Tony Dorsett

I've always been a person afraid of the dark. I was taught that when you have complete darkness, that's when spirits walk. In our house when I was growing up, all the doors were always cracked a little bit at night so you could get light into the room.

I was pretty hot-tempered all through school. I remember my high school basketball coach telling me: 'Boy, if you don't learn to control that temper, you're gonna kill somebody.'

All a lot of women see are dollar signs.

Tragedies make you realize how selfish you are.

I'm a strong believer that you practice like you play, little things make big things happen.

Marriage was probably the worst mistake I ever made in my life.

You hope in this life that you grow and don't always repeat your mistakes.

Everything starts with yourself, with you making up your mind about what you're going to do with your life. I tell kids that it's a cruel world, and that the world will bend them either left or right, and it's up to them to decide which way to bend.

The Rooneys are very classy. They're very deliberate with their decision-making. Once you're part of that family, Steeler nation, they treat you with respect. You don't have a lot of rambunctious players running around.

No parent or coach can be true to any child and say he's ready for the N.F.L. out of high school.

I'm me. I can't put on airs. I'm not a phony. I know the way I am hurts me more times than it helps. But somehow it's all tied up with my integrity, and my integrity is the last thing I'm going to let you take from me.