Top 104 Quotes & Sayings by Diana Taurasi - Page 2

You can have an all-star team but not everyone plays at an all-star level.

The year-round nature of women's basketball takes its toll and the financial opportunity with my team in Russia would have been irresponsible to turn down. They offered to pay me to rest and I've decided to take them up on it.

Being loyal through thick and thin, ups and downs, it makes the special moments that much more special.

On the nights the Lakers played, I wouldn't miss a second of the game. Every timeout, every commercial, I'd run to the front yard to imitate my favorite Laker, Kobe.

I always say there's a couple things that I look at when I'm playing basketball. Do I enjoy going to the gym? Do I enjoy being in the locker room? When I get on the court do I still have that competitive fire to hate the person I'm playing against?

Some people have knees, ankles. It's always been my back. That's been one thing I've always had to be conscious about strengthening and being in rehab. Pretty much I've always rehabbed it.

Winning on the road is always great. If you ask anyone, there's nothing like going into a building with your crew and trying to get a win.

The best players in the world are men, so why wouldn't you want to play like them?

No matter if my dad had to work, or my sister was gone until 7, or I had basketball practice until 8, we always ate together. I think that's a big part of the Hispanic family, the culture. That is key to our existence, really.

That's one thing I tell young kids is watch Chris Paul play basketball. He doesn't just play the game. He's trying to beat the game.

As long as I'm playing at a high level, and I deserve to be out there, then I'll always put that U.S.A. jersey on. There's nothing better than that, no matter how many times you've done it.

The minute you get in a five-game series, you start thinking strategy, you start thinking about adjustments. Single elimination, you've got to go all out, all-in. I think that affects the coaching, it affects the playing, it affects the psyche going into the game.

You tell me I play like a man, and I'll tell you, 'Hey, thanks.'

My dad woke up at 5:30 every morning - every single day - and drove an hour-and-a-half to work. My mom was constantly working odd jobs, whether it was at Sizzler or babysitting. I didn't realize how hard they worked. Most kids rarely do. But they were building something for us.

For as many championships that I've won, I've been on a lot of teams that haven't won one.

When you're young, you want to put up the numbers, you want to be 'the man.'

It means a lot to be in one place for my whole career. The minute I got drafted in Phoenix, I knew it was a place I was going to be for a long time. But we know in the sports world and life in general, you don't know where it takes you sometimes.

Records are always meant to be broken.

When I was 13, we went back to Argentina to live for a year. I got to see my extended family - really see them: where they grew up, how they lived. It was a different kind of struggle. There is no money. There are no jobs. And they still have to find a way to feed their families.

People say, 'How would you do in the men's game?' I say, Give me a man's frame, and I think I'd do O.K.

Why shouldn't I try to make the most money I can?

I now know I can live without basketball.

I've been really lucky, played with a lot of great players, lot of great coaches.

I've just really always enjoyed coming into the gym. I don't know if it's the behavior of shooting, dribbling, the challenge of getting a whole team on the same page.

I can say I want to be known as the prettiest player ever but I don't control that, the people control that. So all I can do is show up to work every day and give my best.

Once you make a mistake and put the control of your life in someone else's hands, it's scary.

I heard I was the self-proclaimed White Mamba, which I can say I have never self-proclaimed myself anything.

I knew Kobe pretty well and he was a guy that was always moving forward.

There's a certain reason why certain people win because they have a winning mentality and they bring it into the locker room, into the gym every single day. You can't have enough of those people.

I can play through pain.

Thankfully, there was not a lot of social media around when I was growing up.

A lot of stuff has happened to me and Phoenix has always been there for me.

I used to be the kid that when we got to practice I didn't even stretch.

As you get older, you get less people to hold you accountable, especially in pro sports. The players have all the power. Unless you play for the Spurs. Then you're a college kid for life.

I am very much the daughter of immigrants. It's both a point of pride and an essential part of characterizing my upbringing. We spoke Spanish in our house. We listened to Spanish music. All of the TV channels we watched were in Spanish. We ate mostly Italian and Argentinian food.

If there was a basketball rehab, I'd be the first one admitted.

Sometimes you need to step away from the game. I've had to do that in different manners in my career.

When they say my name, I want them to say the Phoenix Mercury and vice versa. I wouldn't have it any other way.

Only thing that I'm guilty of is taking too many jump shots.

Every generation has their own great players. Who's to say that anyone's better than Cheryl Miller or Nancy Lieberman? Whose anyone to say Michael Jordan is better than Oscar Robertson or Magic Johnson or Larry Bird? Every generation has its great player. There's never going to be one player that's so above and beyond anyone else.

Choosing an agent is like picking a college. They give you a pitch, you hear what they've got to say, you hear what they're going to do for you. Ultimately it's a good gut reaction.

The fans in Connecticut are just one of a kind. Not to take away from the fans of any other sport in any other country, but the fans in Connecticut are just diehard fans that you don't get very often and you don't see very often.

I'm not afraid of anyone. I'm not shy about anything. Not even my big nose.

Whether it's college or WNBA, its basketball and the more you play the less you need to adjust.