"I remember my mother's prayers and they have always followed me. They have clung to me all my life."

"Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak out and remove all doubt."

"I am not bound to win, but I am bound to be true. I am not bound to succeed, but I am bound to live by the light that I have. I must stand with anybody that stands right, and stand with him while he is right, and part with him when he goes wrong."

"Every man is said to have his peculiar ambition. Whether it be true or not, I can say, for one, that I have no other so great as that of being truly esteemed of my fellow-men, by rendering myself worthy of their esteem. How far I shall succeed in gratifying this ambition is yet to be developed."

"If ever I feel the soul within me elevate and expand to those dimensions not wholly unworthy of its Almighty Architect, it is when I contemplate the cause of my country, deserted by all the world beside, and I standing up boldly and lone and hurling defiance at her victorious oppressors."

"To the best of my judgment, I have labored for, and not against, the Union. As I have not felt, so I have not expressed any harsh sentiment towards our Southern brethren. I have constantly declared, as I really believed, the only difference between them and us is the difference of circumstances."

"The shepherd drives the wolf from the sheep's for which the sheep thanks the shepherd as his liberator, while the wolf denounces him for the same act as the destroyer of liberty. Plainly, the sheep and the wolf are not agreed upon a definition of liberty."

"If the great American people will only keep their temper, on both sides of the line, the troubles will come to an end, and the question which now distracts the country will be settled just as surely as all other difficulties of like character which have originated in this government have been adjusted."

"The argument is they know what they're supposed to do. At least they tell you, 'We know what we're supposed to do.' So you back off a little bit on the real big muscle work that could cause them injury."

"From nobody to upstart. From upstart to contender. From contender to winner. From winner to champion. From champion to Dynasty."

"I have complete faith. That's how I operate, that's how I coach. I truly believe that when all the parts are healthy, I know how good we are. I've said it over and over again and I will continue to say it, I just think this team can do something special. And that's the way I'll keep thinking."

"He's incredible. He has no fear at the end and he simply wants to be put in that position. He was a way of making plays, he's just incredible."

"When a gifted team dedicates itself to unselfish trust and combines instinct with boldness and effort, its ready to climb."

"There are only two options regarding commitment. You're either in or you're out. There's no such thing as life in-between."

"We as an organization will do just about anything to supply comfort, compassion, money and anything else we can to help the victims of Hurricane Katrina. The Spurs and the Heat getting together to put on this exhibition to raise as much money as we can for the victims is an indication of what both organizations and the NBA is all about."

"The demise of Shaquille O'Neal has been greatly exaggerated. I can guarantee you that - and I coach him."

"He kept telling me he's ready. But I'm a stubborn old coach."

"Being a part of success is more important than being personally indispensable."

"There's always the motivation of wanting to win. Everybody has that. But a champion needs, in his attitude, a motivation above and beyond winning."

"Look for your choices, pick the best one, then go with it."

"Great effort springs naturally from a great attitude."

"There's no such thing as coulda, shoulda, or woulda. If you shoulda and coulda, you woulda done it."

"I think we're beginning to learn more about individual performances by perimeter players who have the ability to do what he does... We have to do something different at times to take the ball out of his hands, force him into areas it's not as easy for him to get done what he gets done."

"If we had come back with the same team as last year, it would have been a disaster. We didn't have the firepower to sustain what we needed in this conference. Last year was a honeymoon year. A couple players had career years. I didn't believe we had the core of players like the core we have now. We have a lot more versatility now."

"We didn't play the game with a lot of focused energy in the first half. I thought we were a little slow, we looked tired and (Cleveland) looked sharp and they were good."

"This is the time of year the enthusiasm should be coming to an all-time high."

"I don't think I ever had any enjoyment in the playoffs until you won."

"My paramount object in this struggle is to save the Union, and is not either to save or to destroy slavery. If I could save the Union without freeing any slave, I would do it; and if I could save it by freeing some and leaving others alone, I would also do that."

"Repeal the Missouri Compromise - repeal all compromises - repeal the Declaration of Independence - repeal all past history, you still cannot repeal human nature. It will be the abundance of man's heart that slavery extension is wrong; and out of the abundance of his heart, his mouth will continue to speak."

"Any people anywhere, being inclined and having the power, have the right to rise up, and shake off the existing government, and form a new one that suits them better. This is a most valuable - a most sacred right - a right, which we hope and believe, is to liberate the world."

"Our Declaration of Independence was held sacred by all and thought to include all; but now, to aid in making the bondage of the Negro universal and eternal, it is assailed, sneered at, construed, hawked at, and torn, till, if its framers could rise from their graves, they could not at all recognize it."

"All the armies of Europe, Asia and Africa combined, with all the treasure of the earth (our own excepted) in their military chest; with a Buonaparte for a commander, could not by force, take a drink from the Ohio, or make a track on the Blue Ridge, in a trial of a thousand years."

"Labor is prior to, and independent of, capital. Capital is only the fruit of labor, and could never have existed if labor had not first existed. Labor is the superior of capital, and deserves much the higher consideration."

"At what point then is the approach of danger to be expected? I answer, if it ever reach us, it must spring up amongst us. It cannot come from abroad. If destruction be our lot, we must ourselves be its author and finisher. As a nation of freemen, we must live through all time, or die by suicide."

"That our government should have been maintained in its original form from its establishment until now is not much to be wondered at. It had many props to support it through that period, which now are decayed and crumbled away. Through that period, it was felt by all to be an undecided experiment; now, it is understood to be a successful one."

"Oh, yes; you Virginians shed barrels of perspiration while standing off at a distance and superintending the work your slaves do for you. It is different with us. Here it is every fellow for himself, or he doesn't get there."

"This country, with its institutions, belongs to the people who inhabit it. Whenever they shall grow weary of the existing government, they can exercise their constitutional right of amending it, or exercise their revolutionary right to overthrow it."

"To have long term success as a coach or in any position of leadership, you have to be obsessed in some way."

"You have no choices about how you lose, but you do have a choice about how you come back and prepare to win again."

"Management must speak with one voice. When it doesn't management itself becomes a peripheral opponent to the team's mission."

"There can only be one state of mind as you approach any profound test; total concentration, a spirit of togetherness, and strength."

"Being ready isn't enough; you have to be prepared for a promotion or any other significant change."

"Don't let other people tell you what you want."

"Discipline is not a nasty word."

"You have to defeat a great players aura more than his game."

"You can never have enough talent."

"People who create 20% of the results will begin believing they deserve 80% of the rewards."

"In my view of the present aspect of affairs, there is no need of bloodshed and war. There is no necessity for it. I am not in favor of such a course, and I may say in advance, there will be no blood shed unless it be forced upon the government. The government will not use force unless force is used against it."

"Allow the president to invade a neighboring nation whenever he shall deem it necessary to repel an invasion,and you allow him to do so whenever he may choose to say he deems it necessary for such purpose - and you allow him to make war at pleasure."

"It is with your aid, as the people, that I think we shall be able to preserve - not the country, for the country will preserve itself, but the institutions of the country - those institutions which have made us free, intelligent and happy - the most free, the most intelligent, and the happiest people on the globe."