Jeremy Lin Quotations

In many ways, the longer I live, I understand that there are so many things outside my control. That's why I believe faith is such a big part of the story. There are so many things that were orchestrated by God, that were put into place to make this perfect storm, that created Linsanity.

I would be a pastor. It is something I think about doing when my playing days are over.

I have an economics degree with a minor in sociology. The reason I have that is because I want to do a ministry in urban areas and help with underprivileged kids.

I'm very humbled and honored. I'm very thankful to the Asian-American Community for all their support!

Stuff about me dating Kim Kardashian - I have no idea where that came from and all these other rumors. I don't think I'm that type.

There is so much temptation to hold on to my career even more now. To try to micromanage and dictate every little aspect. But that's not how I want to do things anymore. I'm thinking about how can I trust God more. How can I surrender more? How can I bring him more glory? It's a fight. But it's one I'm going to keep fighting.

I love eating junk food. I'm a huge snacker, chips and candy.

Faith, family, academics and then sports was the order of priorities in my family. My parents really stuck to these principles when raising me and my two brothers. As long as we took care of everything, they let us play as much basketball as we wanted.

Tim Tebow is one of my biggest inspirations. I actually want to be able to do some of the things that he does in terms of the amount of charity work and the non-profit work, and the way he impacts people off the field. I think that is what is most inspiring to me about him.

I agreed to film after my rookie year in Golden State. I was more used to cameras and felt that my journey to the NBA was a story worth sharing. Little did we know how much bigger the platform and documentary would become after Linsanity.

I think right now the way society's going, I think role models are important, and kids need direction. If I didn't have that direction growing up, who knows what I could be doing, because I've been lost many times in my life, and I've had to have someone guide me back on the right path.

You have to be wired a certain way to be a professional basketball player, and the way my body grew, something happened genetically that allowed me to become a lot more explosive.

My first dunk ever was in middle school. We were playing, me and my church friends, and I dunked it, and I swear I could not sleep that night.

I'm not playing to prove anything to anybody.

Sometimes you come up against a mountain and you end up making the mountain seem bigger than God.

I grew up in the church, and I always kind of knew Bible stories and knew the Sunday school answers, but when I was a freshman in high school I joined youth group, and that's when I started to see radical love; that's when I started to see what Christian community is supposed to look like and what fellowship is supposed to look like.

I'm not playing for other people; if I start thinking in those terms I would put too much pressure on myself. I play basketball because that is what I love to do.

It seems like everybody's perception of me is very bipolar. To one group, it's overpaid, overrated; to another group, it's underpaid, underrated, underdog. It's funny to me because there's no real balance.

And people are always saying he deceptively quick, deceptively athletic, and I don't know if that's just because I'm Asian or what it is, but obviously there's going to be stereotypes that you have to fight.

I have worked out with the Thunder, Lakers, Knicks, Grizzlies, Spurs, and a few others before the draft. I have worked out primarily against shorter and supposedly faster players in these workouts.

My best career decision was probably not giving up when I wanted to. God as well as my family and friends were there for me during my toughest times.

I try to focus on what I'm supposed to do, and to do my job the best I can. I kind of let everything happen the way it's supposed to happen, let everything fall into place the way it should.

I'm a playmaker. I'm always attacking the rim and have somewhat of a reckless style. I try to be everywhere at once.

I think I've always been a player who's done better in the second half, who's done better in the fourth quarter. That's the fun time to play, when everything you've worked for the whole game boils down to those last few possessions.

I just try to play as hard as I can every possession. If you're aware and you're high-energy, the ball will eventually bounce your way and you'll be able to make plays.

I absolutely would not have liked playing in Spain or somewhere like that, so I was just gonna do it a year. Then I was gonna be done.

When you think about your relationship with Christ, it really just affects every aspect of your life. I think a lot of people try to segment off, like, 'This is church, so this is God, this is my daily life, this is my job,' but I think true faith is when it manifests itself in every single aspect of your life.

