Ricky Williams Quotes & Sayings

I got high, and forgot I wasn't supposed to get high. — Ricky Williams

I've had a lot of clouds in my life since I got into pro football
too many
but now I feel like I can see really clearly for the first time. And I can see the Super Bowl from here. — Ricky Williams

Football is my job, not my life, but it's a job I'm going to give my all for as long as I'm in it. — Ricky Williams

Tomorrow doesn't really exist. — Ricky Williams

And any time you feed your ego, it's a one-way street ... There were so many things I had to deal with that erased the positives I got from playing the game that it wasn't worth it. It's like eating a Big Mac and drinking a Diet Coke. — Ricky Williams

I've always been attracted to things that are taboo. I've never been afraid to go to that dark place. — Ricky Williams

If you want to surf, move to Hawaii. If you like to shop, move to New York. If you like acting and Hollywood, move to California. But if you like college football, move to Texas. — Ricky Williams

After I won the Heisman Trophy, it just was OK, I'm supposed to go to the NFL and so that's what I did. I didn't really have any expectations and I didn't really understand how things worked. — Ricky Williams

I don't feel like my speed or my power or my desire to play this game has diminished at all. — Ricky Williams

I can look back at it now as definitely like an initiation into adulthood. Almost overnight in the NFL, I was put on a pedestal and I was supposed to be this icon or this image of what a professional athlete was supposed to be. I felt like I just got stuck trying to be someone else and I forgot who I actually was. — Ricky Williams

It's something that I had been pushing down my whole life. The search for meaning, I guess, the whispering of the soul. — Ricky Williams

I've always been shy, but in New Orleans there were times my shyness would cause me actual physical pain. I'd get so claustrophobic around people that I'd bend over from the sickness in my stomach. That's not a good way to be when you're famous, obviously. — Ricky Williams

Depending on their fondest memory of you, most people hold on so tightly to their fondest memory they don't usually let you be anything greater than that. And that's one of the things I think I allowed myself to be a victim of earlier in my career. What I learned as I got older is I decide. I decide what it's like for me, not other people. You can be whatever you'd like to be. You just have to choose it. — Ricky Williams

I allowed myself to think if I could be doing anything in the world, what would I be doing? And what came to mind is I'd be traveling a little bit, I'd be going to classes and I'd be going back to school. — Ricky Williams

Coaches want so many things from a back. It's hard to find someone like Edgerrin James or Marshall Faulk, someone you can trust to block, catch and be physical. But I can do all those things. — Ricky Williams

The moment I started treating my social anxiety disorder, I started feeling better. — Ricky Williams

If you identify yourself as a great football player, anytime anyone challenges that, you're going to have some kind of problem. — Ricky Williams

I definitely have come out of my shell a lot more. When you question who you are, you can't be proud of who you are. Now that I'm trying to peel off those layers and really understand who I am, I don't have anything to be shy about. — Ricky Williams

I think it's very easy for people to stereotype athletes, good and bad. — Ricky Williams

Nine in the box ... that's a football term. — Ricky Williams

The NFL has been an amazing page in this chapter of my life. I pray that all successive adventures offer me the same potential for growth, success and most importantly fun. — Ricky Williams

There is no need to smear my name or to defame my character for the sake of news. — Ricky Williams

I've gotten to a point, where I realize that happiness doesn't come from the outside. — Ricky Williams

Sometimes success will get in the way of maturity - at least temporarily. — Ricky Williams

I am an honest, God-fearing man who is intensely dedicated to being the best person I can be on and off the football field. — Ricky Williams

I had a lot of friends in high school and in college, and we had a good time. — Ricky Williams

Texas was such a welcoming place, and with its unbelievable history and tradition, it's extra special to be a part of that. — Ricky Williams

I don't think I'll ever be able to stay in one place for more than a year or two. It's not in my nature. — Ricky Williams

I don't care what people think about me because I know I am more than all the pain and strife they hold inside. — Ricky Williams

