Top 158 Quotes & Sayings by Paul Pierce - Page 2

I found my father through other people, through my older brothers, my high school coaches, so I had men influences along the way who helped me.

That is one of my greatest strengths. I am not afraid to face challenges or any matchup in the league.

Every kid who just played basketball knew about the Boston Celtics. They're one of the few teams who were always on national TV along with the Lakers.

If I see LeBron walking down the street, it's not going to be no fistfight. I've got a lot of respect for him.

I'm not a guy who goes into the neighborhood, gets beat up by the bully's gang, and then now I want to join their gang. That's just not me. I wanna fight - let's go! I mean, I'm gonna stand up for myself. That's just the competitive nature of where I come from, the era I grew up in.

I want to be the dad that my father never was.

Kids are the most genuine thing to me: everything they say and do, they mean it.

I understand when you have great players on losing teams who are tired of losing, struggling in the playoffs every year. You're the lone star. I've been in that position.

When you're a young player, and you're starting to scratch your potential, you don't know how good you can be.

I play a lot of pick-up games; I run a lot on my own.

The fans of New York are very knowledgeable about the game of basketball. They love their sports here.

I'm an old-school guy. I'm a competitor.

I've been around this game for a long time - a lot of plane rides, a lot of bus rides, a lot of pregame speeches, a lot of national anthems.

What people don't understand is the summertime is motivation - how willing you're willing to work for the upcoming season - and I think, as older players, once you see that drive fall off in the summer, then I think it's time to hang it up.

When Shaq gave me the nickname, it wasn't no Joe-Bob giving you a nickname. This is Shaq. It was like, whoa.

Injuries are a big factor when you're trying to go on a championship run.

I always thrive on wanting to play against the best.

I really don't use a personal trainer.

I've always been the Rodney Dangerfield of this game. Maybe it was meant to be that way, but that always drove me.

You can't listen to every little thing that's bad or good said about you. I always used that - whenever I heard it, I used it as fuel to motivate me, man. That's how I was raised, whenever I came up.

Eating right is part of my lifestyle now.

I want to be there for my daughter - when she falls, to pick her up. When she needs help with homework.

Understanding history means knowing what motivates you.

I think too much of my leadership is done the bad way.

Understanding who you are is saying, 'You're great; you have tons of confidence, and don't ever forget that.' And that helped me, man. Because when things weren't going right, I thought, 'You've got to remember who you are. Don't stray from that. Don't let these things get you down.'

It's crazy how people just don't care sometimes about the kids they have.

I didn't have a dad around to pick me up when I fell, throw the ball to me outside. I always wonder how it would be if I did have a dad there.

Sometimes when general managers get a new job, they clean house and start over and rebuild and get the players they want in there.

When you come off a losing season - one of the worst seasons in all of basketball - and get guys like Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett, two perennial All-Stars, we felt like we had a championship team.

If somebody said, 'You're going to be the Number 1 pick; you're going to have a great team around you all these years'? It would've been too easy.

After 18 NBA years, it's hard to believe I'll be playing in each arena for the last time.

I just love the pressure, truthfully, man.

Winning's not easy. In order to win, you've got to see the best.

Dislike is what creates rivalries.

I love the fact that I get to play against the Los Angeles Lakers in a Game 7 on the road.

Old-school guys, they don't need to see the doctor, the massage therapist. We'd come in when we was 21; we'd go right to the court and start shooting.

I love walking the streets of New York.

Good things only can last so long.

I knew guys way more talented than me who fell through the cracks.

It's no secret that me and New York got history. It's no secret. This is no secret. It's already known.

People probably won't even remember I played for the Clippers.

I want to see my child grow.

When you're not winning in your last couple of years, it gets frustrating because where's your motivation?

I respect our greats. I admire them.

You can actually get calls by yelling, 'And one!' as you release.

Usually, when you win the championship, you party all summer and don't work out. But when I won, I mean, I had my good times, but I used it as motivation to do it again. When you realize you can accomplish something so great, you want to do it again.

I respect LeBron. People think we have a hate for each other, but I totally respect what he's done.

When I set my goals, I set them to where they fit within the team concept.

I think you're a product of your influences, your environment. You see guys with so much talent, but they got the wrong people around them telling them the wrong things. They wind up going down the wrong path.

I'm happy I'm able to leave a legacy behind. I'm happy I was able to win a championship. I have no regrets about nothing.

I've always been known as a pure scorer, and I've always said if I just sat outside and shot 3s and just really focused on that - coming off of screens and spot-up 3s - and shot six or seven 3s a game, I would probably be more known as one of the greatest shooters in NBA history.

I remember I didn't know who Jason Williams was, and he got drafted ahead of me. It was just weird. I thought I'd be in the top five, and I slipped all the way to 10, so it was a strange night for me.

A lot of things change in the playoffs.

I love the fact that, if I don't win multiple championships, that I probably won't be mentioned amongst the other guys in Celtics history who've done it before. That type of stuff motivates me.

I take the opportunity 3s, and I think I'm one of the better shooters.

LeBron is a great post-up player, but if you get him to settle for the jumper on some nights, you might be able to slow him down if his shot is off.

I originally was more into baseball and football, but being in Los Angeles, you just couldn't help but to fall in love with the game of basketball because they had such a winning tradition.

You've got to be able to finish out the season on a strong note.

These seasons, as you get older, they just are so long and draining.

I love getting up - in the summer, I get up at 5:30, 6 just to go train.