Top 143 Quotes & Sayings by Jim Brown - Page 2

I was just a big guy running down with a big, deep pocket and little short stick putting it against my chest.

There have been so few decent films involving Negroes that right away everybody expects every film to do everything. But when you make a flick, there are maybe two things you're trying to put into that flick. You can put the other things in another time.

'The Autobiography of Malcolm X.' I've used it to demonstrate racial attitudes to people who I thought needed a better understanding of all human beings. Malcolm was not a racist. He was not looking for revenge. He realized that kindness and goodness did not come from any one kind of person.

The need to be cared for is the base of everything. In the penitentiaries, you won't hear gangbangers and criminals say, 'No, I don't want to be cared for by nobody.' When you care about them, they'll open up to you.

I played basketball, and I loved it. But I never thought of it seriously as being a professional.

I just walk funny.

The so-called incorrigibles were not the way people said they were. I found a lot of character in some of these people.

Adrian Peterson isn't running by committee.

Richard Sherman is a creation of the media and a bright young man who has learned how to capitalize on everything, and sometimes at the expense of his other teammates.

Nobody I ever broke bread with - and I see players all the time - talked about using their head running the football. I've seen Barry Sanders and Eric Dickerson and Marcus Allen and Franco Harris, and we've all been together - we were all together at the Super Bowl - and no one talked about using their head.

I learned a long time ago that advice is a quick trip to nowhere. It's the commitment that only you can make in yourself, the responsibility to assume control of yourself.

People think that coaches are always right, but it's difficult to teach a runner how to run, because every runner is different. You have to have an understanding of how to assist what that runner has, so they know how to assist what you have without taking away your special ability, because you're not like anybody else.

One of the most fantastic experiences I ever had was as a decathlete. I finished fifth in the nation my senior year of high school. I had no training or nothing.

Twenty-seven years incarcerated, his jailer became his best friend. So if you need an example on how we should act and how we should be, then Nelson Mandela is the man to follow.

You have to put money in its proper perspective. The way it is positioned in the culture is like it is the most important thing. But something is missing.

America says we are a great democratic society and other people should follow our example. Well, I say we benefited from slavery, and as a nation, we never faced that because the people in power chose not to.

I would love to have a role with the Browns. I think that's what every ex-player would like to do most of all: to be a contributor to the success of an organization that he was a player that brought a certain amount of success.

Education, family, character, intelligence, humility, okay? These are the things that make a culture live.

The three greatest people in my life were white, OK. My high school coach, my high school superintendent and my mentor in Manhasset, Long Island.

Nelson Mandela just died, so that says so much because it's a tremendously powerful and great man who was very sensitive. Loved all people, forgave his enemies, and showed the world how to stand up and do it the right way.

In anger-management training, they teach you never to hit a person - hit an object. That's what they teach you.

It doesn't take science to know that when you have head-to-head collisions, there's going to be some effect.

In a perfect world, I don't think any man should slap anyone.

I think the National Football League needs a new union. The heavyweights of this union are not heavyweights enough.

Concussions have brought the consciousness to the problem, but I think the problem is football-related injuries, period, and the lack of support from the league of those players who have suffered those injuries. The denial factor has been unbelievable. I'm here because I'm a fighter to try to bring attention to this fact.

Boxing is a great example of it, but in football, sometimes you're taking greater hits than boxers. When you have one man going full speed against another man, and those heads are colliding, it's just the fact of science you're going to have results.

Capitalistic society teaches kids to be No. 1, but true self-esteem doesn't come from money. It doesn't come from winning the Super Bowl.

Obama was elected by the people, and I was glad that barrier was broken down. I did, along with my wife, campaign for him in Ohio because that was a key state. If I had to say does he rate an 'A' or does he rate a 'D,' it would be very difficult. I give him a 'C.'

When Kennedy could not get the civil rights bill passed - and he was the big liberal - Lyndon Johnson came in and it got passed, and he was the conservative and the southerner. So sometimes in politics, to get something done, it takes a special kind of knowledge and a special kind of person, but it doesn't always follow the party lines.