My dad was the one who really loved basketball, and he was the one that put the basketball in my hands, and my mom was 'Team Mom' of all my teams. I used to play for three or four teams at once and she would just spend her entire afternoon driving me from practice to practice to practice.

I won't let any of my friends become a fan. To me, you're either a friend or you're a fan. That doesn't mean my friends can't support me, because they all do, but they can't treat me differently than they would treat someone else. None of my friends are in awe of me.

I struggle with pride every day, but the one thing that I try to remind myself everyday is that I'm still a sinner no matter how many points/assists/win I get on the court.

Everyone looks me and says, 'I'm not going to let that Asian kid embarrass me. I'm going to go at him.' That's how it's been my whole life.

I'm going to make mistakes, I just have to be able to learn from them as quickly as possible. To learn faster, I watch film of myself and other good point guards, and then breaking down my mistakes and really analyzing them and seeing where I could have made better decisions.

People started saying, 'Oh you know, he's quicker than he looks', and I'm like, 'What does that mean? Do I look slow, or I'm not really sure what that means.

With pro-gaming that's one of the toughest parts - living game to game.

People are moved by my story, but they're only moved by my story because of what I do on the court.

It's the off-the-court spotlight in terms of having people look at you in terms of analyzing every little thing you do in your life, or having less privacy in your day-to-day activities, that's an area I need to get more accustomed to.

I get scared of a lot of attention. I get scared of the spotlight. And I'm not talking about on the basketball court.

From the sense of being an ambassador for Jesus Christ, hopefully, through my story and through all the improbables and the miracles that happened in my life, people are inspired or at least a little bit warmer to the idea of exploring who Jesus is.

I just try to make sure that when I get there on the floor, I play as hard as I can and try to do everything I can to help the team win.

Trying to make the NBA is one of the very few areas where a Harvard degree won't necessarily help.

You don't get respect for being an Asian-American basketball player in the U.S.

The way you talk to your teammates and push them and the way you treat them is important. There is a fine line between trying to help your teammates and criticizing them. The toughest part for me is how to keep my teammates accountable but at the same time do it in a loving way that doesnt judge or condemn them. It's definitely been a struggle and I'm trying to learn how to lead consciously in a way that honors God.

I was shocked cause I didn't even know that they made my jersey. I didn't know that they made it so fast, so when I saw it I was like, I had to look three times and I was like, 'Did they customize that?' And then I saw a couple of other ones and I was like, ok, they must've made them overnight or something.

With all the media attention, all the love from the fans, I felt I needed to prove myself. Prove that I'm not a marketing tool, I'm not a ploy to improve attendance. Prove I can play in this league. But I've surrendered that to God. I'm not in a battle with what everybody else thinks anymore.

My family used to call me an oversized kid and I think that's pretty accurate in some ways.

I'm going to be honest, playing in D-League games is tough.

I'm not like the next Michael Jordan, but I'm also not what everyone saw me as before I started playing in the NBA, either.

New York is fast paced, with enthusiastic fans and lots of media attention. Houston's slower paced, and there's more of a southern culture to the city. But both cities have unbelievable food.

I've always been a target. Everyone looks me and says, 'I'm not going to let that Asian kid embarrass me. I'm going to go at him.' That's how it's been my whole life.

I love my family, I love my relatives. One special request I have is for the media back in Taiwan to kind of give them their space because they can't even go to work without being bombarded and people following them.

I was playing garbage minutes the first two to three weeks. There was definitely a little bit of 'what's going on?' in my prayers.

The change that I never fall into is the, 'I'm-above-you-look-at-me-do-stuff-for-me change.' The change that I'm hoping I get to is where I become wiser, smarter - where I put myself in situations that don't have a huge potential for disaster.

Not sure if that will benefit me or hurt me, but I know I have the skills and am ready to play in the NBA regardless of my ethnicity.

I was a big Michael Jordan fan growing up. I don't feel my game resembles his though.

I speak Mandarin and can read and write a little. I took a few classes at Harvard to get better in my reading and writing skills.

I've learned that social media and our private lives, you know, our private lives are not so private anymore, so it takes a little bit of getting used to.

