I wanna thank Biggie Smalls, Redman, Jadakiss, Tupac and Michael Jackson for being my theme music throughout my career.
— Allen Iverson
Obviously, if I could go back and change anything, I would be a perfect man. And I know there's no perfect man.
You used to think the suspect was the guy with the cornrows; now you see the police officers with the cornrows.
My actions, right or wrong, there were people who supported me through this long, hard journey.
At some point, it comes to an end regardless, however it comes, whether it is retirement or injury; at some point, it comes to an end.
There's nothing that sells good about Allen Iverson if it's something positive about Allen Iverson.
I felt like I was better at football than I am in basketball.
Being older, I can't imagine a parent not wanting to be in their kid's life. I will just never understand it. To me, it's priceless.
Coming into the league, if I would've had money, then obviously I would've had more tattoos.
I'm a Hall of Famer, and I can go outside today and go to a restaurant or wherever, and somebody will come up to me and say, 'Practice? We talkin' 'bout practice?' Man, I am a Hall of Famer, and that's all you can think about?
That's where I'll get the love in my heart: from, the fact that little young guys can look at the obstacles that I had to go through to become a Hall of Famer and know it's not so bad when it comes to them trying to accomplish the same goal.
You can hide from the devil, but he'll always find you.
I couldn't have accomplished the things in my career if I didn't practice, and the worst part about that whole thing is when a kid comes up to me and says 'Allen, I don't like practice, either.' I've got to straighten that kid right then.
You look at guys on the court, man. You got this guy with this brand of shoe, and this guy with this brand - they're just wearing the shoe. But it's a whole different feeling when you got a shoe on, and it's yours.
Don't nobody wanna talk about or hear about somebody donating money to a charity. You wanna hear about what Bin Laden is doing and what you think is on his mind.
You gotta do what you gotta do. And I had to figure that out, and I used to - I couldn't stand the media, but I realized they have a job. They gotta do what they have to do.
If we lose games, and I don't score a lot, they gonna say I'm not scoring enough.
I make all that money and it ain't enough. I gotta make more to help all the people around me.
I have no regrets on anything. People ask me all the time, 'Do I have any regrets?' I don't have any. If I could back and do it all over, would I change anything? No.
I had to learn that some people are just not going to like you. I had to have thick skin when I would see what people would say or write about me.
I used to say my biggest accomplishment was just getting drafted, whether it was the first pick or the 100th or whatever.
I made a lot of mistakes. And obviously, it cost me.
I gotta win games. Because if we lose games, and I score a lot, they going to say I'm scorin' too much.
Guys is supposed to be able to be original and dress like how they want to dress. The NBA can't dress no grown man.
I'm just a regular 24/7 dad now.
All my tattoos are tattoos that I wanted to get, but I couldn't afford.
I knew I was gonna be the number one pick, but I didn't know.
What makes me feel good is all of the people that rooted for A.I. get a chance to say, 'He did what you never thought he could do. The critics. He did what you never thought he could accomplish.' This is a moment that me and my fans and my family and friends can share together because we always believed in the dream.
I'm not going to be the same as I was when I've made so many bad mistakes.
If I'm not getting older and more mature at 31, then something's wrong.
Everybody talks about that one when they first meet me. 'Man, I still remember the play you shook Jordan.' Everybody gonna always remember it because it was Jordan.
I wish the media and people that work in media would realize sometimes - and I know it doesn't pay your bills - but sometimes just sit back and think, like, 'Man, what if this was my child? And somebody was doing this to them? And they had to go through it? If somebody bashed them like this?'
My friend... used to tease me about a tattoo I had right here, but it was so big, and what he was teasing me about - he said it looked like a flying monkey. It's supposed to have been a grim reaper holding a ball. But it did look like a monkey.
People and what they say don't bother me like they used to. When I was younger, I really couldn't take it because I couldn't understand where the criticism was coming from.
Coach's voice will never leave my head as long as I live.
Being in a fishbowl, everybody looking at every move you make, talking about everything you do - it's just a hard life to live.
I didn't take constructive criticism the way I should have. When I finally caught up to that, that's when I went to being the MVP.
I don't feel no type of way. I just understand that He helped me accomplish a lot of things in the NBA. I've done so many things that people thought that I couldn't do.
My whole thing was being wanted and being accepted by a ball club. That was the most important thing to me.
I've accomplished so many things in basketball. I financially secured my kids' life and their future. I'm just happy. I'm just blessed. So anything that I'm not awarded doesn't matter because I've been rewarded enough in this lifetime.
I surround myself with people who make me laugh.
Tattoos, cornrows, headbands, hip-hop. I never meant to start any trends. I got my butt kicked, but if that meant that the guys who came after me could be themselves, then it was worth it.
God gave me all this; why waste the talent that he gave me? Why not go full throttle with it all and try to become in the class with the greatest players that ever played the game? That's just a great feeling.
I wasn't a fan of the Sixers. My dad was a big Mo Cheeks fan, and he wanted me to be drafted by the Sixers. My thing was, if that could make my dad happy, then that would make me happy, you know what I mean?
Larry Brown molded me into an MVP and a Hall of Fame player.
I just want kids all over the world to know you have to practice to be any good in this game; it's too hard.
All I ever wanted to do was wear Jordans. I think there was only one or two pair I never had.
I wish there was a season where I was playing and didn't have no aches, no pains, no bruises, no nothing.
Doing this for so long, I realize that the media - you have a boss. And your boss wants you to provide the best material that you can. And he might put pressure on you to do it a way that you feel is unconstitutional. You might not like it. But you still gotta feed your family.
Sometimes it used to hurt so bad when people used to say stuff about me. It still does. But I'm at a level now that I'm like, 'I ain't surprised that they said this or that about me.'
