I wanted to do something different to remember the great basketball legend Kobe Bryant, so I decided to research some of his most famous quotes that helped inspire a generation. Thank you for everything Kobe, you inspire me each and every day.
- "Inspire the change you desire to be."
- "Everything negative - pressure, challenges - is all an opportunity for me to rise."
- "My parents are my backbone. Still are. They're the only group that will support you if you score zero or you score 40."
- "I don't want to be the next Michael Jordan, I only want to be Kobe Bryant."
- "There's been a lot of talk of me being a one-man show but that's simply not the case. We win games when I score 40 points and we've won when I score 10."
On chasing success:
"When you make a choice and say, 'Come hell or high water, I am going to be this,' then you should not be surprised when you are that. It should not be something that is intoxicating or out of character because you have seen this moment for so long that ... when that moment comes, of course it is here because it has been here the whole time, because it has been [in your mind] the whole time."
On resilience:
- "I'm here. I'm not going anywhere. No matter what the injury -- unless it's completely debilitating -- I'm going to be the same player I've always been. I'll figure it out. I'll make some tweaks, some changes, but I'm still coming."
- "Everything negative -- pressure, challenges -- is all an opportunity for me to rise."
On teamwork:
"The important thing is that your teammates have to know you're pulling for them and you really want them to be successful."
On hard work:
- "I have nothing in common with lazy people who blame others for their lack of success. Great things come from hard work and perseverance. No excuses."
- "Dedication sees dreams come true."
On winning:
- "I'll do whatever it takes to win games, whether it's sitting on a bench waving a towel, handing a cup of water to a teammate, or hitting the game-winning shot."
- "The moment you give up is the moment you let someone else win"
On leadership:
"The most important thing is to try and inspire people so that they can be great at whatever they want to do."
On perseverance:
"I've played with IVs before, during, and after games. I've played with a broken hand, a sprained ankle, a torn shoulder, a fractured tooth, a severed lip, and a knee the size of a softball. I don't miss 15 games because of a toe injury that everybody knows wasn't that serious in the first place."
On overcoming fear:
"The last time I was intimidated was when I was 6 years old in karate class. I was an orange belt and the instructor ordered me to fight a black belt who was a couple of years older and a lot bigger. I was scared s--less. I mean, I was terrified and he kicked my ass. But then I realized he didn't kick my ass as bad as I thought he was going to and that there was nothing really to be afraid of. That was around the time I realized that intimidation didn't really exist if you're in the right frame of mind."
On failure:
- "I have self-doubt. I have insecurity. I have a fear of failure. I have nights when I show up at the arena and I'm like, 'My back hurts, my feet hurt, my knees hurt. I don't have it. I just want to chill.' We all have self-doubt. You don't deny it, but you also don't capitulate to it. You embrace it."
- "Once you know what failure feels like, determination chases success."
- "When we are saying this cannot be accomplished, this cannot be done, then we are short-changing ourselves. My brain, cannot process failure. It will not process failure. Because if I have to sit there and face myself and tell myself 'you are a failure,' I think that is almost worse than dying."
Legacy:
“The most important thing is you must put everybody on notice that you’re here and you are for real. I’m not a player that is just going to come and go. I’m not a player that is going to make an All-Star team one time, two times. I’m here to be an all-time great. Once I made that commitment and said, ‘I want to be one of the greatest ever’, then the game became everything for me
