Best 168 quotes of Kareem Abdul-jabbar on MyQuotes

Actor Mike Warren [was my former teammate], who was in Hill Street Blues. There are more, but it's starting to sound like a team reunion at Red Lobster. They were a great bunch of guys and we accomplished a lot together. That's something you don't forget.

After practice, I would have to go back to the dorm and take a nap.

[Albert] Hoxie, my Western Civilization professor. I had him in my freshman year and he opened up an extraordinary world to me that I've never forgotten. He used his extensive knowledge of art history to illustrate the development of Western culture and politics.

Alexander Hamilton realized that warfare was part and parcel of human nature, and it's something we had to prepare for.

All the courage and competitiveness of Jackie Robinson affects me to this day. If I patterned my life after anyone it was him, not because he was the first black baseball player in the majors but because he was a hero.

A lot of players think the game is all about individual performances when it's really all about a team game.

A lot of young players don't really know much about the history of the game and a lot of them are missing out on what the game is all about, especially the whole concept of sportsmanship and teamwork.

As a parent, I have a job as a role model to my children, and by extension, to other young people.

As brilliant an individual that Michael Jordan was, he was not successful until he got with a good team unit.

A team will always appreciate a great individual if he's willing to sacrifice for the group.

Basketball is an endurance sport, and you have to learn to control your breath; that's the essence of yoga, too. So, I consciously began using yoga techniques in my practice and playing. I think yoga helped reduce the number and severity of injuries I suffered. As preventative medicine, it's unequaled.

Black people don't have an accurate idea of their history, which has been either suppressed or distorted.

But all was not sunshine and Marvin Gaye songs. [UCLA] also recruited black students as part of a High Potential Program that was meant to bring diversity to the campus. Two of the students that were part of that program were Alprentice "Bunchy" Carter and John Huggins, Jr., both members of the Black Panther Party's Southern California Chapter.

But people don't know if I can teach the game. I know I can. My experience in Oklahoma was positive. It opened my eyes to how the game is played - the interaction among players, fans and media, how all that works. You have to know about the business of the game and how the actions of players and coaches affect the business. I think I have it down now.

Cancer is a scary thing and you have to deal with it seriously.

Center is a very tough position to play.

[Coaching] is a difficult job which everyone who owns a TV thinks they can do better at.

Common decency demands that [NCAA athletes] should be paid, but the only way it will happen is the same way workers got paid throughout American history, through a strong union.

Culture and politics were inseparable [in the Sixties], which gave a soundtrack to political awareness and activism.

During 1866 and 1922, Native Americans and black soldiers often intermingled in the American west, on the frontier.

Each story, novel, poem and play presents a vision of the world that illuminates the dark cave of life we stumble through. We can see better where we're going, what sudden drop to avoid, where the cool water is running.

Either because I was an athlete or because I was black - probably both - there seemed to be a clear assumption that I wouldn't be up to the work.

Elgin's game was an incredible performance, also. I don't think there's any comparison. Elgin did it without three-point lines. His game was attacking the hoop and hitting jumpers inside 20 feet. Kobe's range is unreal, and he does it his way.

Even when there are adverse circumstances, I try to do my job. And I usually do.

Few players have cast a spell across the game like Yao Ming, before or since.

Five guys on the court working together can achieve more than five talented individuals who come and go as individuals.

For me, the bold jazz of John Coltrane and Miles Davis reflected the bold attitude in African-Americans finding their political identity and voice.

Fundamental preparation is always effective. Work on those parts of your game that are fundamentally weak.

Good thoughts are no better than good dreams, unless they are executed.

He doesn't necessarily have to learn the sky hook. He just has to learn how to be an effective post player. I think I can help him do that.

High school dropouts are forfeiting their opportunity to pursue the American Dream.

I always thought I could do a good job coaching, but the opportunities have not presented themselves.

I am highly offended by the total lack of acknowledgement of my contribution to Laker success.

I can do something else besides stuff a ball through a hoop. My biggest resource is my mind.

I could have skated by as an athlete, but the world is so much bigger and more interesting than any one thing. I didn't want to be pigeonholed as just a jock. I'm also an author, a student of history, and I collect memorabilia from the Wild West. I'm also a son, a father, and a friend.

I did a book in 1996, an overview of black history. In that process I became more aware of a lot of the black inventors of the 19th century.

I didn't really seek attention. I just wanted to play the game well and go home.

I don't get a big charge out of being the leading scorer. The object of competing is winning. I just try to do what has to be done for us to win. That might be anything at the time - defense, rebounding, passing. I get great satisfaction out of being a team player.

I don't really care who's doing drugs in the NBA as long as the scene isn't adversely affecting my team and teammates. I've known enough drug users-going as far back as grade school and the streets of New York-not to view them as pariahs or lost souls. I've certainly smoked more than my quota of weed.

I enjoy seeing new places.

I expect more people from China and Asia to end up in the NBA.

I feel like I've always been a full-time historian, but nobody knows it.

I feel that Dennis Rodman has become a problem. He will be more of a problem than an asset. Of course, he can prove me wrong.

I feel that there has been progress made since I was a boy on matters of race, but we have a long way to go.

I felt that a number of people might have questioned my loyalty, but I continue to be a patriotic American.

If I hadn't become a professional basketball player, I would have become a history teacher. There's so much to learn from history.

If ISIS represents Islam, then the KKK represents Christianity

If not for the success that medicine has made, I might be part of a much different story right now.

If they took the idea that they could escape poverty through education, I think it would make a more basic and long-lasting change in the way things happen. What we need are positive, realistic goals and the willingness to work. Hard work and practical goals.

Ignorance is not something that lends itself to a meaningful discussion.