January 10, 2007 Archive

Ok, since the Barkley Quotes web page is going away soon, I'm moving all old quotes to this site. Lots of older quotes coming your way over the next few days. Starting... now!

"On throwing an elbow at an Angolan: "Well, he might have pulled a spear on me."

On why he didn’t attend a presidential inauguration: "They’re not my type. I like to be around low-class people, like reporters."

On New Years’ resolutions: "I think I’ve got to make a stronger commitment to my girlfriends and my family. Well, don’t write down my girlfriends."

On why he befriended Christian Laettner: "We’re a lot alike, actually. We both attended great academic institutions. And when we walk into a room, women scream."

On team dissention: "Harmony isn’t important. The only things that matter are winning and getting paid."

The only difference between a good shot and a bad shot is if it goes in or not.

On Generation X: "I wish I was young again. I’d make a fortune and the coach couldn’t yell at me."

"My body was not meant to play the way I do. I'm shorter than most of the guys who play up front in the NBA, the guys who play elbow wars every night , so I've always knownthat someday it would take it's toll."

It's hard to box out guys if they are good rebounders. If you're going to stand there and hold them, you're not going toward the ball. Somebody will beat you to it.

On where he wanted his fine money donated: "I was going to donate the money to the homeless, but they would have better houses than me by the end of the season."

Nobody gives me anything. Everything I get I earn. I don't want that much from other people. There ain't nothing easy and there ain't nothing free. That's the only rule I know.

No, that's just going to make my right hand sore from hitting people. I don't mind. I just have to get better at provoking them. I've got to make them hit me first, so they can't sue me. They don't pay me enough money to let people call me any name in the book.

On his relationship with fans: "I like kids when they’re kids. I don’t like it when they grow up and come to the games and call you names."

"Just because I can dunk a basketball doesn't mean I should raise your kids."

That's true. People don't want to hear the truth. Fat people are discriminated against. That's just human nature. Stereotypes abound. Like all black people are hoodlums, all Jewish people are crooks. That's totally not true. What's even worse, it's considered all right that people think that way. Marge Schott can say "money-grubbing Jews" or "million-dollar niggers," because that's the society we live in. People say it's freedom of speech. That's not freedom of speech. Any woman who has that much power isn't going to hire blacks or Jews. That ain't the worst part about it. The worst thing is that she may go and kiss up to them. When the Reds won the World Series, she was drinking champagne with the brothers and calling them million-dollar niggers behind their backs. I have more respect for the Klan, because when they call you nigger they don't sit there and drink with you.

David Stern calls me now and says, "I apologize for all the things I said to you in the past. Dennis is a lot worse than you are." (On Rodman)

"We (athletes) are held to such a higher standard, and we should be. But come on, don't go crazy. Don't make us out to be Public Enemy No. 1 because we do one thing wrong.Athletes do 99 percent good things and 1 percent bad things, and people never let you forget about that 1 percent."

On Chris Mullin, who had fainted: "If it's your brain, you'll be fine. That's the smallest organ in your body."

"Unless you're a doctor, ain't nothing important they can't wait to call you about later. How many 19- or 20-year-old kids got something really important happening? We've had beepersgo off in the middle of meetings right before the game."

"There are people who hide everything inside--and it's guys like that who kill whole families."

"Any moron can score."

"Me and Rick (Mahorn) aren't the only players who hit guys with elbows, or who knock guys down hard. But the NBA is really image-conscious. They make who they want to be good,they make who they want to be bad. But I'm not going to be Joe Bob, the All-American role model telling people what they want to hear. You can talk without saying a thing, and I don'tever want to be considered that type of person."

Two years ago: "The NBA makes everybody a star because they just want to make money. You got guys who can't even play that got jerseys, shoes and everything."

On a 1990 brawl against Pistons hit man Bill Laimbeer: "I don't know why he wants to challenge my heavyweight title. He's not even among the top 10 contenders."

"Dennis (Rodman) likes wearing a dress, I don't like wearing a dress. I tried it on a couple of times in the house, but I do it privately; I don't do it publicly."

"I like spicy things, to get discussions started, whether we're talking role models or racism, rookies or Rodman. I was chosen for some reason to live this , and if all I do is make a lot of money and never speak out for anybody or myself, that would be a waste. I've said and done some things wrong, but I can honestly say I've done more right than wrong. Am I going toheaven? It's going to be a real close vote."

On retirement: "In four years, I'll be the first black governor of Alabama. In eight years, I'll be the first black president."

"Professional athletes should not be role models. Hell, I know drug dealers who can dunk. Can drug dealers be role models too?"

"If I weren't earning more than $3 million a year to dunk a basketball, most people on the street would run in the other direction if they saw me coming."

"I think that the team that wins game five will win the series. Unless we lose game five."

"We are in the business of kicking butt and business is very, very good."

"Somebody hits me, I'm going to hit him back. Even if it does look like he hasn't eaten in a while."