Quotes
57 Memorable Kobe Bryant Quotes
Kobe Bryant is one of the best basketball players in the history of the game. He is a 5-time NBA champion, Most Valuable Player, 2-time Finals MVP, 2-time scoring champion, and has 7 NBA Championship appearances.
He is one of the most recognizable sports icons on the planet.
Here are 57 Memorable Kobe Bryant Quotes:
1. “People just don’t understand how obsessed I am with winning.” – Kobe Bryant
2. “Friends can come and go, but banners hang forever.” – Kobe Bryant
3. “The most important thing is to try and inspire people so that they can be great in whatever they want to do.” – Kobe Bryant
4. “I don’t want to be the next Michael Jordan, I only want to be Kobe Bryant.” – Kobe Bryant
5. “June 2010, after winning his fifth title: “I just got one more than Shaq. So you can take that to the bank.” – Kobe Bryant
6. “Winning takes precedence over all. There’s no gray area. No almosts.” – Kobe Bryant
7. “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.” – Kobe Bryant
8. “As I sit here now, when I take off my shoe and I look down at my scar, I see beauty in it. I see all the hard work, all the sacrifices. I see the journey that it took to get back to this point of being healthy. And I see beauty in that struggle. That’s what makes it beautiful.” – Kobe Bryant
9. “Because I don’t want chumps, I don’t want pushovers, and if you’re a chump and a pushover, I will run over you.” – Kobe Bryant
10. “After ESPN ranked him the 40th-best player in the NBA: “I’ve known for a long time they’re a bunch of idiots… I tend to use things as motivation that tend to be in the realm of reality.” – Kobe Bryant
11. “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 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.” – Kobe Bryant
12. “When I have the chance to guard Michael Jordan, I want to guard him. I want him. It’s the ultimate challenge.” – Kobe Bryant
13. “There’s certain players that I’ve made cry. If I can make you cry by being sarcastic, then I really don’t want to play with you in the playoffs.” – Kobe Bryant
14. “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.” – Kobe Bryant
15. “Better learn not to talk to me. You shake the tree, a leopard’s gonna fall out.” – Kobe Bryant
16. “Boos don’t block dunks.” – Kobe Bryant
17. “I’m reflective only in the sense that I learn to move forward. I reflect with a purpose.” – Kobe Bryant
18. “Everything negative – pressure, challenges – is all an opportunity for me to rise.” – Kobe Bryant
19. “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.” – Kobe Bryant
20th Kobe Bryant Quote – “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.” – Kobe Bryant
21. “I can’t relate to lazy people. We don’t speak the same language. I don’t understand you. I don’t want to understand you.” – Kobe Bryant
22. “I’m chasing perfection.” – Kobe Bryant
23. “I love going one-on-one with someone. That’s what I do. I’ve never lost. It’s a whole different game, just to have them right in front of you and be able to do whatever you want.” – Kobe Bryant
24. “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.” – Kobe Bryant
25. “These young guys are playing checkers. I’m out there playing chess.” – Kobe Bryant
26. “My parents are my backbone. Still are. They’re the only group that will support you if you score zero or you score 40.” – Kobe Bryant
27. “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.” – Kobe Bryant
28. “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.” – Kobe Bryant
29. “I’ve shot too much from the time I was 8 years old. But ‘too much’ is a matter of perspective. Some people thought Mozart had too many notes in his compositions. Let me put it this way: I entertain people who say I shoot too much. I find it very interesting. Going back to Mozart, he responded to critics by saying there were neither too many notes or too few. There were as many as necessary.” – Kobe Bryant
30. “I focus on one thing and one thing only – that’s trying to win as many championships as I can.” – Kobe Bryant
31. “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.” – Kobe Bryant
32. “I’m playing against great players, playing against the best in the world. The competition – that’s what I’ve always wanted.” – Kobe Bryant