I've never been in trouble with the police. — Ricky Williams

I feel no need and have no desire to give any attention to other people's opinion of me. — Ricky Williams

At the core, we're all spiritual beings. — Ricky Williams

There's more to life than success, and if you can try to be more well-rounded, you'll be able to enjoy your success more. It won't own you or control you. — Ricky Williams

I started practicing yoga. I started learning some hands-on healing stuff. And I found really good chiropractors, really good massage therapists, and what I found is I've been able to actually peel off layers of trauma on my body and actually move better now than I did. — Ricky Williams

I had this notion that everyone was staring at me and judging everything about me, from my appearance to the way I talk and everything. — Ricky Williams

I'm nice because, when I was growing up, so many people weren't nice to me, and I remember how that felt. And I don't want to make anyone else feel like that. I value nice. — Ricky Williams

I stepped away to find out more about myself, which I was having difficulty doing as a football player. I got a chance to travel the world. I studied Eastern philosophy, and I've grown as a person so much. — Ricky Williams

And I think if you look at any relationship, for the relationship to be productive and to move forward and to grow, sometimes things have to be said that one person or the other person is not going to like to hear. — Ricky Williams

Human beings aren't supposed to be controlled and told what to do. — Ricky Williams

What I would tell young players is that as you get older, the best thing you can do is try to have other interests and have opportunities. — Ricky Williams

The more I pay attention to what's going on inside, the more I realize that how I feel, and how I react to what I feel, really creates my reality. And the more in touch I can be, the better chance I have to control what's happening in my life. — Ricky Williams

I am more mature. I'm a better football player. I just feel like this is my time. — Ricky Williams

I wouldn't eat a chicken if it dropped dead in front of me holding up a sign that said, Eat Me. — Ricky Williams

Anytime you play a team sport, the success of the team really makes everything better. It's nice. — Ricky Williams

One thing I've learned about life is that if you really let go, it's just a joy ride. — Ricky Williams

I would drive home and see people wearing my No. 34 jersey and wonder why, because I didn't feel worthy of that. And all the time I just knew people were staring at me, talking about me everywhere I went. — Ricky Williams

My helmet is off; I'm not afraid anymore. — Ricky Williams

One of the biggest things I've done is learn how to love myself, flaws and all. Even the things I don't like about myself, I accept. People have made fun of me and made me self-conscious about talking so softly, for example, but I accept that as who I am and I'm not changing it for anybody. I'm at peace with who I am now, and once you've achieved that, all the other stuff disappears. — Ricky Williams

I'm halfway intelligent. I'll figure something out. — Ricky Williams

If you replace the word God in the Bible with the word Truth, it reads exactly right. — Ricky Williams

When you make that crossover from life to real life, when you're not treated as a child anymore but as a man, and you are no longer given the benefit of the doubt, it takes some courage to face that. — Ricky Williams

As human beings we have a tendency when we like something to tie it up and make sure it's there for a long time. I've been working on being able to let things go. I don't think I ever want to buy property again. — Ricky Williams

If I was doing something for the money, I'd be quite miserable. — Ricky Williams

Greatness is the willingness to choose in the midst of intensity. — Ricky Williams

I think if I were a college professor, no one would say I was uncomfortable about being shy because that might be expected. But I think because of people's stereotypes, they think of a football player as someone who is very outgoing and I'm not. — Ricky Williams

I realized a while back that I have an innate ability to be compassionate, and I saw that the strength of compassion is something that healers have and healers use.' — Ricky Williams

I do feel like a loner but I think it's because I look at things differently than other people. — Ricky Williams

One of my biggest problems is that I'm always so influenced by what other people are thinking about me. — Ricky Williams

There's nothing I miss about anything in the whole wide world. The idea of missing something means you're not living in the moment. Every moment is good for something. — Ricky Williams

I'm closer to being happy. I'm doing things that make me happy. In football I loved to practice and I loved to play, but I hated to be in meetings, hated to talk to the media, hated to have cameras in my face, hated to sign autographs. I hated to do all those things. — Ricky Williams

