Declan Rice Quotes

We've seen many heroes from Jamaica, you know, and to be put in that class or to be looked upon on that level is overwhelming. It's pretty big shoes to fill, you know. I'm a size eight, but I'll try my best.

The only thing that I'm scared of is not livin' up to the expectations of Dr. Dre and Eminem.

Sometimes I forget how much people look at you as their hero. I forget that.

When I was a kid, if someone had asked who I'd meet if it could be anyone in the world, it would've been Liam Brady.

I understand that a lot of girls feel encouraged by what I have been able to do, but I've never felt like I'm a role model. I'm not concerned with building a great legacy or anything because I'll be dead so it won't matter.

There is always some kid who may be seeing me for the first time. I owe him my best.

People keep comparing me to Virat Kohli.

It's really incredible to be compared to a player like 'King Pele' who is the King of Football. But what I must think about is working hard and following my own pathway and not thinking about people who compare you to other players.

The weight of expectation is huge. But for me, that pressure has been outweighed by getting text messages from mums I know saying how huge it is for their mixed-race daughters that I am playing Hermione.

It's a big responsibility to play an icon like Sunil Gavaskar.

As the saying goes, I have big heels to fill.

People have alleged that I have inspired many young people over the years, but I say, it was just the opposite.

I've been living with that all my life. My name is Michael Jordan, so I'm always being compared to a person of greatness.

And you will understand all too soon That you, my children of battle, are your heroes

I like to make sure I don't sing songs that are like self hating and feeling sorry for yourself 'cause that's not the kind of legacy I want to leave really. I want people to feel like strength, especially young women.

The reason I play so hard is that somewhere out there is some kid who has never seen me play before, and I don't want to disappoint him.

The legacy of heroes is the memory of a great name and the inheritance of a great example.

Your own shoes are hard enough to fill, but somebody else's are even tougher.

Nelson Mandela is my hero outside of football. I was fortunate enough to meet him a couple of times. He was really clued up on his football and he knew me, so that was just unbelievable. It really stuck with me.

It's human nature and one day maybe 20 years from now some young kid will come up and people will tell him "my God, you are like a young Michael Bublé. It happened to Harry Connick Jr with the Sinatra thing and now people are saying to me that I am the new Harry Connick Jr. It is a natural thing. I remember hearing interviews with Harry Connick saying "I am not Sinatra, leave me alone, I am different". It's a small thing to deal with.

Every generation has its own Goran. So I was the Goran of this generation.

When I was 15 or 16 and I started climbing up the ladder of success in amateur boxing, a reporter asked me, "What do you want to be?" I think he was expecting me to say, "A champion." I said, "I want to be special." I don't know why I said that, but I didn't just want to be a fighter. I wanted to have an impact with people, particularly kids.

I used read about Dr. King a lot as a kid. Independently, from being assigned it or being told by my parents or anything, I was just really excited about him. So I just started reading about him very young and was inspired by his legacy and looked to him as a role model.

If you had a son, it would be a great thing to have him grow up to be just like Gil Hodges.

When girls come up and say, "You're my role model," it's really flattering, but it's also really scary because I'm not perfect and I'm going to make mistakes.