Quotes from Julius Erving

I am an American man whose journey has been blessed by the great gifts that America offers—wealth, fame, championships, awards—and also scoured by the tragedies that are a part of the human experience. I have lost too many loved ones. I ask for no pity; I only want to relate what I have felt and seen. I have hurt too many people. For that I ask forgiveness. An American life, after all, is the sum of its parts, the successes and the failings, and mine has been rich with both.

I demand more from myself than anybody else could possibly expect of me.

One of the things in the back of my mind is that, after my sports experience, I never want to be, totally consumed by any one endeavor, other than my family life.

I grabbed 19 rebounds in my first professional game, and somehow found a way to score 20 points. I felt real good about it. I felt that this was the beginning of something good.

When I get a chance to power jump off both legs, I can lean, twist, change directions and decide whether to dunk the ball or pass it to an open man. In other words, I may be committed to the air, but I still have some control over it.

If you do things with a certain type of result and cause a certain type of reaction or effect, then you increase your market value. It's very much a competition for the entertainment dollar, and that's never been more clearly evident than in today's NBA game.

But you know, if you live an affluent lifestyle, there are all types of trappings that are there that you have to be cognizant of, and you've got to try and communicate freely and gain understanding about and then keep moving on, because you know, sometimes lifestyles are chosen for us as opposed to us choosing them.

I keep both eyes on my man. The basket hasn't moved on me yet.

Teachers are sort of faced with a thankless task, because no matter how good they are, unless they find a way to personally rationalize the rewards of their effort, nobody else is really going to do it for them en masse.

They are taking steps, but they are baby steps.

But you know, we have a very normal family. We've had our ups and downs. You know, we've had our issues, but we've had great cause for celebration.

You know, we always tried to rationalize by saying you take the good, you take the upside, you got to deal with the downside, you've to take the downside.

At age 31, in 1981, I was voted the best player in basketball, and the most valuable player in the league.

I've always tried to tell myself that the work itself is the thing, that win, lose, or draw, the work is really what counts.

If you've experienced having control, you don't want to be moved to a subordinate position, if you have your druthers.

I liked the game, I enjoyed the game, and the game fed me enough, and gave me enough rewards to reinforce that this is something that I should spend time doing, and that I could possibly make a priority in my life, versus other sports.

You can feel the vibes, feel the people pulling for you.

Because of the makeup of the NBA, it cannot afford for the public to turn on them.

Goals determine what your going to be