I want the violence among young people in this country to stop - particularly gang violence.

I'd like to make one thing very clear: Muhammad Ali loved people, and he had white friend as well as black friends - and the only thing that he hated was discrimination and racism.

Nobody I ever broke bread with, and I see players all the time, talked about using their head running the football.

Nelson Mandela just died, so that says so much because it's a tremendously powerful and great man who was very sensitive. Loved all people, forgave his enemies, and showed the world how to stand up and do it the right way.

Martin Luther King was a misguided leader. He worked to be recognized as the leader of black America when what black America needs isn't a leader, it is education.

Ben Schwartzwalder was a decent guy, but he was from another era. He was like a Marine, with a real army attitude. He thought there was only one way to play football, and that was the rough way.

Nobody I ever broke bread with - and I see players all the time - talked about using their head running the football. I've seen Barry Sanders and Eric Dickerson and Marcus Allen and Franco Harris, and we've all been together - we were all together at the Super Bowl - and no one talked about using their head.

I never had a father, really. My great-grandmother raised me. But I was in this country where I got help from people that were not of my same color. So when I come out of the box, I don't come out of the box as racial. I look for good people, and people that will be like-minded and help me try to do good for other human beings.

It's too bad about 'Dark of the Sun.' It was really about Tshombe. When I read the script, I thought it was going to be a political movie, and I thought we might even have a hassle. But the director simplified it to brutality and bad taste.

I look for good people and people that will be like-minded and help me try to do good for other human beings.

When Kennedy could not get the civil rights bill passed - and he was the big liberal - Lyndon Johnson came in and it got passed, and he was the conservative and the southerner. So sometimes in politics, to get something done, it takes a special kind of knowledge and a special kind of person, but it doesn't always follow the party lines.

God ain't got nothing to do with winning a damn football game.

If I couldn't have discipline, if I sit up eatin' fried chicken in bed at night, I'd just as soon be dead. I take care of myself.

I prefer girls who are young.

Money is lonely anyway. When you got it, people always want it. You don't want to be used; sometimes you don't know where a cat is comin' from.

My biggest problem was to get the coaches to understand that I was a runner, and I wanted to prepare myself based upon the calisthenics I did and get myself ready. For example, I used my forearm when I ran the ball, so I didn't want to do pushups because I wanted my forearms to heal.

I would never try to motivate anyone to follow me. I would motivate him to follow certain principles.

The funny thing about cinema is, usually when they do a story that has African Americans in it, there always has to be a white guy who's the savior.

NASCAR stepped up their safety concepts, and I think the drivers feel NASCAR is doing everything that can be done. So we are a little behind NASCAR in that respect. Someone in NASCAR realized there were certain things that could be done to make it safer. The same thing has to happen in football.

It doesn't take science to know that when you have head-to-head collisions, there's going to be some effect.

I listened to my kids talk about me as a parent, and I learned about things they wished I'd done and said. And I wished that I had done more of those things.

Michael Jordan brings millions of dollars when he shows up in an arena. Since money is how we judge people, he's very valuable. But while that's happening, Rome is burning within the black community.

When you have a problem, rules don't solve your problem. It's caring and education.

I like tight bodies and pretty faces. You bring in Methuselah, if she's got a tight body and a pretty face, that's all right, too.

America says we are a great democratic society and other people should follow our example. Well, I say we benefited from slavery, and as a nation, we never faced that because the people in power chose not to.

Even though the money is great and the fame is great, you still have a lot of disenfranchised young men that are participating in the NFL that are not very happy. A lot of them are very bitter. A lot them are very angry. So many of them have had no fathers and no home life, and basically, no education.

I was just a big guy running down with a big, deep pocket and little short stick putting it against my chest.

The story of Jackie Robinson is also the story of Branch Rickey. He had many reasons for doing what he did, but he stood up against his own people.

When you go out on a football field, you are responsible for taking care of yourself. The more rules you get, the less players truly take care of themselves.

Young black men in this country have to understand that they have a responsibility. They cannot be the enemy in their own neighborhoods and usurp the effort of good people that are trying to make things work.

I think the National Football League needs a new union. The heavyweights of this union are not heavyweights enough.

The Jewish culture has a wonderful thing about education. It has a great thing about family; it has a great thing about unity, hard work, dedication. I would like to say the African-American community should emulate that.

I think of my life as a journey, and I'm still on it.

Adrian Peterson isn't running by committee.

Everybody does good things, but I'm talking about making major changes in the educational system that would impact an entire race. I'm talking about stopping these young gang members from killing one another. I'm talking about keeping prisons from overflowing.

Money is not God, and human dignity is very important.

I don't want football to not be played, but I would like the sophistication brought forth to take care of those who need to be taken care of and to take the precaution, at the sacrifice of winning, to take care of people.

Concussions have brought the consciousness to the problem, but I think the problem is football-related injuries, period, and the lack of support from the league of those players who have suffered those injuries. The denial factor has been unbelievable. I'm here because I'm a fighter to try to bring attention to this fact.

If you truly believe something, and it's incorrect, that doesn't mean you don't have integrity.

I'm an American citizen. I pay my taxes. I want my equal rights. But this is my country, and consequently, I don't want to open up for ISIS or for anybody that will take away what we've already gained.

There have been so few decent films involving Negroes that right away everybody expects every film to do everything. But when you make a flick, there are maybe two things you're trying to put into that flick. You can put the other things in another time.

Education, family, character, intelligence, humility, okay? These are the things that make a culture live.

The essence of Ferguson is the spirit of the people, and I'm so happy to see the spirit because I haven't seen it like that since the Civil Rights Movement.

If you're an old cat around young girls, you got to have somethin' to bring to the table.

'The Autobiography of Malcolm X.' I've used it to demonstrate racial attitudes to people who I thought needed a better understanding of all human beings. Malcolm was not a racist. He was not looking for revenge. He realized that kindness and goodness did not come from any one kind of person.

Ultimately, a running back has to get rid of tacklers without his blockers being a part of it.

The three greatest people in my life were white, OK. My high school coach, my high school superintendent and my mentor in Manhasset, Long Island.

There's a trend toward anti-heroes now, and I think it goes back to guys like Bogart and Cagney. They seemed to have no compassion, and they were always alone.

If you want experiences to make you a better person, then you play two or three sports.

We have to go back to the memories of 9-11. If that memory doesn't do anything to you as an American, then you're not really that sensitive a human being.