We had church and sports, and that's how we stuck together. We were so hungry sometimes, but if somebody's playing football, you can completely forget about eating until later on that night.

When I'm on the football field, I'm giving you everything. Do the Ravens know that? Yes they do.

We need more of our young youth graduating from college trying to get their education, and trying to be contributing members, positive contributing members to the community.

I look at the quarterback and the receivers. You look at the quarterback, the formation. I focus on the passing game and react on the running game. You look at it over and over, then sooner or later, it becomes like a movie. You ever notice how you quote movies? That's all film watching is.

I tried to go and get my master's in-season. That's a tough cookie to try to eat, but it's just a great thing.

If you play NFL football, you play football, these are the consequences. There's choices and consequences in life for everything. There's consequences if you play football.

Football was easy.

I am going to graduate school, but that ain't got nothing to do with football.

I know the hustle that is in Louisiana. Knowing where you are from, really where you're from, helps you to help the community. That's every city, but New Orleans is just different. We have big hearts, but it's just a matter of us having the information, having the people to push you along like I had.

Not everybody is going to understand you. You can't please everybody. That's just human nature. Everybody has their opinion, and that's going to be there. You deal with it. You take it in stride. You take the good with the bad, the bad with the good. That's part of life.

When I was in Baltimore, it was all about raising me and not having players come in and out of there. It was about raising men, and there was a reason why it built up to the success.

Sometimes I wake up and I think, where did my memory go? But at the same time, I signed up for it. Football has been like that for a long time, for ages.

I love this game, and I put my heart and soul into it.

Everybody in the world knows that plans tend to change.

I'm always excited about life.

The fact of the matter is that people don't understand that football players are regular people just like them. And half of them don't understand the business. And most of them just want you to entertain them.

There's a lot of good fans out there, but there's also a lot of bad - I don't want to say bad people, but a lot of people who just want to try to get on your nerves and stuff like that, man.

I'm not the kind of person to hold my tongue.

I was a San Francisco fan when Joe Montana and Ronnie Lott and those guys where there. And I watched Joe Montana get cut and go to K.C. and still ball.

I was very proud to hear that my friend Andre Johnson was like, 'Man, I'm going back to school.' I was so excited because, yeah you have great talent. You do everything on Sundays, you do everything on the field, but you went to college, and I'm not saying that you forgot about it, but that was on your mind when you first went.

I know everybody wants to make it to the NFL, but it doesn't happen like that.

I love Bill Belichick. He is a great coach, great man - raising men to do the right thing and win championships in this league.

I've just been playing football for a long time. I've been playing football since I was a little kid, so it's just some natural blessings that God has blessed me with to get to the ball and understand what I've been doing over the years.

Not everybody likes Ed Reed.

If the youth has a good foundation, then I think they won't grow into the bad situations they get into.

We've got to help our community out. We've got to help Baltimore out, because it's a lot of things that have been handed down in our society that we're dealing with.

There's only so many guys on a football team that really have a voice. So anytime you have a microphone, you should use it for the betterment of humanity, for the betterment of this country, for the betterment of our kids coming up behind us, for the future of the world. Why not? Make the world a better place.

God gives you talent to nurture. God gives you talent to be something. Some people realize it and some people don't.

Baltimore is my heart. The fans are family.

I take care of myself. I try my best.

The only way we protect ourselves, the only way a player gets what he wants is by holding out.

Now that I know the dangers? Yes, I still would do it again. Why? 'Cause look at me. Look at my family. They're able to eat, they're able to have food and shelter over their head. Would I play football again? Yes.

Coming out of college, I wasn't considered the fastest, the biggest or the smartest. There was no way around that.

I wasn't about one season, but career and longevity.

Football is what we do. It's our job, it's a business.

Encourage those around you. Encourage yourself.

God has blessed me with the ability to play football.

We're all going to have our trials and tribulations, but you can work through them and everything will be all right.

Stay in school because education provides you with an opportunity. Opportunity is all you can ask for.

Baltimore, I love that city.

I always said I wanted to become a master of my game, like Bruce Lee. I mastered my art of football, because that's what it truly is when you understand it.

I was a two-star athlete. I got looked over.

We have a bunch of American citizens who step up because that's what we do. We'll step up and go across the world to help people out. When it comes to our own backyard, it's always a different conversation.

I love to have my football camps. I love being a part of that.

Those inner-cities, they're not giving kids a chance. They're not giving the teachers a chance to really help those kids. They're making it real tough. You're either gonna help or you're hurting your own country.

I never came out of a game unless I was truly hurt.

When I make a tackle or make a play and I have a slight pain or something, you're going to react the way you react.

I always play the game a certain way, regardless of what guys say.

Not every game is going to be perfect. Not every game is going to be an interception or two or a big-bang tackle, so to say.

My older brother, he did everything. He played baseball, he played basketball. Just being able to watch him as a youngster, wanting to be like him, wanting to play on the team with him and watching those older guys in my neighborhood play sports.