You don’t have to be a basketball fan to know Kobe Bryant, five-time world champion and arguably one of the top five NBA players ever to ever don a jersey. The high-profile athlete’s 2020 death in a helicopter crash rocked the world with tears over a tragic and untimely accident. The disaster also claimed the life of daughter 13-year-old Gianna, leaving behind wife Vanessa and their three other daughters.
Kobe Bryant was born in Philadelphia in 1978 and played in the NBA, with the Los Angeles Lakers for 20 seasons before his retirement in 2016. Bryant started shooting hoops when he was only three years old and earned national recognition in high school, after moving back to the US. He was soon traded to the Lakers and became the second youngest NBA player in history.
On top of his basketball career, Kobe became an iconic businessman and venture capitalist. He owned and grew brands in the sports industry and invested millions in different businesses including media, data, gaming, and technology. There’s no doubt Bryant left behind a widespread impact initiated through his chase for perfection and one-of-a-kind mental make-up.
Kobe Bryant’s work ethic, desire to win, competitive edge and refusal to fail are drivers behind these inspirational quotes to get you thinking about how you’re living your life – before it becomes too late.
1. The most important thing is to try and inspire people so that they can be great in whatever they want to do.
2. People just don’t understand how obsessed I am with winning.
3. 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.
4. 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.
5. 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.
6. I’m reflective only in the sense that I learn to move forward. I reflect with a purpose.
7. 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.
8. I focus on one thing and one thing only – that’s trying to win as many championships as I can.
9. It’s an intentional pass to oneself, so it’s an assist. That way people can’t say all I do is shoot.
10. What people see on court is another side of me; it’s not me.
11. 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.
12. 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.
13. This is the moment I accept the most challenging times will always be behind me and in front of me.
14. If you’re afraid to fail, then you’re probably going to fail.
15. 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.
16. Boos don’t block dunks.
17. When I have the chance to guard Michael Jordan, I want to guard him. I want him. It’s the ultimate challenge.
18. 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.
19. 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.
20. Once you know what failure feels like, determination chases success.
21. After Grinnell’s Jack Taylor scores 138 points in 2012: “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.
22. 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.
23. After winning his fifth championship in June of 2010: “I just got one more than Shaq. So you can take that to the bank.
24. Winning takes precedence over all. There’s no gray area. No almosts.
25. 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.
26. Pain doesn’t tell you when you ought to stop. Pain is the little voice in your head that tries to hold you back because it knows if you continue you will change.
27. 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.
28. Use your success, wealth and influence to put them in the best position to realize their own dreams and find their true purpose.
29. 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.
30. 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.
31. I don’t want to be the next Michael Jordan, I only want to be Kobe Bryant.
32. The beauty in being blessed with talent is rising above doubters to create a beautiful moment.
33. My parents are my backbone. Still are. They’re the only group that will support you if you score zero or you score 40.
34. 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.
35. 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.
36. 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.
37. 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.
38. 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.
39. Dedication sees dreams come true.
40. The moment you give up, is the moment you let someone else win.
41. 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.
42. 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.
43. 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.
44. Have a good time. Life is too short to get bogged down and be discouraged. You have to keep moving. You have to keep going. Put one foot in front of the other, smile, and just keep on rolling.
45. It’s an understanding that you can’t have life without death, can’t have light without the dark, right? So it’s an acceptance of that.
46. These young guys are playing checkers. I’m out there playing chess.
47. 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.
48. I’m playing against great players, playing against the best in the world. The competition – that’s what I’ve always wanted.
49. It’s the one thing you can control. You are responsible for how people remember you—or don’t. So don’t take it lightly.
50. Everything negative – pressure, challenges – is all an opportunity for me to rise.
51. Trust me, setting things up right from the beginning will avoid a ton of tears and heartache…
52. Haters are a good problem to have. Nobody hates the good ones. They hate the great ones.
53. Better learn not to talk to me. You shake the tree, a leopard’s gonna fall out.
54. We can always kind of be average and do what’s normal. I’m not in this to do what’s normal.
55. 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.
56. I remain focused on changing the world in positive ways through diverse stories, characters, and leadership in order to inspire the next generation.
57. I create my own path. It was straight and narrow. I looked at it this way: you were either in my way, or out of it.