Quotes from Bill Walton

I'm a different person today than I was yesterday. I live for the moment and everything that happens in my life changes me.

I'm a fan and a friend, I met them in 1974 when I first joined the NBA and my life has never been he same since. I became the basketball player I was because of the Grateful Dead.

During the course of my life, Grateful Dead played all the time. There were constantly concerts you could go to.

Life is about growth. People are not perfect when they're 21 years old.

I couldn't imagine not playing basketball. To me, basketball is what life is all about.

Health is the most critical thing in our life. With your health anything is possible, without it you can't do anything.

I was a skinny, scrawny guy. I stuttered horrendously, couldn't speak at all. I was a very shy, reserved player and a very shy, reserved person. I found a safe place in life in basketball.

Being a broadcaster encompasses the business of sport, which is my life today, and it encompasses the skills of being a history student, and the ability of being a performer.

Bill Russell was my favorite player of all-time.

I learned a long time ago that minor surgery is when they do operation on someone else, not you.

I like a lot of other music and listen to a lot of other music, but one of the greatest things about the Grateful Dead is they played all the time.

Yao Ming is the best thing to happen to the NBA in a long time. He is just a beautiful person inside and out. The vision, the creativity, the gentleness of spirit … he has it all.

Tim Duncan's foot issue, I think, is a major factor in this year's playoffs. That's not the kind of injury that gets better over time playing NBA basketball.

I mean, I'm 6-foot-11, I've got red hair, freckles, I'm a goofy, nerdy-looking guy, I've got a speech impediment-I stutter and stammer all the time-and I'm a Deadhead.

When you find yourself talking about less and less and forgetting the love that you bring, never forget there are things you can replace but others you can not.

I love to play music. I'm terrible at it, but I love learning about it .

I learned a long time ago that minor surgery is when they do the operation on someone else, not you.

I have nothing but respect for the Lakers. So many of their legends shaped who I am as a person and player.

The Grateful Dead, they're my best friends. Their message of hope, peace, love, teamwork, creativity, imagination, celebration, the dance, the vision, the purpose, the passion all of the things I believe in makes me the luckiest Deadhead in the world.

I grew up in an non-athletic family, where my parents were interested in music, in literature, in education and art.

I lived to play basketball. Growing up as a kid, Bill Russell and the Boston Celtics were my favorite team. The way they played, the teamwork, the sacrifice, the commitment, the joy, the camaraderie, the relationship with the fans.

Well, we've made some changes on this tour. We're no longer sleeping in the parking lots and swimming in the fountains. We've been staying in hotels most of the way, though I will say some hotels have declined to take us because we're just having too much fun.

My life changed irrevocably four-and-a-half years ago when my spine failed and collapsed. I spent two years on the floor, in excruciating, debilitating and unrelenting pain. I can only describe the pain as being submerged into a vat of scalding acid that has an electric current running through it. And you can never get out, ever.

I can think. I can sleep. I can move. I can ride my bike. I can dream.