"Being tall is just a tool, and I am making good use of my tool. It's like if you have a Pentium 4 computer, you won't use the one with a Pentium 2 It's just a waste if I don't make use of my height."

-- Yao Ming said when he was asked whether his achievement today is because his height is an absolute advantage.

"This is the game, just like life - nothing can be predicted."

-- Yao Ming commented about a loss in a game.

"There are two kinds of people. The first group always has trust in me, and thinks the bad games are just small interludes between good games. The second group always has no trust in me, and thinks the games are just small interludes between bad games. I will make the people who have trust in me satisfied. Before I can do that, there might be some time that I don't do well, then just let me do it all over again. I begin gone through with zero point and two rebounds (in his first NBA game). What's to be afraid of if I start from the beginning?"

-- Yao Ming responded the prediction that he would collapse in the spring of 2006.

"I don't expect people to give me respect in the NBA. Respects are won with strength, but not given by others."

"Is there a choice in life? It's always been like this. I am jealous that you have a lot of leisure and free time. You are jealous that I have a lot money."

-- Yao Ming said to his friend Yang Yi.

"Can you see what's on the other side of the corner?"

-- Yao Ming said when he was asked about his weak point.

"Hometown is like my quilts. Sometimes when you are in sweet dreams, you don't feel it's comfortable."

-- Yao Ming thus talked about hometown.

"We can't be too inconsistent. The coach doesn't have much hair left..."

"When I arrived the Houston Airport last year, I feel like going to work. This year I feel like coming back home."

-- Yao Ming said of his feeling about the second year in the NBA.

"I just hope the fans don't blame too much when I am playing horrible, and then pump my ego too much when I am playing my best."

"I am this kind of a ball player: Be successful or unsuccessful. There is no road in between."

"One is taller. The other is shorter."

-- Yao Ming said when he was asked about the differences between Jeff Van Gaudy and Rudy Tomjanovich.

"Learn to fight when you are in a war."

-- Yao Ming said of his comprehension and study of American language and culture.

"I want to listen to the thoughts of the 6%."

-- Yao Ming said when he learned 94% of the people think China could win the Asian Championship according to an online poll.

"We will be awesome if they can speak as good Chinese."

-- Yao Ming said when he heard Kobe Bryant's compliment about his English.

"It's like a drunken man never admits he is drunk... I am not aware sometimes, but I feel like there is not enough energy as I continue to play. I never had this kind of feeling before."

-- Yao Ming said of his fatigue.

"Michael Jordan will always be my model and a peak I need to look up to every now and then."

-- Yao Ming said on an All-Star news conference.

"Let me give you an example. Two people will use the same pen in different ways, and write different things with it, but the pen is always useful, and there are always some gains."

-- Yao Ming said when he was asked whether his practice in Chinese National Team has better prepared him for the NBA.

"It's a pity that I did not have a posh haircut at that time."

-- Yao Ming said of the billboard with his picture on in Houston.

"I signed more names than the rice I had."

"Money is not the reason I came to the NBA. The salary in the first year is enough for me spend all my life."

"Maybe basketball is just my destiny."

"I never thought of spreading out Chinese culture. All I do are what a Chinese would do everyday, they are just curious."