports.'”
“See, my hope and dream is that people have a good time watching basketball. It’s not church. It’s not serious.”
“If ifs were gifts, every day would be Christmas.”
“There’s only five real jobs in the world: teacher, fireman, policeman, doctor and somebody who is in the armed service. If you don’t have one of those five jobs, you shouldn’t take your life that serious.”
“I’ve had an amazing life as a basketball player.”
“I’m proud of just getting the opportunities to meet so many amazing people and experience things I thought I’d never be able to in my lifetime.”
“You know what’s amazing to me? America. There have been so many people who have stepped up, and I’m just proud to be an American. Yeah, there were some mistakes made, but I don’t play the blame game.”
“I may be wrong but I doubt it.”
“Be yourself and have fun!”
Related: Steph Curry quotes.
