I had a speech class in elementary school. And you know how teachers, when a kid is struggling to pronounce a word, used to lead him and say, 'Johnny, sounds like... ? Johnny, sounds like... ?' I said out loud, 'Sounds like Johnny can't read.' Teacher told me to leave the room.
A lot of people mistake habit for hard work. Doing something over and over again is not working hard.
I was a terrible student. I didn't graduate magna cum laude: I graduated 'Thank you, Lawdy!'
Super Bowl XXXII was a victory made long before stepping on that field in San Diego in 1998. It was earned with my brother guiding me as a kid in Glennville, Ga., and as a seventh-round pick out of Savannah State. Even at the pinnacle, that ring was always his.
The thing you can't measure is someone's heart, someone's desire. You can measure a 40, his vertical, his bench press, and that might let you know things like, yeah, he can jump high. But desire, his dedication, his determination, that's something you can't measure. That's something you can't measure about Rod Smith.
When people told me I'd never make it, I listened to the one person who said I could: me.
President Trump wouldn't stick to politics, so he got to jump into sports. So I feel very comfortable now, moving forward, jumping back and forth. Sports to politics, politics to sports.
My grandmother was a very simple woman. She didn't want a whole lot. My grandmother wanted to go to church and Sunday school every Sunday. She wanted to be in Bible study every Wednesday. The other days, she wanted to be on a fishing creek.
There is a reason they called it chasing your dreams and not walking after them.
Don't hope someone gives you an opportunity: create one for yourself.
My grandmother raised her nine kids and raised my mom's three.
I've said numerous times the hardest job in America isn't being a professional athlete. It's not being a matador or having some job that puts your life at risk. The hardest job in America is being black, because it's the one thing you can't outrun.
There's not a throw that Tom Brady can make that Aaron Rodgers can't, but there are several throws that Aaron Rodgers can make that Tom Brady only dreams of making.
Everything I am I owe to Sterling Sharpe. He made me a better football player, a better father, and a better man. He was, and always will be, my hero.
I am the only player who has been inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame and am the second-best player in my family.
I'm just a skinny kid from Glennville, Georgia. I'm going to the Hall of Fame. Not to the Hall of Very Good. The Hall of Fame.
I didn't bother with trash-talking people's moms, wives, or girlfriends. I was like, 'Hold on, man, you mean to tell me you're making $10 million a year? That's $9 million, $999,999 too much!' That ate them up.
I'll always respect that institution of the presidency, and I'll respect President Trump.
Growing up on a farm, I saw that if I didn't go to the military or go to school, and I knew my mom and my family wasn't going to be able to send me to school out of their pocket, so it basically came down to athletics. I knew I didn't want to work on a farm. I knew I didn't want to do manual labor the rest of my life.
The NFL is made up of 1,800 players, guys from different religious backgrounds, different upbringings. I love Peyton Manning. But I don't want 1,800 Peyton Mannings in the NFL.
