Top 99 Quotes & Sayings by Marcus Smart

I'm a winner. I'm not about the accolades. I'm here to win.

If you watch me for a long time, you'll really understand and appreciate the way I play.

I just wake up and I thank God every day, because I easily could've been in jail or six feet under.

My whole life I've worked. My whole life I've been counted out.

Being on the court is a great thing for me.

As a kid back home in Texas, I was followed by sales associates in stores and called derogatory names more times than I can count.

I've always been playing because I knew this was eventually going to pay off in the long run for me.

Off the court, I'm a totally different person. I've heard people be like, 'Oh, so sweet, like a big ole teddy bear.' But I guess I still have that look on my face in a game. I guess I still have a vibe where it's intimidating.

I believe in myself. I always have and I always will.

That's just me, growing up I've always had confidence.

I pride myself on the defensive end. That's where I earn my keep.

I think any player would tell you when you've got a coach that believes in you and you don't have to be looking over your shoulder after every play you do, and you can just go out and play, that's the coach you want to have on your team.

My actions speak harder than words.

I am a fighter; I will keep fighting and will never give up.

If I'm too busy looking in the past, how can I see what's in front of me with the future?

I've always played hard. That's how I was raised.

I know how important I am to my team, my teammates. They tell me every day.

Don't be afraid to ask questions.

I pride myself on playing just about every position on the court.

I remember times putting on my shirt and having to tuck my stomach in because I didn't like the way it looked.

I never had a spring break. I've always been on the road. I've always been traveling.

There are a lot of things that make Kyrie's game unstoppable. But his ability to ad-lib and come up with things on the fly is special.

I'm not the best shooter and I'm not the best scorer, but you do have to respect me because I can go off.

My time at Oklahoma State and in Stillwater has been amazing. I met some amazing people, got to play with some great guys and great teammates, and I built some strong relationships and bonds there.

I'm not a superman with a cape, I'm only a basketball player for the Celtics. But if I can make one child smile, I've done my job.

I've always said, 'Before you see the rainbow, it has to storm.'

Our bigs do a lot for us guards to get us shots, to get us shots, to get us open buckets, that they deserve the praise.

I look at basketball as like a storm. But it's the eye of the storm. The calmest place of it is to be right in the eye of it. And that's what basketball is for me; it's my eye. And while everything else around me is going on,' he continued, 'the destruction and things like that, basketball keeps me calm.

I'm a reflection of my mom, my brothers and everyone in my family. How I carry myself is a reflection of how they raised me. I've learned that.

I've always felt like a little bit of an underdog at each level - never the tallest or strongest or even fastest. But one thing I've always tried to do was to play harder than anyone on the court.

I could've easily let the passing of my brother control how I live my life. But I was determined not to let him die in vain and to make a negative into a positive.

I'm the youngest of four boys, and my oldest brother, Todd, was like a father figure to me. We were very close even though we were 23 years apart. When my parents were working, he was the one there for me. He was diagnosed with lung cancer when he was 15 years old.

Just make sure that you know what's going on with your money and you know where you money is coming from and how much is coming out and going in.

Nobody else is going to protect yourself. You've got to protect yourself.

I defend just like my brother Todd lived. He taught me how to play defense by the way he lived his life. I defend like every game is my last game, like anything can be taken away at any moment, and that's what my brother taught me. That's what he always preached to me, so that's how I believe the game should be played.

You know it's a real winter when Bostonians are telling you that they've never experienced anything like it.

Playoffs, you know, defense is elevated even more.

Thank God I had both parents and older brothers.

I just don't want to give anybody a reason to label me as something I'm not.

My mom and brothers are my heroes.

I am used to coming in second and then all of the sudden finishing in first because nobody expected me to do it. Kind of like David and Goliath, you know. I'm not the giant.

The most physical, most annoying games I ever played in my life were against my brothers growing up.

Me and discrimination, me and racial profiling... we go way back. We've got history.

I want to earn it, I don't want anything given to me.

No matter what you say or do, somebody's always going to be there and will have their own opinion of you. There's nothing you can do about it. You just have to live your life.

My rookie year, I bought a new Range Rover, and, knowing what I know about traffic stops in this country, I made damn sure that the tint on the windows was legal. Somehow, though... I just kept getting pulled over for my tint.

I love Boston, and Boston loves me.

Make sure you're building your brand early and make sure it's a good brand so in life after basketball, you have an option and you have resources to help you with that.

I'm a lock-up defender and I believe strongly in my defense, so I don't need to take cheap shots at guys to get an edge.

When I got cleared by doctors and was coronavirus-free, one of the first things I did was get to marching in Boston. I wanted to join the people out there doing all they could to speak out against injustice and hatred and police brutality - folks looking to ensure the future of our country is better than its past.

I think every athlete is their own biggest critic. That's just who we are. We're so competitive.

I want to hear good things. I don't want to hear any negative things about me. It makes me look bad. It makes me feel bad. It makes my family look bad.

My whole life I've been the one to look myself in the mirror whenever everyone else is doubting me. I'm the one that had the most confidence in myself and I always betted on myself, and it's worked out for me each and every time.

Outside of basketball, I really love to bowl.

The whole point of college is to find yourself, to figure out things before you go into the real world.

Everybody is responsible for their own actions. It's easy to point the finger at somebody else, but a real man, a real woman, a real person knows when it's time to take the blame and when to take responsibility for their own actions.

I want to work for what I have. If feel if you work for what you have instead of it being just given to you, people respect you a lot more because you understand what it takes, you've been there and done it. No one can just say it was easy because you took it. You didn't just get it. You took it.

I'm blessed. I'm going to get to do something I love to do and get paid a lot of money for it.

I'm just a physical player and I just try to make physical plays and just plays period for my team and do things that they need me to do to help them win.

You understand what your eyes mean to you, but it's different when you have to go through something like I did, where it's a possibility you could have lost your eyesight. It puts things back into perspective for you and humbles you a little bit.