Top quotes by Pat Riley

If you have a positive attitude and constantly strive to give your best effort, eventually you will overcome your immediate problems and find you are ready for greater challenges. Votes: 61

Each Warrior wants to leave the mark of his will, his signature, on important acts he touches. This is not the voice of ego but of the human spirit, rising up and declaring that it has something to contribute to the solution of the hardest problems, no matter how vexing! Votes: 37

Being ready isn't enough; you have to be prepared for a promotion or any other significant change. Votes: 20

There can only be one state of mind as you approach any profound test; total concentration, a spirit of togetherness, and strength. Votes: 19

The Ten Commandments were not a suggestion. Votes: 19

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. Votes: 18

When a great team loses through complacency, it will constantly search for new and more intricate explanations to explain away defeat. Votes: 15

Public life is regarded as the crown of a career, and to young men it is the worthiest ambition. Politics is still the greatest and the most honorable adventure. Votes: 14

Giving yourself permission to lose guarantees a loss. Votes: 13

Coaches who let a championship team back off from becoming a dynasty are cowards. Votes: 13

To have long term success as a coach or in any position of leadership, you have to be obsessed in some way. Votes: 12

A particular shot or way of moving the ball can be a player's personal signature, but efficiency of performance is what wins the game for the team. Votes: 11

Great effort springs naturally from great attitude. Votes: 11

Management must speak with one voice. When it doesn't management itself becomes a peripheral opponent to the team's mission. Votes: 11

From nobody to upstart. From upstart to contender. From contender to winner. From winner to champion. From champion to Dynasty. Votes: 11

Shoulda, coulda, and woulda won't get it done. In attacking adversity, only a positive attitude, alertness, and regrouping to basics can launch a comeback. Votes: 10

All I did from day-to-day is coach. That's what my job was, that's what my passion was, and the fact that now it's something I'm being considered for is just mind-blowing to me, that I would ever be in that kind of company. Votes: 8

You have to defeat a great players aura more than his game. Votes: 8

Look for your choices, pick the best one, then go with it. Votes: 7

A champion needs a motivation above and beyond winning. Votes: 7

Am I a control freak? No. Do I believe in organization? You bet. In discipline? In being on time and making sure everything at the hotel is ready and right? Definitely. I don't control players. I try to control the environment around the players so they can flourish. Votes: 6

When you face a fork in the road, step on the exhilarator! Votes: 5

Great players and great teams want to be driven. They want to be pushed to the edge. They don't want to be cheated. Ordinary players and average teams want it to be easy Votes: 5

Any team can be a miracle team. The catch is that you have got to go out and work for your miracles. Effort is what ultimately separates great teams from ordinary teams. Votes: 5

Being a part of success is more important than being personally indispensable. Votes: 4

It's what you get from games you lose that is extremely important. Votes: 3

If you get tough mentally, you can get tough physically and overcome fatigue. Votes: 3

In all the research you do as a coach, studying other coaches and championship-type situations, you find that all those teams combined talent with great defense. You've got to stop other teams to win. Votes: 3

Great teamwork is the only way we create the breakthroughs that define our careers. Votes: 3

When a milestone is conquered, the subtle erosion called entitlement begins its consuming grind. The team regards its greatness as a trait and a right. Half hearted effort becomes habit and saps a champion. Votes: 2

No rebounds - no rings. Votes: 0

When a great team loses through complacency, it will constantly search for new and more intricate explanations to explain away defeat. After a while it becomes more innovative in thinking up how to lose than thinnking up how to win. Votes: 0

People who create 20% of the results will begin believing they deserve 80% of the rewards. Votes: 0

Excellence is the gradual result of always striving to do better. Votes: 0

The true warrior understands and seizes that moment by giving an effort so intense and so intuitive that it could only be called one from the heart. Votes: 0

In every contest, there comes a moment that separates winning from losing. The true warrior understands and seizes that moment. Votes: 0

When a gifted team dedicates itself to unselfish trust and combines instinct with boldness and effort, its ready to climb. Votes: 0

Don't let other people tell you what you want. Votes: 0

Whatever it takes to win. Votes: 0

Basketball is a business. Pure and simple. If you want to have fun, go to the YMCA. Votes: 0

You have no choices about how you lose, but you do have a choice about how you come back and prepare to win again. Votes: 0

You can never have enough talent. Votes: 0

"Shouda, coulda, and woulda" won't get it done. Votes: 0

All of us have at least one great voice deep inside. Votes: 0

All of us have at least one great voice deep inside. People are products of their environment. A lucky few are born into situations in which positive messages abound. Others grow up hearing messages of fear and failure, which they must block out so the positive can be heard. But the positive and courageous voice will always emerge, somewhere, sometime, for all of us. Listen for it, and your breakthroughs will come. Votes: 0

Anytime you stop striving to get better, you're bound to get worse. Votes: 0

Basketball is a game of conditioning and fatigue. That's why I believe in practicing a team to train when it's exhausted. Votes: 0

Commitment to the team - there is no such thing as in-between, you are either in our out. Votes: 0

Complacency is the last hurdle standing between any team and its potential greatness. Votes: 0

Discipline is not a nasty word. Votes: 0

Excellence happens when you try each day to both do and be, a little better than you were yesterday! Votes: 0

Great players crave instruction on their weaknesses. Votes: 0

He's the greatest clutch player I've ever seen. The hell with Jerry West! Votes: 0

I'd like my reputation to stay as it is and to be remembered for a wonderful decade. Votes: 0

In every adversity, there is a seed of equivalent benefit. Votes: 0

It's a reality we have to understand. (O'Neal) has to be more diligent. We have to be more diligent protecting him. We need him in the game. Votes: 0

I've learned to keep things simple. Look at your choices, pick the best one, then go to work with all your heart. Votes: 0

Never be ready to play yesterday. Being ready to play today is what's important Votes: 0

Show the world how much you'll fight for the winners circle. Votes: 0

Teamwork requires that everyone's efforts flow in a single direction. Feelings of significance happen when a team's energy takes on a life of its own. Votes: 0

The changes in your life aren't always what you hoped for. But they usually help you grow. Votes: 0

The key to success is to learn to do something right and then do it right every time. Votes: 0

The key to teamwork is to learn a role, accept a role, and strive to become excellent playing it. Votes: 0

The most DIFFICULT thing for individuals to do when they become part of a team is to sacrifice, it is much EASIER to be selfish. Votes: 0

There is no such thing as life in-between. Votes: 0

There's no such thing as coulda, shoulda, or woulda. If you shoulda and coulda, you woulda done it. Votes: 0

We measure areas of performance that are often ignored: jumping in pursuit of every rebound even if you don't get it, swatting at every pass, diving for loose balls, letting someone smash into you in order to draw the foul. These 'effort' statistics are also stored on computer. Effort is what ultimately separates journeyman players from impact players. Knowing how well a player executes all these little things is the key to unlocking career-best performances. Votes: 0

We sometimes need adversity to fathom our true depths. Votes: 0

When you leave it to chance, then all of a sudden you don't have any more luck. Votes: 0

When you're playing against a stacked deck, compete even harder. Votes: 0

When you're playing against a stacked deck, compete even harder. Show the world how much you'll fight for the winners circle. If you do, someday the cellophane will crackle off a fresh pack, one that belongs to you, and the cards will be stacked in your favor. Votes: 0

You can only receive what you're willing to give. Votes: 0

Your either in or out. There's no in between. Votes: 0

There are only two options regarding commitment; you're either in or you're out. Votes: 0