Jim Brown quotes:

I came from Long Island, so I had a lot of experience at the stick. I played in junior high school, then I played in high school. The technical aspect of the game was my forte. I had all that experience, then I had strength and I was in good condition.

I'm not interested in trying to work on people's perceptions. I am who I am, and if you don't take the time to learn about that, then your perception is going to be your problem.

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.

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

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.

The social issues outside of football are not as defined as they were earlier, when integration took place and certain rights were legislated. The Civil Rights movement is over. Individuals can buy homes wherever they want, travel first class wherever they want, eat wherever they want.

What I want to do is play roles as a black man, instead of playing black man's roles. You know?

A liberal will cut off your leg so he can hand you a crutch.

...you could be the best team or the best player in different generations and people respect each other. Nobody cares who was the best.

It is up to God to take revenge. Only God can judge. I don't have to worry about getting even with anybody or taking out any kind of aggression on anybody. Doing that is a weakness, anyway.

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.

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.

I run a program called Amer-I-Can. We've taught in prisons, schools, juvenile facilities and we teach in the community. We have the greatest record from the standpoint of dealing with grade point averages, disciplinary action and attendance in schools.

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

When I'm on a picture, I have two bosses - the director and the producer. My co-star is not my boss.

Lacrosse is probably the best sport I ever played.

Money has changed today's black athletes. Those who have the ability as African men to bring a change in a community that so desperately needs it are concentrating only on their own careers, some charities and how much money they can make.

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.

I loved the game. We played because we loved it.

The truth is that politicians are basically tied to trying to get reelected, so they can't really make landmark changes.

I'm a very sensitive person. I do like to be respected. I'm very loyal. I like it to be a two-way street.

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

The need to be cared for is the base of everything. In the penitentiaries, you won't hear gangbangers and criminals say, 'No, I don't want to be cared for by nobody.' When you care about them, they'll open up to you.

Make sure when anyone tackles you he remembers how much it hurts.

AI don't make a big thing out of my race. If you try to preach, people give you a little sympathy and then they want to get out of the way. So you don't preach; you tell the story.

If you help disabled children, it's very appealing. If you help kids with cancer, those are the things you get credit for and those things are beautiful. But when it comes to stopping violence or really putting the time into rebuilding schools, that's just a different kind of project. It takes more than just money to do that.

People think that coaches are always right, but it's difficult to teach a runner how to run, because every runner is different. You have to have an understanding of how to assist what that runner has, so they know how to assist what you have without taking away your special ability, because you're not like anybody else.

I'm not pro-owner or pro-player. I am pro-football. I want the game to go on. I want the game to be tough. I don't want the game to be a killer of our players.

I don't teach kids to be No. 1. Organizations and people that tell you you have to be No. 1; that's not it. You don't have to be No. 1. What I teach is to be as good as you can be. Use what you have and be as good as you can be. That's all you can do, anyway.

When you need a friend, you can always count on your teammates.

There was no publicity. You had to like it. There was no pressure, just great competition. The attitude of the coaches and players was exceptional.

I could run 200 yards at a stretch, I could duck between players, I felt free to make plays that suited me best. It wasn't like football then and basketball today, where coaches tell you what foot to put down.

I could fully express myself in lacrosse.

The NCAA is probably the most reprehensible organization God ever created,

There were a lot of running backs as good as me. The real difference was that I could focus. I never laid back and relied on natural ability.

Ya know, America's a great country. It's great because it allows you to fight. And you can win, if you have the stamina and tenacity.

The NFL pension is the worst in the world of business. It's an embarrassment.

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.

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.

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 have a theory. An audience doesn't need to get wrapped up in blackness every time they see a Negro actor. And a movie doesn't have to be about race just because there's a Negro in it.

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.

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

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.

Success is not only for the elite. Success is there for those who want it, plan for it, and take action to achieve it.

Showing weakness will encourage your opponents. It inspires them. It encourages them to hit harder. To come faster. But when you don't show any fear, or when you don't show any hurt, you have the opportunity to discourage your opponent. You discourage your enemies. The bottom line is, if you think properly, you don't even have to think about all of that. All you have to think about is that guy across from me is human, and so am I. And he'll never out-work me. He'll never out-think me. And if you can't out-work me, and you can't out-think me, you'll never beat me.

I don't deal in frustration. I'm a fighter. And everything I've ever gotten, I've had to fight for.

Teammates are there for each other even after the noise of the crowd is gone.

I don't teach kids to be number 1. Organizations and people that tell you you have to be number 1; that's not it. You don't have to be number 1. What I teach is to be as good as you can be. Use what you have and be as good as you can be. That's all you can do, anyway.

I set my standards so high, no one could be harsher on me than I was.

I'd rather play lacrosse six days a week and football on the seventh.

You can't get old without living.

I'm not a person that really deal in color. I recognize the inequities that certain cultures have to go through. I understand the history of slavery and all those things. But I'm not a victim. I can vote, I can participant. I can invest my money. I can invest my time. And that's what I'm doing. I'm not working for anybody. I'm not making any money doing what I'm doing. I'm doing it because someone did it for me.

Act your age. Students do not look upon you as a buddy, pal, or peer. They expect you to be a mature adult....Many young teachers have a tendency to seek popularity, resorting to tactics that can create endless problems.

About the state of black America, I've been working on that for many, many years. And [Donald Trump] said certain things in his early days about wanting to do something about it. We have a lot of violence in our neighborhoods now. We need education. And we need jobs. Is what I'm trying to say.

The three greatest people in my life as a young person were white, my high school superintendent, my high school coach and a - I graduate in Manhasset High, Kenneth Molloy who's a mentor to yours truly.I'm not a person that really deal in color.

In my opinion, people that go against the election are going against America.

I understood because of his personality. [Donald Trump] is different. And for years the presidency has been like a smooth ride and nothing really dramatic has happened. But with him every day is full of energy. Things are going the happen. And today when I met him, it was like meeting a different person.

If you're going to impeach him, impeach [Donald Trump].If he did something wrong, arrest him. But don't cry the blues because you didn't get the vote out and this man had a genius way of winning the election.

John Lewis has great history as a civil rights fighter.As a young man, he was one of the guys out there who was leading the parades during the [Martin Luther] King [Jr.] era. So, we all respect his history. But then I hear him crying the blues about Mr. [Donald] Trump and saying he's an illegitimate president, I take offense to that. If it's illegitimate, why is he going on?

My point is, if we respect the winner and approach that person, have access to that person and that person will look at what we are presenting, that is not too bad.

We have free elections. Everybody can vote, we fought for that, we brag about that and we know we're going to have a winner and we're going to have a loser.

Donald Trump was very receptive. Funny. Cracked some jokes. And understand it very well. And said he was in that he would work with us.

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

The bikes have been sitting around, but now were getting them out and using them.

Tank's a fantastic human being, as far as fighting's concerned.

I had a choice to be lazy or lean - if I hadn't changed, thing probably would catch up with me.