Magic Johnson Quotes & Sayings

I'm gonna love my son until the end. — Magic Johnson

I learned to give him the ball ... — Magic Johnson

No one plans to get sick or hurt - I certainly didn't - but most people will need medical care at some point in their lives. — Magic Johnson

I was around when my father finished the last payment of his house. I remember like it was yesterday. He had worked all those years to own that house and he cried. He was so excited and so happy and I want to see other people get that feeling, too. — Magic Johnson

Every kid, every minority kid can be so successful if they focus on their education. — Magic Johnson

Manhood is taking care of your family and being able to bless other people. Not yourself - but whether you can bless other people. — Magic Johnson

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. — Magic Johnson

Sometimes friends move apart from each other for whatever reason. — Magic Johnson

I've always studied business. Even when I was a ball player, I'd read business journals and the business sections of newspapers. — Magic Johnson

Ask not what your teammates can do for you. Ask what you can do for your teammates. — Magic Johnson

I wouldn't do the 'Magic Hour' again, but I would do TV again. The 'Magic Hour' is not me. Anything I would do, I would have to be me. That is how it would work. — Magic Johnson

On his telepathic understanding with James Worthy- It's almost like we have ESPN. — Magic Johnson

The gay community has taken care of their issues and problems in terms of HIV/AIDS. They have done an incredible job. We as heterosexuals need to learn from the gay community because they have rallied together. They have sent a lot of information out there. They go get tested. — Magic Johnson

Being able to touch so many people through my businesses and make money while doing it, is a huge blessing. — Magic Johnson

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. — Magic Johnson

Christmas Day was special because everybody is watching at home. That's what I loved about Christmas Day because it shined the spotlight on the Lakers, on our team, and we knew that all of the other leagues were at home and millions of people were watching. So it made it a special day to play on Christmas. — Magic Johnson

Young people want you to be real with them. — Magic Johnson

I'm a businessman, and what I know is numbers and business. — Magic Johnson

I'm far from being a homosexual. — Magic Johnson

Because if you're going to lose, lose. I'm serious. — Magic Johnson

Everyone should have the opportunity to get affordable, quality health coverage. — Magic Johnson

I thank Him every chance I get - on my knees praying. — Magic Johnson

WE all have to play as a team to make the world a better place — Magic Johnson

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. — Magic Johnson

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. — Magic Johnson

You're the only one who can make the difference. Whatever your dream is, go for it. — Magic Johnson

If you want someone to be your mentor, you better be ready to listen and be humbled. — Magic Johnson

I'm the one who will take chances, not worry about the backlash. — Magic Johnson

I guess when people ask what is the biggest transition to the NBA from college, it is definitely defense and the mental part. — Magic Johnson

I don't care who is attacking my son. I still support him; I still love him. — Magic Johnson

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. — Magic Johnson

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. — Magic Johnson

Magic is who I am on the basketball court. Earvin is who I am. — Magic Johnson

To me, everything is wonderful. Life is wonderful. — Magic Johnson

Most people who are healthy, and I'm healthy, can't even live my life. Trust me. I get up 530-6 every morning. I'm in the gym. I run a couple miles. I lift weights, and then I'm at work until 8-9 o'clock at night. — Magic Johnson

When I'm under the gun and I've got pressure on me, I don't panic. I look for the right solution, and then I go for it. — Magic Johnson

I try to hire people I don't have to motivate. But I do motivate the people working with and for me. — Magic Johnson

My first and only experience in baseball, the coach signed me up; he didn't tell me there's a thing called the curveball. I didn't know that. So the ball's coming at me and I start backing out, and then it broke inside. And the umpire says, 'Strike one!' And I'm saying, 'How is that a strike? It almost hit me!' — Magic Johnson

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 Johnson

I'll hear people say every so often that having HIV must not be so bad - 'Just look at Magic and how well he's doing.' — Magic Johnson

Even when I went to the playground, I never picked the best players. I picked guys with less talent, but who were willing to work hard and had the desire to be great. — Magic Johnson

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. — Magic Johnson

Life doesn't stop because something happens to you. — Magic Johnson

I was able to see what I wanted to do, I could see the opportunity, even when others could not, and I stay committed to doing it and doing it well, no matter what. — Magic Johnson

Any guy who can maintain a positive attitude without much playing time certainly earns my respect. — Magic Johnson

I look three to five years ahead, not 10 years behind. — Magic Johnson

We are a company that lives and breathes a philosophy that's centered on not only making sound business decisions but also personally and professionally finding ways to contribute to the well being of society. We are also a company that understands community. — Magic Johnson

I like to take walks in the park by myself, where no one can bother me and I can think. — Magic Johnson

I never think that there's something I can't do, whether it's beating my opponent one on one or practicing another hour because something about my game is just not right. — Magic Johnson

Larry, you only told me one lie. You said there will be another Larry Bird. Larry, there will never, ever be another Larry Bird. — Magic Johnson

I'm the biggest music lover in the world. I mean, I have seen everybody. I went on tour with Michael Jackson and the Jacksons four or five times. — Magic Johnson

