If you get simple beauty and naught else, you get about the best thing God invents. - Phil Knight

Sometimes, after a really cathartic guffaw, I’d look around the table and feel overcome by emotion. Camaraderie, loyalty, gratitude. Even love. Surely love. But I also remember feeling shocked that these were the men I’d assembled. These were the founding fathers of a multimillion-dollar company that sold athletic shoes? A paralyzed guy, two morbidly obese guys, a chain-smoking guy? It was bracing to realize that, in this group, the one with whom I had the most in common was . . . Johnson.

confidence was cash. You had to have some to get some. And people were loath to give it to you.

I wanted to win. No, that’s not right. I simply didn’t want to lose.