Don’t knock the ball in the stands, keep it in your hands! — Bill Russell

If a guy pays you five dollars, you give him seven dollars worth of work. — Bill Russell

Success is a result of consistent practice of winning skills and actions. There is nothing miraculous about the process. There is no luck involved. — Bill Russell

Friendship is a full–time job. — Bill Russell

My most prized possession was my library card from the Oakland Public Library. — Bill Russell

I think that David Stern is probably the greatest commissioner that any sport has ever had in the history of this country. — Bill Russell

The idea is not to block every shot. The idea is to make your opponent believe that you might block every shot. — Bill Russell

If you can take something to levels that very few other people can reach, then what you’re doing becomes art. — Bill Russell

The only important statistic is the final score. — Bill Russell

To love someone is nothing, to be loved by someone is something, to love someone who loves you is everything. — Bill Russell

The magic to a great meeting is all of the work that’s done beforehand. — Bill Russell

This monument is going to be built as a symbol. — Bill Russell

The most important thing to me is the friends that I’ve made. — Bill Russell

Heart in champions has to do with the depth of our motivation and how well your mind and body react to pressure–that is, being able to do what you do best under maximum pain and stress. — Bill Russell

The Big Sort: Why the Clustering of Like–Minded Americans Is Tearing Us Apart by Bill Bishop and Robert G. Cushing, — Arlie Russell Hochschild

Learning is a daily experience and a lifetime mission. I truly believe in the saying ‘We work to become, not to acquire. — Bill Russell

My father once told me that anyone who worked for three dollars an hour owed it to himself to put in four dollars’ worth of work. — Bill Russell

Create unselfishness as the most important team attribute. — Bill Russell

I think what has happened to our basketball team, we’ve been badly distracted. They’re not reading too many positive things in the paper. — Bill Russell

Most people have a harder time letting themselves love than finding someone to love them. — Bill Russell

The last five or six days, I’ve been running. The last two days, I’ve been running pretty hard. Everybody’s got to be someplace. — Bill Russell

Love is a debt, she thought. When the bill comes, you pay in grief. — Mary Doria Russell

The most important measure of how good a game I played was how much better I’d made my teammates play. — Bill Russell

We couldn’t sustain it. And they got a lot of kids that can shoot. We just couldn’t close out well enough. — Bill Russell

Durability is part of what makes a great athlete. — Bill Russell

Concentration and mental toughness are the margins of victory. — Bill Russell

If you really have integrity, there are very few people who can insult you, or honor you. — Bill Russell

What’s more important than who’s going to be the first black manager is who’s going to be the first black sports editor of the New York Times. — Bill Russell