HIV changed my life, but it doesn't keep me from living. — Magic Johnson

We cut him off and there was nowhere for him to go but out of bounds ... It's still the greatest move I've ever seen in basketball, the all-time greatest. — Magic Johnson

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. — Magic Johnson

I'm a big believer in dreaming. If you don't dream it, you can't become it. — Magic Johnson

With businesses, you go to the same places because you like the service, you like the people and they take care of you. They greet you with a smile. That's how people want to be treated, with respect. That's what I tell my employees.. customer service is very important. — Magic Johnson

I've always been a leader my whole life. I've always led. I didn't know how to do anything else. — Magic Johnson

I love to be in the ballpark. I love to just go in and enjoy a great baseball game, a great pitchers' duel. — Magic Johnson

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. — Magic Johnson

My dad was my hero. And I got my personality from my mother. — Magic Johnson

I motivate others by making sure that they understand to go after their dreams and don't let anyone tell you you can't. If you are motivated enough and put the work in that you can achieve anything in life that you set your mind to. — Magic Johnson

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. Magic is a guy who would stand for nothing but winning and really prepared himself as well as he prepared his team. Earvin is the complete opposite. — Magic Johnson

ObamaCare is working. I talk to a lot of CEOs of hospitals. It is working. — Magic Johnson

When you are a successful business person, you are only as good as your team. No one can do every deal alone. — Magic Johnson

I think that there are always goals for me to try to achieve, and I'm going to work toward those goals. — Magic Johnson

I enjoy being the messenger for God in terms of letting people know about HIV and AIDS. — Magic Johnson

I really want people to know that I've worked hard, very hard, to get to where I am today.. this didn't just happen overnight. I started in business over 25 years ago and have found a way to build on what I've learned through every partnership and opportunity. — Magic Johnson

I'm not cured, but the HIV is asleep deep in my body. — Magic Johnson

You don't have to be Magic to be special. You're already special, you're you. — Magic Johnson

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. — Magic Johnson

For me, it always goes back to something I learned in basketball. There's winning and there's losing, and in life you have to know they both will happen. But what's never been acceptable to me is quitting. — Magic Johnson

All students should have the opportunity to receive their high school diplomas and be fully prepared for college or the workplace. — Magic Johnson

People don't stop eating, and they don't stop drinking coffee. — Magic Johnson

My dad worked two jobs his whole life, and so I told him he's the reason I have 20 jobs. — Magic Johnson

When you think about the NASCAR brand, it resonates everywhere. They have the No. 1 sports brand. — Magic Johnson

When I first found out I had HIV, I had to find somebody who was living with it, who could help me understand my journey and what I was going to have to deal with day-to-day. I found out that a person named Elizabeth Frazier was living with AIDS at the time, and so I called her up, and she took a meeting with me. — Magic Johnson

I think you just have to keep knocking down doors, you have to keep being aggressive, and even if somebody says 'No', then you have to knock on the next door. — Magic Johnson

All kids need is a little help, a little hope and somebody who believes in them. — Magic Johnson

When you face a crisis, you know who your true friends are. — Magic Johnson

I'm building shopping centers and movie theaters in the inner cities. So that means supplying jobs and letting blacks understand that we have to build our communities back, not looking to anybody else. — Magic Johnson

Even as a fierce competitor I try to smile. — Magic Johnson

When I grew up, my family, we sat down, all of us to watch 'Good Times,' 'Sanford and Son,' all those shows that were out at that time. — Magic Johnson

Assists is what Earvin is all about. That's what my whole life has been, assisting others. — Magic Johnson

I respect women to the utmost. — Magic Johnson

I grew up poor, but I didn't have poor dreams — Magic Johnson

My work ethic is from sports. — Magic Johnson

If you hate to lose, you do whatever you need to do to make sure you're business is successful. — Magic Johnson

The audience likes their emotions to be touched. They want to laugh and cry and feel good. — Magic Johnson

Talent is never enough. With few exceptions the best players are the hardest workers. — Magic Johnson

Standing on that platform, I said a silent prayer. I thanked God for giving me the strength and the opportunity to come back, to play basketball again, and to be part of that whole magnificent Olympic experience. It's a memory I will always cherish. — Magic Johnson

The real story is that I had unprotected sex. That's that. That's easy. — Magic Johnson

I only know how to play two ways: reckless and abandon. — Magic Johnson

I'm glad that Gov. Scott down in Florida accepted ObamaCare, because it will work. — Magic Johnson

A lot of black guys always ask me, 'Did Larry Bird really play that good?' I said, 'Larry Bird is so good it's frightening.' — Magic Johnson

When a woman is frustrated, and it's your wife, you as the husband get that frustration. — Magic Johnson

I am and will always be a Laker for life. — Magic Johnson

I got blessed from my mom. She's the personality; she's the one who smiled, so I took on part of her, and who also wanted to help and save the world. Then I took on part of my dad, who is tough. — Magic Johnson

As an athlete, I understood the value of my health insurance. I knew that in my profession, injuries were common and could happen at any time. — Magic Johnson

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. — Magic Johnson

There's Michael [Jordan], then there's the rest of us. — Magic Johnson