Shaquille O'Neal is a quotable man, and he knows it.
In fact, he once said, "I'm a very quotatious person."
He has a lot to say about everything — Kobe Bryant, other teams, the media — but he perhaps has the most to say about himself.
Here are some of his greatest moments of self-reflection.
"It's hard being the NBA's sex symbol, but somebody has to
do it."
"If you don't like me, there must be something wrong with
you."
"I'm like tax. You're going to pay one way or the
other."
"Shaquille O'Neal has always been one to speak the truth."
"I don't get tired. I
get beat up. You keep chopping on a
tree, you need to give the tree some rest so the chlorophyll will fill back up
and the tree gets its energy back."
"I don't ever want to grow up. I guess I'm like Peter Pan. Grown-ups have
problems. I want to stay happy."
"Everybody talks about being a role model. But if you look up the word 'role' in a
dictionary, it describes playing a part. Everything I'm into, it's real to me.
There's nothing fake about it."
"Pluto is not a planet, but I am."
"I've been 11, 12 percent body fat my whole career. But when
you've got a big, sexy, beautiful man that's up in the 340s, 350s, the way you
guys were taught on this planet, you're going to automatically think it's fat."
"I'm a mama's boy above all."
"Sometimes I feel like the Tom Hanks character in Big.
But my life is not a movie. I
never have to go back to Coney Island to find
the fortune-teller machine so I have to grow up again."
"I'm a clown."
NESN.com will showcase one Moment of Shaq every
day until the Celtics open the season against the Heat on Oct. 26 at the
TD Garden.
Sept. 13: Shaq eats 'Good Burger.'