It's good to do things slow in the bush. It makes you appreciate everything a lot more. — Ricky Williams

I think Ricky Williams had his time in the limelight. And I think it was good for what it was worth, and that was that. — Ricky Williams

Everywhere I go, people hear Ricky Williams and the next thing they think is marijuana or wasted talent. — Ricky Williams

I like to live in places that are kind of off in the cuts so people can't really find me even if they wanted to. — Ricky Williams

Well, I don't think I've necessarily ever been a passionate football player or a passionate person. — Ricky Williams

I think sometimes when it comes to sports, and especially relationships between players and coaches, that people lose track, lose a sense of reality. — Ricky Williams

I really do love football. — Ricky Williams

If I can walk, I'll play. — Ricky Williams

It used to be irritating just because someone can meet you and before they would get a chance to get to know you, they'll go find someone else's story about who I am. For me personally, I just always think it's more interesting to get to know the person myself. — Ricky Williams

I led the NFL in attempts the past two years and they really didn't go out and get a quarterback to help me so I knew it's going to be all on me again. I could see my mortality as a football player, that I'm not going to be able to do this much longer. It just became obvious to me that playing football for me is not going to be fun, not something I'm going to enjoy and it's time for me to do something different. — Ricky Williams

I want to thank all my fans, teammates, coaches and supporters for the strength they've given me to overcome so much. — Ricky Williams

I have no room in my life for any form of negativity or nonacceptance. — Ricky Williams

Playing in the National Football League, you're told, you know, where to be, when to be there, what to wear, how to be there. Being able to step away from that, I have an opportunity to look deeper into myself and look for what's real. — Ricky Williams

A team takes on the personality of the head coach. — Ricky Williams

I don't think people change. I think they definitely mature. But I think the essence of what I am today is the same as when I was five years old. It's just maturity. I've become a healthier, fuller expression of that essence. — Ricky Williams

I want people to think they can't die until they see me play. — Ricky Williams

I think I have a tendency to look at things subjectively rather than objectively when I reflect on my experience. — Ricky Williams

Growing up with two sisters, you either play by yourself or play Barbie with them. I played by myself. — Ricky Williams

I'm a huge gamer, everything from PC to Xbox to PS2. — Ricky Williams

I want to really start focusing on what I want to accomplish and what it is I want to achieve, but not micromanaging this or that and focusing on the little things. — Ricky Williams

The money is what made me miserable. I want to be free of that stress. — Ricky Williams

People are hungry because they're eating empty foods. Mine are full, and so am I. — Ricky Williams

Maybe I'm stupid or whatever, but to me if I got a concussion, if I could see straight and I could carry a football then I'm not telling anybody. — Ricky Williams

To talk about balance, it's easier to talk about what's out of balance. And I think anytime that you have any disease, and disease meaning lack of ease, lack of flow ... dis-ease. So any time there's disease, you're out of balance, whether it's jealousy, anger, greed, anxiety, fear. — Ricky Williams

As an athlete, you figure you work your whole life to have what you have, and to be able to show the world what you have and how proud you are of it, that's always fun. — Ricky Williams

Now that I have conquered social anxiety disorder, I find pleasure in fans approaching me. — Ricky Williams

The people that I see on the street, they treat me more as a human being and not just an icon or a football player. — Ricky Williams

Well, I am now convinced there is no kind of fear or anxiety anyone has to live with. — Ricky Williams

In therapy, I see myself in the mirror differently. — Ricky Williams

I've let a lot of things go, and obviously football is one of them. I think the hardest thing to let go is your self-image. That's what I'm working on now. — Ricky Williams

When I retired, I felt that I lived more in that year than I had the previous 27 years of my life. — Ricky Williams

Everywhere I go, I hear 'Welcome back.' But everywhere I have been, I have always been with myself. I'm with myself now more than ever. It's funny people say 'Welcome back' when I haven't gone anywhere. — Ricky Williams