Best 138 quotes of Kobe Bryant on MyQuotes

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.

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.

As far as carrying the torch for the years to come, I don't know. I just want to be the best basketball player I can be.

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.

Basketball is my refuge, my sanctuary. I go back to being a kid on the playground. When I get here, it's all good.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Dear Basketball, From the moment I started rolling my dad's tube socks and shooting imaginary game-winning shots ... I fell in love with you.

Difficulty is a nurse of greatness-a harsh nurse, who rocks her foster children roughly, but rocks them in strength and athletic proportion. The mind, grappling with great aims and wrestling with mighty impediments, grows by a certain necessity to the stature of greatness.

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

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

Each moment of my life I was dreaming of how great I could be, and continued working hard. Each time I closed my eyes I could see me shining bright like a sun.

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

Everybody has a different journey.

Everybody shut up. Let us work.

Everybody wants to talk about NBA players being selfish and arrogant and individuals. But what you saw today was a team bonding and facing adversity and coming out with a big win.

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

For us to be the team that got him that historic 10th championship is special for us.

Friends come and go but banners hang forever.

Great things come from hard work and perseverance. No excuses.

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

He [Phil Jackson] is such a basketball genius in terms of the details of the game, the little nuances of the game and the rhythm of the game.

Heroes come and go, but legends are forever.

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

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.

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.

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.

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

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

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

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

I don't want to be the next Michael Jordan, I only want to be Kobe Bryant.

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.

I draw from the crowd a lot.

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.

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.

I focus on one thing and one thing only - that's trying to win as many championships as I can.

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

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.

If you don't believe in yourself...nobo dy else will.

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

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

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

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.

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 have nothing in common with lazy people who blame others for their lack of success.

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

I like playing for the purple and gold. This is where I want to finish up.