Quotes About Influence

I just feel I got my inspiration, education and all from others that came before me. And I added my... I don't even know if I added anything. I played what they played, and it sounded different, I guess.

My dad played junior college basketball, and he always showed me clips of Michael Jordan.

I played a lot of Bach's partitas and sonatas; I like the way that Bach was abstracting already from these dance forms.

Man, if they played the commercials for 'Murderball' as much as they do for 'Hustle & Flow,' 'Murderball' would blow up!

I didn't know Albert back then - I just learned to play that way. He and I were the only guys that played left-handed. Then left-handed people came from every direction.

Nasser Hussain was skipper when I first played for England and a massive influence. He showed me a lot of faith.

Ask any player. You're only as good as your coach allows you to be.

I think every player should think that he's a difference maker.

Chet Atkins... is probably the best guitar player who ever lived.

I always thought Kurt Cobain was the perfect embodiment of the great alternative guitar player.

I have been a big admirer of Coutinho, and he can be a very important player for Liverpool and Brazil.

If I'm going to be a jazz player, I need to understand Miles Davis.

Charlie Parker is my greatest inspiration as a saxophone player - anything that involves him entails a large amount of respect.

I grew up with my parents always listening to rock music. My dad wanted me to play guitar, but I always had more of an ear for drums. He really wanted me to be a guitar player, like him.

All an agent is going to do is buy things for a player, damage his eligibility, and make the player dependent on them.

I don't want to create a too-big-to-fail player.

If people's opinion, whether they liked you or not, made you a better player then we'd all be out there on the charm offensive.

The players make the manager, it's never the other way.

Peter Stoger is very, very inspirational, communicating a lot, being open and approachable for the players.

I read every book there was on jazz, about the original players - King Oliver, Buddy Bolden and all those groups. At one time I was fairly well schooled in that... I could tell you who played where and when, historically, way before my time.

I was very lucky to have fantastic leaders before me in Paul Kelly, Leo Barry, Brett Kirk, Craig Bolton, Mick O'Loughlin and Stuart Maxfield, and all of those players led in completely different ways.

Many times, my role was to work as a link between the coaches and the players; it was to be a leader. That was something natural for me.

Outside cricket, I idolise Roger Federer and in the gentleman's game, I look up to Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid. Not only were they great players, but the way they conducted themselves off the field evoked respect.

Respect is the most essential thing about captaincy. Respect between the captain and players is important. It is give and take.