I just want people to respect the privacy of my relatives in Taiwan. ... They need to live their lives as well.

The first time I went to Taiwan, there were cameras, paparazzi, TV stations outside my hotel twenty-four hours a day nonstop.

I just think in order for someone to understand my game, they have to watch me more than once, because I'm not going to do anything that's extra flashy or freakishly athletic.

Having small group once a week gives me a lot of encouragement and accountability. Even though I go to church, I don't really know many people there, but my real community is my small group.

Coming out of college into the draft, being Asian-American and being from Harvard, that's not going to be an advantage because of stereotypes.

It's really important to me to go to church, which is sometimes tough when I get back from road trips late on Saturday night, but I try to make it a priority to go every week.

You can try to call it coincidence, but at the end of the day, there are 20, 30 things when you combine them all that had to happen at the right time in order for me to be here. That’s why I call it a miracle.

If I had a day to myself I would just play video games with my brothers.

I've surrendered that to God. I'm not in a battle with what everybody else thinks anymore,

I've learned how to be open and bold about my faith, but in terms of my influence, I just try to lead in a godly way. What that means for me is to serve them, whether it's just doing the dirty work, like cleaning up sweat on the floor, or deferring to other people, or carrying equipment bags.

Just because I had a good game doesn't change who I am, my identity is in Christ and not in basketball, I love playing basketball and it's my job but at the same time I recognize that I'm a sinner and that's not gonna change regardless of how well I play on the court

Every day in practice I have to lead by example. But at the same time, when people aren't doing what they're supposed to be doing, you're responsible as a player. You can't rely on the coaches to say everything. The players have to be responsible and take ownership of the team. Every day in practice there are situations where you need to say something and get a message across, but do it in the right way.

I think one of the most rewarding experiences in life is to see people come to Christ and make lifestyle changes. When that happens, you definitely see God behind it. This year we've seen eight students make first-time decisions for Christ and when I see that, it's a great feeling. I'm really thankful that God is changing somebody, or sometimes he's changing me.

Just this whole journey [of life] has been a blessing from God, so for me to be here [on Earth] I'm just taking it one day at a time and really enjoying it.

I realize I had to learn ... to stop chasing the perishable prizes of this earth ... and give my best effort unto God and trust Him with the results.

If you look back at my story, it doesn’t matter where you look, but God’s fingerprints are all over the place.

I just really, really, really hate to lose. Really.

When I'm on the court, I try to play with all my emotion and heart.

This is my dream being lived out and I'm so thankful for that.

God loves me, and that he has the perfect plan for me. His plan will take me through a lots of ups and downs, but if I stay faithful to him that in the end he will work everything for my good. Now when I play basketball, I don't play for anyone else, I only play for God. That's the type of purpose that he gave me, and once he gave me that purpose, is when I found my peace, and once I got my peace, that's when I got my joy.

For me, when I get knocked down, I really try to get back up and go at it again. I don't like to give up.

I had to learn how to give my best effort to God and trust him with the results. I have to learn to have enough faith to trust in his grace and to trust in his sovereign and perfect plan. I had to submit my will, my desires, my dreams — give it all up to God and say, “Look, I am going to give my best effort, go on the court and play every day for you, and I'm going to let you take care of the rest.

I want to be a representative and be a role model for the Asian American community.

Well, I'm not here to live up to anyone else's expectations-I'm here to live up to mine.

You don't get better if you win all the time. You look at yourself more when you lose,

Suffering produces Character, and Character produces Hope, and Hope does not disappoint us

And when other people see me play basketball...the way I treat my teammates, the opponents, the refs, that's all a reflection of God's image and God's love so that's the stuff I try to focus on.

My identity is in Christ, not in basketball.

All these people, all these things came into my life, and they're all blessings from God. And now that I look back, I realize that these are His fingerprints all over my story.

The change that I never fall into is the, 'I'm-above-you-look-at-me-do-stuff-for-me change.' The change that I'm hoping I get to is where I become wiser, smarter - where I put myself in situations that don't have a huge potential for disaster.