Kobe Bryant Quotes

The topic of leadership is a touchy one. A lot of leaders fail because they don't have the bravery to touch that nerve or strike that chord. Throughout my years, I haven't had that fear.

You want me to own a team and deal with these rich, spoiled stubborn athletes, and try to get them to perform? No thank you.

Magic has five championships. I have five championships. I'm pretty sure we both know what we're doing.

You can't go and anticipate what it is that you want to see. You just have to be present. Be where you are.

I felt like when we came back from the All-Star break we needed everybody to feel like they were part of the team, ... I'm just trying to do whatever the team needs at any given time.

Are you willing to push the right buttons even if it means being perceived as the villain? ... I'd rather be perceived as a winner than a good teammate. I wish they both went hand in hand all the time but that's just not reality. ... I have nothing in common with lazy people who blame others for their lack of success.

I don't want to say I'll be back at the top of my game because everybody's gonna think I'm crazy and it's the old player not letting go sort of thing, but that's what it's gonna be.

It doesn't bother me at all. Do I hold any hard feelings? Not at all, ... Life is too short to sit around and hold grudges. I don't hold any whatsoever.

I don't have to hear that criticism, that idotic criticism anymore.

If you're afraid to fail, then you're probably going to fail.

People just don't understand how obsessed I am with winning.

The thing that's most enjoyable to me is not actually beating someone [in the game]. It's the process of coming up with the blueprint of beating that I enjoy. That's a huge flip, so for me I enjoy building. I enjoy coming up.

One thing you gotta know about me is I have absolutely no filter. I have no problem saying what the hell I think of someone.

Horrible, terrible AAU basketball. It's stupid. It doesn't teach our kids how to play the game at all so you wind up having players that are big and they bring it up and they do all this fancy crap and they don't know how to post. They don't know the fundamentals of the game. It's stupid.

If you want to be a better player, you have to prepare, prepare, and prepare some more.

I'm chasing perfection.

Nobody in the world can guard me one-on-one,

If they want to win right now, I'm all for it. That's all I said the whole time. If you want to wait five years, let me know. My legs aren't as young as they used to be.

I'm reflective only in the sense that I learn to move forward. I reflect with a purpose.

I wanna be the best, simple and plain

A lot of times things get blown out of proportion in a negative light, especially in the NBA, ... But there are a lot of players in the NBA who really care about the community and want to use their basketball-playing ability for a good cause.

I don't just try to score. The challenge is elevating my teammates to be able to win a championship.

Because we're old as sh*t. What do you want?

By eloquence I understand those appeals to our moral perceptions that produce emotion as soon as they are uttered. This is the very enthusiasm that is the parent of poetry. Let the same man go to his closet and clothe in numbers conceptions full of the same fire and spirit, and they will be poetry.

The hunger [to success] is the same, no matter what it is that you're doing. It's like an unquenchable thirst to learn more, or to feel like you could have done more, and to be brutally honest and self critical, which is very hard to do. It's easy, and human nature is to just blame somebody else. It's very, very hard to self assess.

Michael Jackson? He was something more (than one of my favorite entertainers), a true friend. He wasn't just a genius. Above all, he was a good person, who gave so much. He gave people values, he encouraged them to better themselves all the time. He was far deeper and more authentic than people could see. He was misunderstood too many times

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.

I grew up in front of these people, and now they are seeing me as an 'older' young man.

The most important thing, the thing that unites all of us, is that we can INSPIRE and CHALLENGE one another TO BE BETTER.

We all know what flopping is when we see it. The stuff that you see is where guys aren't really getting hit at all and are just flailing around like a fish out of water.

I'm extremely willful to win, and I respond to challenges. Scoring titles and stuff like that ... it sounds, well, I don't care how it sounds - to me, scoring comes easy. It's not a challenge to me to win the scoring title, because I know I can.

He is a fool who only sees the mischiefs that are past.

If you see me in a fight with a bear, pray for the bear

I'm going to be the Will Smith of the NBA.

Once you open your eyes and start looking around you, you start picking up things that are very obvious.

Thank god, I'm not from this world,

The motivation for me is just the game itself, just playing the game the right way and trying to win, compete every time I step out there on the floor. That's motivation enough for me to go out there and play well.

I won't react to something just because I'm supposed to, because I'm an African-American

The Kobe 8 is about enhanced performance. It's the most comfortable shoe I have worn. It's simplistic but has an edge to it.

Heroes come and go, but legends are forever.

I'm playing against great players, playing against the best in the world. The competition-that's what I've always wanted.

Diligent accumulation of personal wealth is not inherently ungodly so long as it is complemented by equally diligent distribution of personal wealth.

If there were camera phones back in the day, the biggest athletes in the world would have had a lot of explaining to do.

I know how to play my guard spot, ... He can worry about the low post.

Everyone looks at your watch and it represents who you are, your values and your personal style.

My role is to make sure we're moving in the right direction, getting points, rebounds, steals, assists and providing leadership.

There's a choice that we have to make as people, as individuals. If you want to be great at something, there's a choice you have to make. We all can be masters at our craft, but you have to make a choice. What I mean by that is, there are inherent sacrifices that come along with that. Family time, hanging out with friends, being a great friend, being a great son, nephew, whatever the case may be. There are sacrifices that come along with making that decision.

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.

I'm just right down the middle, man, ... It doesn't matter to me. I'd love him (Phil Jackson) as a coach. It doesn't matter to me. If they want him here, he'll be here. If he wants to come, he'll come, he'll coach and we'll go from there.