I'm a fan of NASCAR, in a certain kind of way.

God ain't got nothing to do with winning a damn football game.

If you're an old cat around young girls, you got to have somethin' to bring to the table.

The social issues outside of football are not as defined as they were earlier, when integration took place and certain rights were legislated. The Civil Rights movement is over. Individuals can buy homes wherever they want, travel first class wherever they want, eat wherever they want.

I don't want football to not be played, but I would like the sophistication brought forth to take care of those who need to be taken care of and to take the precaution, at the sacrifice of winning, to take care of people.

If you truly believe something, and it's incorrect, that doesn't mean you don't have integrity.

When I come out of the box, I don't come out of the box as racial.

I run a program called Amer-I-Can. We've taught in prisons, schools, juvenile facilities and we teach in the community. We have the greatest record from the standpoint of dealing with grade point averages, disciplinary action and attendance in schools.

I'm an American citizen. I pay my taxes. I want my equal rights. But this is my country, and consequently, I don't want to open up for ISIS or for anybody that will take away what we've already gained.

I gave away most of my trophies, put away the plaques.

I don't feel I could've played major league baseball.

I never had a father, really. My great-grandmother raised me. But I was in this country where I got help from people that were not of my same color. So when I come out of the box, I don't come out of the box as racial. I look for good people, and people that will be like-minded and help me try to do good for other human beings.

My biggest problem was to get the coaches to understand that I was a runner, and I wanted to prepare myself based upon the calisthenics I did and get myself ready. For example, I used my forearm when I ran the ball, so I didn't want to do pushups because I wanted my forearms to heal.

Nobody I ever broke bread with, and I see players all the time, talked about using their head running the football.

Ultimately, if you look at the game and there are two minutes left, and you have to ensure your victory, you don't want to throw the damn football. You want a runner who can run the clock out.

The NFL pension is the worst in the world of business. It's an embarrassment.

I like tight bodies and pretty faces. You bring in Methuselah, if she's got a tight body and a pretty face, that's all right, too.

You can do a hell of a film if you can understand what it is to be a man in America.

If you help disabled children, it's very appealing. If you help kids with cancer, those are the things you get credit for and those things are beautiful. But when it comes to stopping violence or really putting the time into rebuilding schools, that's just a different kind of project. It takes more than just money to do that.

Malcolm X was a man among men.

There were a lot of running backs as good as me. The real difference was that I could focus. I never laid back and relied on natural ability.

Teammates are there for each other even after the noise of the crowd is gone.

I'm not a person that really deal in color. I recognize the inequities that certain cultures have to go through. I understand the history of slavery and all those things. But I'm not a victim. I can vote, I can participant. I can invest my money. I can invest my time. And that's what I'm doing. I'm not working for anybody. I'm not making any money doing what I'm doing. I'm doing it because someone did it for me.

Success is not only for the elite. Success is there for those who want it, plan for it, and take action to achieve it.

I don't deal in frustration. I'm a fighter. And everything I've ever gotten, I've had to fight for.

I don't teach kids to be number 1. Organizations and people that tell you you have to be number 1; that's not it. You don't have to be number 1. What I teach is to be as good as you can be. Use what you have and be as good as you can be. That's all you can do, anyway.

Make sure when anyone tackles you he remembers how much it hurts.

Showing weakness will encourage your opponents. It inspires them. It encourages them to hit harder. To come faster. But when you don't show any fear, or when you don't show any hurt, you have the opportunity to discourage your opponent. You discourage your enemies. The bottom line is, if you think properly, you don't even have to think about all of that. All you have to think about is that guy across from me is human, and so am I. And he'll never out-work me. He'll never out-think me. And if you can't out-work me, and you can't out-think me, you'll never beat me.

I set my standards so high, no one could be harsher on me than I was.

You can't get old without living.

Ya know, America's a great country. It's great because it allows you to fight. And you can win, if you have the stamina and tenacity.