I started out as a football player. I liked to inflict pain. In basketball, it was the same thing.

This is a tough game. There are times when you've got to play hurt, when you've got to block out the pain.

But that is the only thing that slows me down is the system. No one, two or three was big enough to slow me down, only the system. It was the system that slowed me down to make my numbers fall. Not because I am older.

Someday I might have to put down a basketball and have a regular 9-to-5 like everybody else.

I'm tired of hearing about money, money, money, money, money. I just want to play the game, drink Pepsi, wear Reebok.

I play against a front and a back every night, Ming does not have to do that, Duncan does not have to do that, Garnett doesn't do that. I am the only one that has to do that.

We want to win. We want to win big. We want to win the whole thing.

I would like to be refered to as 'The Big Aristotle'.

Being here feels like I'm out of prison. This is the right place, the right time, the right team.

I don't get nervous in any situation. There's no such thing as nerves when you're playing games.

That is why one day I said my game will be like the Pythagorean Theorem - hard to figure out. A lot of people really don't know the Pythagorean Theory. They don't make them like me anymore. They don't want to make them like that anymore.

I average 25 with three guys on me and they are just looking at stats I guess.

If you got the game, you got the game. That's why Tiger Woods is out there playing golf with Greg Norman.

Me shooting 40% at the foul line is just God's way to say nobody's perfect.

I don't believe that I personally have been changed by the money. The bad thing is people assume you've changed because now you have money.

And I want to do it the right way, like everybody else, not just a famous figurehead that gets a job because he is a famous basketball player. I want to really learn the business.

I put a lot into it, and when I am done playing, I plan on going undercover and then being the sheriff or chief of police somewhere, either Miami or Orlando, I don't know yet.

I have never been a shooter.

I'm very excited about my new agreement with the Heat. This contract allows me to address all of my family's long-term financial goals while allowing the Heat the ability to acquire those players that we need to win a championship.

Why don't you bring your face up here and let me punch it? Then you can tell me (if I'm stronger).

Everything happens for a reason. I'm used to it, I prepare for it. Like I say, at the end of the day, those in charge of their own destiny are going to do what's rights for them and their family.

David Stern should get with the mothers of the NBA and let the moms decide what the dress code should be. I asked my mother if I could wear a chain, and she told me yeah. So I do stuff that my parents allow me to do.

I had an awful first quarter but I picked it up. To all you single guys out there, it's not how you start the date, it's how you finish it sir. A lot of people can, you know, start the date with flowers and candy, but if you don't finish the date - you know what I mean?

I want to be strong, dominant. Like Wilt Chamberlain.

But, hey I did everything the right way and earned my spot in this game, nothing was given to me.

I am the number one Ninja and I have killed all the Shoguns in front of me.

I guess people think the taller you are the more dominant you have to be.

I started out as a young Ninja and killed all of the Shoguns. I am a Shogun now and I'm holding my spot. There probably won't be another Shogun after this.

I started out as a football player. I liked to inflict pain. In basketball, it was the same thing.

One lucky shot deserves another.

We're just going to come out and play. We know that we're supposed to win all the games, but if we don't, we just have to take the next game and focus on what we did wrong in the game before and just try to do better at the next game.

Our offense is like the pythagorean theorem: There is no answer!

Donald Trump is a great friend, and he has four or five Picassos on his plane. And that's where I would look at them.

Every time I do something silly, it comes off really funny because it's natural.

Everything happens for a reason. I'm used to it, I prepare for it. Like I say, at the end of the day, those in charge of their own destiny are going to do what's right for them and their family.

For all my friends in the media who like quotes, mark this quote down. From this day on I'd like to be known as 'The Big Aristotle' because Aristotle once said, 'Excellence is not a singular act; it's a habit. You are what you repeatedly do.'

I do what I do. Always.

I don't know anything about cars. I can promise you that.

I love race car drivers, I love gymnastics, I love UFC, I love police officers, I love firefighters. I just try to give them the same enjoyment they give me.

I never worry about the problem. I worry about the solution.

I want to be known as 'The Big Shakespeare.' It was Shakespeare that said, 'Some men are born great, some achieve greatness, some have greatness thrust upon them.'

I was a medium-level juvenile delinquent from Newark who always dreamed about doing a movie.

I'm a weird big guy. Doing rapping, doing movies. Do a lot of stuff. But always do things the right way.

I'm an unorthodox type of guy, a funny guy - at least I think I'm funny. And one of the things I like to do is come up with nicknames for myself.

I'm like tax. You're going to pay one way or the other.

I'm on a mission. And I know the older I get, I may lose a step or two, but it's all up in the medulla oblongata. I've got a lot up there. I've got a lot of knowledge... in this medulla oblongata.

I'm tired of hearing about money, money, money, money, money.

I've been playing on Christmas for the last 10, 11, 12 years. So just got to get up early with the babies, and give them their toys and try to get a nap in and just come to play.

Kids can still call me Shaq, but adults should call me Dr. O'Neal.