When I'm finished playing, I want people to say, 'He handled this well, he kept his cool.'

You just try to take it one day at a time, ... You step on the basketball floor and just play. It's fun. I'm comfortable with it.

Sometimes I do wonder what college would have been like. But I made my decision.

Listen to how everyone is talking about you. You have to use it as fuel for motivation.

I played T-Mac. I cooked him. Roasted him. Wasn't even close.

I'm just so excited. We all are. We've been waiting for this [the gold medal] for years now and it's finally here. This meant so much. It just felt so good.

Sports are such a great teacher. I think of everything they've taught me: camaraderie, humility, how to resolve differences.

When you love something, you'll always come back to it. You'll always keep asking questions, and finding answers.

At the end of 2003, my game was complete. Shooting, defense, using the dribble, transition, midrange stuff was all there. Then it was about fine-tuning and trying to improve in each area.

Dropkick Murphys get me going, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Nirvana ... plus, all the regular hip-hop stuff.

I have self-doubt. I have insecurity. I have 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.

It's wonderful for the players. It's a huge challenge and a huge responsibility for us to get our act together, get our butts in gear. Phil isn't going to bail us out because of our mental lapses.

What does perfection look like to me? Championship rings

It's not a question of if we make the playoffs; we will. And when we get there, I have no fear of anyone.

I'm focused on the task that lies ahead for us.

It's hard for me to grasp the concept of somebody being nervous when I'm talking to them.

Christmas morning, I'm going to open presents with my kids. I'm going to take pictures of them opening the presents. Then I'm going to come to the Staples Center and get ready to work.

I had some shots that I felt like I should've made; I just didn't make them. I'm not going to shoot the ball great every night.

It doesn't matter to me what place I get traded to. If I was traded someplace - I'd play anywhere.

I don't talk trash often, but when I do, I go for the jugular.

Friends come and go but banners hang forever.

If you make it, great. If you miss it, what's there to be afraid of?

I didn't expect this award [the 2008 MVP] would come to me. I'm surprised. I've played pretty well in other seasons. Our team hasn't been as good. Things just fell into place.

You have to be able to separate business from the love of the game. There were a lot of decisions made business-wise that I wasn't happy with, and I took a lot of blame over the years. But you have to be able to separate that from the love you have for the game.

My brain ... it cannot process failure. It will not process failure. Because if I sit there and have to face myself and tell myself, 'You're a failure' ... I think that's almost worse than death.

Eeew, I'd be a little uncomfortable Googling myself. People sit there - and Google themselves? That's kind of weird.

I feel like I just returned a 100-yard kickoff in the last two minutes of the Super Bowl to win it all, only to have my run called back by a flag on the play.

Being a leader, it's the art of trying to find the balance, the right times with each individual and what they need at that moment. It requires looking outward as opposed to looking inside.

I enjoy playing at the heart of it is just a kid who really loves playing the game of basketball.

I draw from the crowd a lot.

There's a reason why players that have multiple championships have multiple championships. There's a certain characteristic and an understanding and knowledge and that's not something that's easily taught. You kind of have to go through it and it kind of has to be part of your DNA from the beginning.

You have to dance beautifully in the box that you're comfortable dancing in. My box was to be extremely ambitious within the sport of basketball. Your box is different than mine. Everybody has their own. It's your job to try to perfect it and make it as beautiful of a canvas as you can make it. And if you have done that, then you have lived a successful life. You have lived with Mamba Mentality.

I've been watching Messi for some time now, and his ability to decide games and keep possession of the ball is amazing.

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.

I've got four dogs, and I just don't do dog doo. I'm a diva when it comes to that.

You're my backbone. You're a blessing. You're a piece of my heart. You're the air I breathe. And you're the strongest person I know, and I'm so sorry for having to put you through this and having to put our family through this.

He shouldn't have been in the NBA, but we were too cheap to pay for a point guard.

You can't be held captive by the fear of failure or the fear of what people may say.

I love the weather, I love my '63 droptop Impala, I love the 405, and I love my guys.

I was just letting the shots fly. You know, I don't leave any bullets in the chamber.

It's disgusting, but my father taught me when your mouth gets dry, just suck the sweat out of your own jersey. There's no bravado to any of it; it's just a disgusting little trick.

Can I jump over two or three guys like I used to? No. Am I as fast as I used to be? No, but I still have the fundamentals and smarts. That's what enables me to still be a dominant player. As a kid growing up, I never skipped steps. I always worked on fundamentals because I know athleticism is fleeting.

I've known for a long time that they're a bunch of idiots.

The Black Mamba collection of watches is me: It is my alter ego, so to speak. As I mentioned before, it is sharp, cutting edge and sleek which are characteristics I try to apply when I'm out there on the basketball court.

I have my own identity ... The whole Michael thing does drive me nuts sometimes because people won't leave it alone. He's bald, I have hair. He's almost 40, I'm 22. Seriously though, I wish people would let it be and let me just be Kobe.

I don't think a coach becomes the right coach until he wins a championship.

Isn't the basis of a democracy to send somebody to Washington to bring something back for you? ... It isn't?

The most important thing is to try and inspire people so that they can be great in whatever they want to do.

It's just a matter of getting those legs back.

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.

It never bothered me when people would say, 'You only win championships because you're playing with Shaq.' It bothered me when he said it.