33. On Shaq: “It used to drive me crazy that he was so lazy. You got to have the responsibility of working every single day. You can’t skate through s–.” – Kobe Bryant
34. “On being forced to retire if his hand fell off: “Even then, you could still play with one hand.” – Kobe Bryant
35. “After scoring 44 points on 34 shots in 31 minutes during a Lakers blowout loss: “I’d rather not have to do that, but you can’t sit back and watch crime happen in front of you.” – Kobe Bryant
36. “On LeBron asserting that the 2012-13 Lakers would never experience the level of scrutiny his Miami Heat did: “What does it matter? What does he want, a cookie for that?” – Kobe Bryant
37. “I don’t give a [expletive] what you say. If I go out there and miss game winners, and people say, ‘Kobe choked, or Kobe is seven for whatever in pressure situations.’ Well, [expletive] you.” – Kobe Bryant
38. “I would go 0-for-30 [from the floor] before I would go 0-for-9. 0-for-9 means you beat yourself, you psyched yourself out of the game. … The only reason is because you’ve just now lost confidence in yourself.” – Kobe Bryant
39. “Hi, I’m Kobe Bryant. And I have decided to take my talent to, uh… I have decided to skip college and take my talent to the NBA.” – Kobe Bryant
40th Kobe Bryant Quote – “On Grinnell’s Jack Taylor scoring 138 points in one game: “Would people be celebrating me if I scored 138 points? You know how it is; some people would, some people wouldn’t. They can all kiss my a– as I’m sure he feels the same way. If you score 138 points, you kind of have a license to tell people to f— off.” – Kobe Bryant
41. “All the training and sacrifice just flew out the window with one step that I’ve done millions of times! The frustration is unbearable. The anger is rage. Why the hell did this happen?!? Makes no damn sense. Now I’m supposed to come back from this and be the same player or better at 35?!? How in the world am I supposed to do that?? I have NO CLUE. Do I have the consistent will to overcome this thing? Maybe I should break out the rocking chair and reminisce on the career that was. Maybe this is how my book ends. Maybe Father Time has defeated me…Then again maybe not!” – Kobe Bryant
42. “I don’t f— with bees, man. Other than that, I’m not afraid of nothing.” – Kobe Bryant
43. “It’s an intentional pass to oneself, so it’s an assist. That way people can’t say all I do is shoot.” – Kobe Bryant
44. “What people see on court is another side of me; it’s not me.” – Kobe Bryant
45. “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.” – Kobe Bryant
46. “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.” – Kobe Bryant
47. “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.” – Kobe Bryant
48. “I remember feeling the silence. I remember feeling the fear. I’m like, ‘This could be a wrap.’ And that’s what the silence was. It was like, ‘This could really be a wrap for you.’” – Kobe Bryant
49. “I had to organize things. So I created the ‘Black Mamba’. So Kobe has to deal with these issues, all the personal challenges. The Black Mamba steps on the court and does what he does. I’m destroying everybody that steps on the court.” – Kobe Bryant
50. “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.” – Kobe Bryant
51. “If you’re afraid to fail, then you’re probably going to fail.” – Kobe Bryant
52. “I’m more than comfortable just sitting back and scoring 21, 22 points or whatever and getting 10, 11 assists whatever the case might be. More than comfortable with that. It’s just a matter of the pieces that you have around you and what you can do to elevate everybody else.” – Kobe Bryant
53. “Take it all in. Sit back and watch and listen and hear all the hate that’s being thrown at us and remember every person that’s kicking you when you’re down, because next year it ain’t gonna be this way. Appreciate it now. Let it sit in now, because revenge is sweet and it’s quick.” – Kobe Bryant
54. “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.” – Kobe Bryant
55. “The people who truly know me know what I’m like. There have been people who try to say things that aren’t fair, and I check them. And then they don’t like me because I checked them.” – Kobe Bryant
56. “Everyone looks at your watch and it represents who you are, your values and your personal style.” – Kobe Bryant
57. “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.” – Kobe Bryant