I'm the one who will take chances, not worry about the backlash.
— Magic Johnson
I'm a businessman, and what I know is numbers and business.
To me, everything is wonderful. Life is wonderful.
I thank Him every chance I get - on my knees praying.
I'm gonna love my son until the end.
Just celebrate the life you had, not the life you could've had.
Magic is who I am on the basketball court. Earvin is who I am.
God blessed me with two unbelievable parents, and I am just like both of them. I have the smile and charisma of my mother and the big heart of my mom, because she wants to save the world and help the world, so I am just like her.
I guess when people ask what is the biggest transition to the NBA from college, it is definitely defense and the mental part.
You know I was a shy guy and people didn't know that and still don't know it today. I'm sure basketball brought my shyness out because of the fact that you have to do interviews, and that people are always talking to you in terms of the fans and everything.
Young people want you to be real with them.
The first year was hard for me to deal with. The second year was a little bit easier, but still difficult. It took me five years to get it out of me. It was a difficult moment, a difficult time.
If somebody says no to you, or if you get cut, Michael Jordan was cut his first year, but he came back and he was the best ever. That is what you have to have. The attitude that I'm going to show everybody, I'm going to work hard to get better and better.
I tell you, it's funny because the only time I think about HIV is when I have to take my medicine twice a day.
Research your idea. See if there's a demand. A lot of people have great ideas, but they don't know if there's a need for it. You also have to research your competition.
Athletes don't like to get up early, but it never bothered me.
I do not have bad days. I don't wake up in the morning and think that I'm going to get AIDS. I don't dream bad dreams about it. If I did, I'd be giving in to the negativity.
My dad was my hero. And I got my personality from my mother.
I have a fond place in my heart for Seattle, so I hope that an NBA team comes back to this great city, this great sports city.
I don't care who is attacking my son. I still support him; I still love him.
When you are honest and open with young people, they let you in.
When you face a crisis, you know who your true friends are.
It's a burden trying to keep a secret. It's hard. It probably takes more out of you trying to hold it and keep it than it does for you to really let it out.
Magic is crazy. He is that crazy wild guy on the basketball court that is very intense and very serious. He is the guy who lives and eats and breathes basketball.
Everyone thought I was going to die like a year later, they didn't know. So I helped educate sports, and then the world, that a man living with HIV can play basketball. He's not going to give it to anybody by playing basketball.
The real story is that I had unprotected sex. That's that. That's easy.
My diet is mostly chicken and fish. I make sure I get a lot of vegetables, a lot of fruit. I am a big fruit man, I am a vegetable man anyway. And I also get a lot of rest. That's the key I may be up early, but I'm in bed early too.
I wanted to do two things when I was growing up, about your age. I wanted to play in the NBA, and I wanted to be a businessman after my basketball career was over, and that is what I am doing now.
I am a businessman. This is what I do each and every day. I love it. I love coming to work. I never have a bad day.
All kids need is a little help, a little hope and somebody who believes in them.
I'm the one who started redevelopment in South Los Angeles, not Jan Perry. I did it. I love Jan. She's a good person, and she did a wonderful job with what she did downtown, but in L.A., South L.A., I'm the one.
People don't stop eating, and they don't stop drinking coffee.
All students should have the opportunity to receive their high school diplomas and be fully prepared for college or the workplace.
Urban America is like a foreign country in a sense.
I respect women to the utmost.
My father is my idol, so I always did everything like him. He used to work two jobs and still come home happy every night.
My father was a great example of a strong and good man and Christian man, and my mother taught all my six sisters how to be young ladies and mothers and how to take care of your family. And so I think they were - they still are - great examples for all of us to their kids and to the world, too.
You can't get AIDS from a hug or a handshake or a meal with a friend.
I met wonderful people playing in the NBA. Whether it is the officials, the scorekeepers, all the people who work for the NBA, not just for the Lakers, but I'm talking about just for the league itself.
The audience likes their emotions to be touched. They want to laugh and cry and feel good.
The important thing is this Just because I'm doing well doesn't mean that they're going to do well if they get HIV. A lot of people have died since I have announced. This disease is not going anywhere.
If you're a competitive person, that stays with you. You don't stop. You always look over your shoulder.
I want to be here for a long time, so I am going to do everything I have to do to be here. And I want to walk my daughter down the aisle and give her away to somebody some day. I want to make sure I am still here to make sure my two young sons become men.
I'm from there. You know, when you grow up with these people and see them every day and then you look at the numbers it was easy; it was a no-brainer. And when Sony took a look, it was a no-brainer to them, too.
Ask not what your teammates can do for you. Ask what you can do for your teammates.
