9 Powerful Quotes from NBA All-Star and Entrepreneur Shaq For his birthday, check out these Shaq quotes.

One of the NBA's greatest players of all time Shaquille O'Neal, or as most people know him "Shaq," can teach you a number of lessons in hard work, motivation, leadership and more from his nearly decade-long basketball career. In fact, even after his retirement in 2011, Shaq's gone on to be a major face in sports broadcasting and business.

Related: 50 Inspirational Quotes to Motivate You

Attending Louisiana State University for basketball, by his junior year in 1992, Shaq dropped out of school to pursue a career in the NBA on the Orlando Magic. In his first week, Shaq became the first NBA player in history to be named "Player of the Week" in such a short amount of time. And it wasn't long after that Shaq quickly impressed the world and shook up professional basketball forever. In 1996, Shaq signed the biggest contract in NBA history: $120 million to play on the Los Angeles Lakers for seven years.

Playing on six NBA teams throughout his career, Shaq won a number of awards including Rookie of the Year in 1992 and 1993, USA Basketball's Male Athlete of the Year in 1994, NBA's MVP in 2000 and NBA All-Star Games' MVP in 2000, 2004 and 2009. He led many teams to victory, winning championships and playing on the USA Olympic Basketball team.

Related: 10 Inspiring Quotes From Billionaire, Philanthropist and Microsoft Co-Founder Paul Allen

After retiring, Shaq earned his PhD in education in 2012 and today, the basketball giant works as an NBA sports analyst and has had much entrepreneurial success, owning a number of Five Guys and 24 Hour Fitness franchises, investing in Google before it went public and launching his own residential and commercial real-estate firm The O'Neal Group. Suffice to say, Shaq's accomplishments are many and they got beyond the basketball court.

To learn more, here are nine powerful quotes from Shaquille O'Neal.

On empowerment

"Never worry about the problem, always worry about the solution." -- Shaquille O'Neal

On excellence

"From this day on I'd like to be known as "The Big Aristotle' because Aristotle once said, "Excellence is not a singular act; it's a habit. You are what you repeatedly do.'" -- Shaquille O'Neal

On perfection

"Me shooting 40 percent from the foul line is just God's way to say nobody's perfect." -- Shaquille O'Neal

Related: 11 Inspirational Quotes from Gary Vaynerchuk to Help You Become the Best Version of Yourself

On mindset

"I don't get nervous in any situation. There's no such thing as nerves when you're playing games." -- Shaquille O'Neal

On leadership

"When your general doesn't panic, the troops don't panic." -- Shaquille O'Neal

On hard work

"I did everything the right way and earned my spot in this game, nothing was given to me." -- Shaquille O'Neal

On motivation

"I had to learn at an early age to turn criticism into motivation." -- Shaquille O'Neal

Related: 8 Inspirational Quotes From Movie Mogul Steven Spielberg

On perseverance

"I was taught and raised to never give up, always persevere and no excuses." -- Shaquille O'Neal

On success

"I think I have done enough to remain successful, but I don't think I've made it yet… I'm just a regular guy that just listened to the right people." -- Shaquille O'Neal