2015 is a pretty bad year for the Los Angeles Lakers who really can’t seem to get it together. If they don’t get it together, superstar shooting guard Kobe Bryant said that it could be it for him. Kobe Bryant is quite possibly one of the most famous Lakers to ever grace the court and a player that many put up in the likes of Michael Jordan. So if this is it for the the star, we decided to compile the 25 Greatest Kobe Bryant Quotes.
Bryant is famous for his athletic ability and his incredible ability to score tough buckets. Fans will remember his famous 81 point game against the Toronto Raptors who seemed to have absolutely no answer for the onslaught. Bryant is a five-time NBA Champion with the Los Angeles Lakers and continues to play the game with sheer intensity. He once said he didn’t want his 40 to be compared to Jordan’s 40 if he continues to play the game. You can check out our 25 Greatest Kobe Bryant Quotes below.
“Everything negative – pressure, challenges – is all an opportunity for me to rise.”
“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.”
“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.”
“I don’t want to be the next Michael Jordan, I only want to be Kobe Bryant.”
“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.”
“When I have the chance to guard Michael Jordan, I want to guard him. I want him. It’s the ultimate challenge.”
“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.'”
“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 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.”
“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–.”
“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.”
“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.”
“I focus on one thing and one thing only – that’s trying to win as many championships as I can.”
“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..”
“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.”
“I’m reflective only in the sense that I learn to move forward. I reflect with a purpose.”
“These young guys are playing checkers. I’m out there playing chess.”
“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.”
“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.”
“If you’re afraid to fail, then you’re probably going to fail.”
“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.”
“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.”
“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.”
“Winning takes precedence over all. There’s no gray area. No almosts.”
“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.”