Top 100 Quotes & Sayings by Paulinho

If we can't handle pressure, we don't play football.

At Tottenham, I enjoyed the first year but the second was tough.

Whatever the circumstances, playing alongside the best in the world is something I can tell my kids about.

I've heard it said that I'm silencing the critics so many times but it's not that: I don't have to prove myself to anyone.

If I had left football I would not have had anything.

Never mind where you are, you have to fight until the end. It's important you never give up.

I wouldn't say it was a relief to leave Spurs but it was clear I had to. It was a difficult time.

When I was a kid, I used to love playing football so much that I genuinely wouldn't be able to fall asleep at night.

You have to face challenges with courage.

When I came to Barca, I know some people doubted me. They weren't totally convinced. But, and I've said this before, that never really bothers me.

What I always say is when I am at a club I am enjoying what that club has to offer.

Ever since I was five years old, running around the streets of Zona Norte with a football, my mother has been by my side in every situation.

For the clubs that I've played for I always tried to fulfill my contract.

I'm happy to be scoring important goals in the national team and here in Guangzhou, too.

As a player, I just focus on the games and concentrate on improving myself.

A good financial proposal doesn't mean you'll get to do a lot of things. There are times when you have to think about your career.

When the transfer window opens, every player can leave his club and find another challenge.

Messi has helped me a lot.

I was getting ready to take a free-kick in a game between Brazil and Argentina. Suddenly, I saw Messi behind me getting closer bit by bit, and he says 'are we going to Barcelona or not?' I said, 'if you want to bring me there, you can. I'll go.'

The only way I can show the doubters is on the field. Not for them, but for my team-mates, who are with me every day. We work to get good results.

You can lose a game by two or three and say: 'Oh we made this mistake, we made that mistake, we lost.' But if you lose 7-1 what can you say?

If you are not playing in your position in a league as competitive as England then it is difficult.

I left Brazil at 17 years old in order to give my family a better life, but when I returned home two years later, I was completely disillusioned with football.

I've played football my entire life, all over the world, and the one thing I've learned is that the important thing is to enjoy your work.

When I was 19 years old, I quit football completely. For about a month, I stayed at home in a depression. This was in the summer of 2008.

You are told before coming to Europe that big teams here quite often rotate players. I respect this culture but it is instinctive for me to get annoyed if I don't play every game.

I've always been this kind of player: since youth level I've been a midfielder who can arrive and finish.

I'm certain I can fit in at Barca and prove that all the effort they made to get me here was worth it.

I know Barca have their own style and DNA but I think I can play here.

I never take free kicks because it's not my job.

Coutinho is a great player, he will help Barcelona to reach their goals.

A lot of people felt it was difficult for me to come to Barca because I was playing in China. Nevertheless, I have achieved my dream and I am enjoying each day.

I've had the opportunity to play with Neymar on the national team. Now I'm playing alongside Messi. He's a different player, but he's the best player in the world.

I had no problem with Pochettino.

At Corinthians, I had the pleasure to play with Ronaldo who also taught me a lot.

It's a gift to be offered the opportunity to play the World Cup.

Tite gives me absolute freedom to do what I have always done throughout my career.

In 2011, when I was in Corinthians, I received an offer from Russia that offered me to win 10 times more than in Brazil and I answered: 'What I can do with five, I can do with two.'

In England, I have acquired more tactical knowledge and improved the speed of my decision making.

A player can make money at any team he goes to. The important thing for me is to be happy with the decision that I am making.

One minute I was with Tottenham, the next came a proposal from China. I took a step back to think about it and decided it was the right time to move.

My first game with Pochettino I played in my position. But after that I played in every single position but mine.

If we need to play ugly to win a match, we are going to do that.

I suffered racial abuse in Lithuania, and in two games the fans were making monkey noises and throwing coins at me.

Here in the Premier League you need to be very quick mentally. Spaces are shorter and the game is much more tactical and tight.

You have to go to sleep at night staring at the wall, thinking, 'Damn, I can't wait for it to be morning so I can have the ball at my feet again!' You can only play your best football in these conditions.

People always talk and always will - 'He's good now because he's at Barca,' 'He was only good then because he was in China,' blah, blah, blah. When I was at Bragantino and I went to Corinthians it was the same; it was the same at Tottenham and in China. I've had that since the beginning.

When someone is playing alongside the best player in the world, you just have to do what you need to do to make him the best and ensure that the ball gets to him as quickly and as often as possible.

Barca are Barca and I don't think you can say no to them. To play here is to realise a dream.

Football can change very fast.

In my second season at Tottenham, things didn't go as I wanted but I accepted the offer from Chinese football and there I recovered my confidence and I won titles.

Money for me never came first.

In Lithuania they had racially abused me, in Poland they hadn't paid me, and I thought: 'I don't need this.' I said to my family: 'I'm not playing football again.'

I don't play for the critics, I play for my team-mates.

I did not have to prove anything to people who doubted me, just to my team-mates and to Barcelona. The best thing is to do it on the field, with victories, with goals. But more than the goals is winning matches.

I'm not a hypocrite and I'm a transparent person.

Football without critics wouldn't be football.

I just try to enjoy the opportunities that come my way.

My first steps in football came thanks to my big brother who taught me the game.

It is the dream of every player. Imagine winning the World Cup in your own country. It would be the happiest day of my career.