Kobe Bryant Quotes

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

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

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

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

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.

These young guys are playing checkers. I'm out there playing chess.

I was shooting 45 times a game. What was I supposed to do? Pass it into Chris Mihm & Kwame Brown?

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

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

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.

We all can be masters at our craft, but you have to make sacrifices that come along with making that decision.

I was probably born a scorer, but I was made a winner. Whatever works, whatever wins championships, wins games, that's what I do.

Thank god, I'm not from this world.

You just stay patient, that's all.

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.

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

We're grown ass men, you don't need to be falling all over the place.

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

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

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.

Everything has a purpose. And that purpose has a story that goes along with it. It just depends on what your passion is.

I realize now that there's a strength in dunking that I can use to my advantage. When you dunk all the time it isn't as demoralizing to the opponent, but when you dunk at a key moment in the game you can use it to change the momentum.

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

If you want to make history, you have to do historic things

Friends come and go but banners hang forever.

When you have empathy toward your opponents, it helps you destroy them quicker. Because you understand exactly who they are. You understand what buttons to push. You understand if they're insecure, if they fear embarrassment. And you can really hit those buttons to strike a nerve.

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.

When you start training camp, you're building the tools necessary to win a championship. You have to have the patience.

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.

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

Only an idiot would doubt my return

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.

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

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 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.

There is power in understanding the journey of others to help create your own

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.

I wouldn't say I'm a ball hog. I'm a shooter.

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.

Winning takes precedence over all. There's no gray area. No almosts.

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

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

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

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

Once you know what it is in life that you want to do, then the world basically becomes your library. Everything you view, you can view from that perspective, which makes everything a learning asset for you.

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

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