Jim Valvano Quotes

We should do three things every day of our life. Number one is laugh. You should laugh every day. Number two is to think, we should spend some time in thought. And, number three is you should have your emotions moved to tears.

My father gave me the greatest gift anyone could give another person, he believed in me.

In every single day, in every walk of life, ordinary people do extraordinary things. Ordinary People accomplish Extraordinary things.

Nothing has ever been accomplished in any walk of life without enthusiasm, without motivation, and without perseverance.

Cancer can take away all of my physical abilities. It cannot touch my mind, it cannot touch my heart, and it cannot touch my soul.

Life changes when you least expect it to. The future is uncertain. So, seize this day, seize this moment, and make the most of it.

How do you go from where you are to where you wanna be? And I think you have to have an enthusiasm for life. You have to have a dream, a goal. And you have to be willing to work for it.

If you laugh, you think, and you cry, that's a full day. That's a heck of a day. You do that seven days a week, you're going to have something special.

I asked a ref if he could give me a technical foul for thinking bad things about him. He said, of course not. I said, well, I think you stink. And he gave me a technical. You can't trust em.

There are 86,400 seconds in a day. It's up to you to decide what to do with them.

Never give up! Failure and rejection are only the first step to succeeding.

Nothing can happen if it's not first a dream. If you have someone with a dream, if you have a motivated person with a goal and a vision, if you have someone that never gives up, who has great hope, Anything can happen.

Don't give up. Don't ever give up.

To spend each day with some laughter and some thought, to get your emotions going. To be enthusiastic every day and as Ralph Waldo Emerson said, 'Nothing great could be accomplished without enthusiasm,' to keep your dreams alive in spite of problems whatever you have. The ability to be able to work hard for your dreams to come true, to become a reality.

A person really doesn't become whole, until he becomes a part of something that's bigger than himself.

I just got one last thing, I urge all of you, all of you, to enjoy your life, the precious moments you have. To spend each day with some laughter and some thought, to get you're emotions going.

You need to have a dream, a goal, and you must be willing to work hard.

Never give up...never ever give up.

No matter what business you're in, you can't run in place or someone will pass you by. It doesn't matter how many games you've won.

I will thank God for the day and the moment I have.

The greatest gift you can give your children is to believe in them.

Time is very precious to me. I don’t know how much I have left, and I have some things that I would like to say. Hopefully, at the end, I will have said something that will be important to other people, too.

Be a dreamer. If you don't know how to dream, you're dead.

But try if you can to support, whether it's AIDS or the cancer foundation, so that someone else might survive, might prosper, and might actually be cured of this dreaded disease.

Enjoy your life, the precious moments you have.

People think I have courage. The courage in my family are my wife Pam, my three daughters, here, Nicole, Jamie, LeeAnn, my mom, who's right here too.

Conceive the inconceivable - then accomplish it.

Other people go to the office. I get to coach. I know I've been blessed.

To find the unlimited scope of human possibility, look within yourself.

I made a ridiculous statement when I first went to North Carolina State. I said I know basketball down there was like life or death. It was very wrong. It's more important.

If you laugh, you think, and you cry, that’s a full day.

Spend each day with some laughter and some thought, to get you're emotions going.

Coaches are basically schizophrenic. We are pessimistic to the press and among fellow coaches, but to our team, we are the eternal optimists.

It's so important to know where you are.

Now I'm fighting cancer, everybody knows that. People ask me all the time about how you go through your life and how's your day, and nothing is changed for me.

Know where you have been, where you are now and where you want to be

The difference between Namath and me is that when you make the money he makes, they say you're ruggedly handsome. When you make the money I make, they say you have a big nose. (On resembling Joe Namath)

All really successful coaches have a system.

And if you see me, smile and maybe give me a hug. That's important to me too.

And I'm going to work as hard as I can... for cancer research and hopefully, maybe, we'll have some cures and some breakthroughs. I'd like to think I'm going to fight my brains out to be back here again next year for the Arthur Ashe recipient. I want to give it next year!

Now, I look at where I am now and I know what I wanna to do. What I would like to be able to do is to spend whatever time I have left and to give, and maybe some hope to others.

Why shouldn't I milk it? We're an agricultural institution.

We win or the alumni bash in our teeth. (On the dental plan at NC State)

We need your help. I need your help. We need money for research. It may not save my life. It may save my children's life. It may save someone you love. And it's very important.

I can't tell you what an honor it is, to even be mentioned in the same breath with Arthur Ashe. This is something I certainly will treasure forever.

I talked about my family, my family's so important.

Each day, be sure to laugh, to think, to cry; that's one heckuva full day.

Are you saying that the assistant had the answers all along, he just wasn't telling anyone?

I'll also tell you that five hundred thousand people will die this year of cancer. And I'll also tell you that one in every four will be afflicted with this disease, and yet, somehow, we seem to have put it in a little bit of the background.

We have a very intelligent team. I've had clubs that when you tell a guy to go back door, he leaves the gym. Or you tell the team you're going to have a closed practice and eight guys don't show up.