Inspirational

#Kobe Bryant Quotes Celebrating His Life

“Kobe Bryant Quotes Celebrating His Life

On January 26, 2020, the world lost Kobe Bryant in a tragic helicopter crash. Our prayers go out to his family and friends.

Below is our collection of Kobe Bryant quotes that we published to help provide insight into the mindset of this amazing man and legendary NBA superstar. RIP Kobe.

For two decades, Kobe Bryant was one of the most dominating forces in the NBA. He lead the Lakers to multiple championship series, and won several times.

Bryant—AKA Black Mamba—had moves like we hadn’t seen since Michael Jordan, and even today fans still miss watching him on the court.

Are you in search of inspirational Kobe Bryant quotes about what it takes to develop a killer work ethic and mindset? Then you’ve landed in the perfect place!

Don’t forget to also check out these quotes from coach Carter for more inspiration.

Motivational Kobe Bryant quotes

1. “Once you know what failure feels like, determination chases success.”  – Kobe Bryant

2. “The moment you give up, is the moment you let someone else win” – Kobe Bryant

3. “Dedication sees dreams come true.” – Kobe Bryant

4. “If you don’t believe in yourself, no one will do it for you” – Kobe Bryant

5. “Either way, I refuse to change what I am. A lion has to eat. Run with me or run from me.” – Kobe Bryant

6. “I’m reflective only in the sense that I learn to move forward. I reflect with a purpose” – Kobe Bryant

7. “Determination silences doubters.” – Kobe Bryant

8. “Passion is the fuel for success.”– Kobe Bryant

9. “Everything negative; pressure, challenges, is an opportunity for me to rise.”– Kobe Bryant

10. “The beauty in being blessed with talent is rising above doubters to create a beautiful moment.” – Kobe Bryant

11. “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.” – Kobe Bryant

12. “It doesn’t bother me at all. Do I hold any hard feelings? Not at all. Life is too short to sit around and hold grudges. I don’t hold any whatsoever.” – Kobe Bryant

13. “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.” – Kobe Bryant

14. “The most important thing is to try and inspire people so that they can be great in whatever they want to do.” – Kobe Bryant

15. “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. Don’t let it stop you from being who you can be. Exhaustion tells you when you ought to stop. You only reach your limit when you can go no further.”– Kobe Bryant

16. “Sports is such a great teacher. I think of everything they’ve taught me: camaraderie, humility, how to resolve differences.” – Kobe Bryant

17. “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.” – Kobe Bryant

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Kobe Bryant Quotes  To Inspire The Greatness In You

18. “Use your success, wealth and influence to put them in the best position to realize their own dreams and find their true purpose. Put them through school, set them up with job interviews and help them become leaders in their own right. Hold them to the same level of hard work and dedication that it took for you to get to where you are now, and where you will eventually go.” – Kobe Bryant

19. “I played through the sweat and hurt
Not because challenge called me
But because YOU called me.
I did everything for YOU
Because that’s what you do
When someone makes you feel as
Alive as you’ve made me feel.”
–– Kobe Bryant

20. “The examples are endless but my philosophy is simple. Once I knew my seed, I was able to discover my muse and my purpose for being was crystal clear.” –– Kobe Bryant

21. “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.” – Kobe Bryant

22. “Being passive aggressive in this competition means you’re fine with simply going with the flow and unwilling to disturb the calm waters of the game to accomplish your goals.” – Kobe Bryant

23. “Everything I saw, heard, read, or felt was viewed through the lens of growing as a basketball player. This perspective makes me curious about everything, makes everything interesting, and means that life is a living library where all I need to do is pay attention.” – Kobe Bryant

24. “This is the moment I accept the most challenging times will always be behind me AND in front of me.” – Kobe Bryant

25. “You need to figure out a way to invest in the future of your family and friends. This sounds simple, and you may think it’s a no-brainer, but take some time to think on it further. I said INVEST. I did not say GIVE.” – Kobe Bryant

26. “What a journey this has been. Setting this mark is a huge honor. I’m aware of Father Time’s curfew. He has sent me to my room to brush my teeth before he tucks me in, but I wouldn’t be me if I didn’t walk to the bathroom slowly. I wouldn’t be me if I didn’t act as if someone misplaced the toothpaste. I wouldn’t be me if I didn’t brush every tooth twice, brush my tongue three times, floss until my gums bleed and rinse with mouthwash until the inside of my mouth burns and then goes numb.” – Kobe Bryant

27. “Trust me, setting things up right from the beginning will avoid a ton of tears and heartache…” – Kobe Bryant

28. “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. If you were standing between me and the game, I was going to knock you on your back and not feel bad about it. I was unapologetically me. That’s all I ever wanted to be I was never worried about my reputation- that’s how I earned one. That’s how I became the Black Mamba.” – Kobe Bryant

29. “The odd thing is that I wound up learning more about the world around me by having a singular focus inside of me.” – Kobe Bryant

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30. “When you make a choice and say ‘come hell or high water’ I am going to be this, then you should be surprised when you are that. It should not be something that feels intoxicating or out of character because you have seen this moment for so long that…when that moment comes, of course it is here because it has been here the whole time because it has been in your mind the whole time.” – Kobe Bryant

The Best Kobe Bryant Quotes

31. “We can always kind of be average and do what’s normal. I’m not in this to do what’s normal.” – Kobe Bryant

32. “Losers visualize the penalties of failure. Winners visualize the rewards of success.” – Kobe Bryant

33. “When we are saying this cannot be accomplished, this cannot be done, then we are short-changing ourselves. My brain, it cannot process failure. It will not process failure. Because if I have to sit there and face myself and tell myself ‘you are a failure,’ I think that is almost worse than dying”– Kobe Bryant

If you’re enjoying these quotes, make sure to read our collection of elf quotes for the Christmas holiday.

34. “Learn to love the hate. Embrace it. Enjoy it. You earned it. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion and everyone should have one about you. Haters are a good problem to have. Nobody hates the good ones. They hate the great ones.” – Kobe Bryant

35. “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.” – Kobe Bryant

36. “To be an event, every single night. Something witnessed. Not just watched. I had a different drive. The kind that made people uneasy. Some people wanted me to come back down to earth. To come down to their level.To relax. But I couldn’t. It wasn’t in my DNA. Because to go where others have never gone, you have to do what others have never done.”– Kobe Bryant

37. “Be willing to sacrifice anything, but compromise nothing in your quest to be your best.” – Kobe Bryant

38. “If you are going to be a leader, you’re not going to please everybody. You got to hold people accountable, even if you have that moment of being uncomfortable.”– Kobe Bryant

39. “We all have self-doubt. You don’t deny it, but you also don’t capitulate to it. You embrace it.”– Kobe Bryant

40. “I saw things differently. I didn’t want to do what others had done. That didn’t drive me, didn’t get me in the gym before others got up. I wanted to do one better. Actually, I wanted to do a lot better. There were players I looked up to until I looked them square in the eyes. I know that one day, when I left the game, I didn’t actually want to leave. I wanted to leave my mark.” – Kobe Bryant

41. “The biggest dreams aren’t fueled by belief. They’re fueled by doubt.” – Kobe Bryant

42. “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. If you do it right, your game will live on in others. You’ll be imitated and emulated by those you played with, those you played against and those who never saw you play at all. So leave everything on the court. Leave the game better than you found it. And when it comes time for you to leave, leave a legend.” – Kobe Bryant

43. “We don’t quit, we don’t cower, we don’t run. We endure and conquer.” – Kobe Bryant

44. “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.” – Kobe Bryant

Greatness Has A Cost (Kobe Bryant Retirement Tribute)

Don’t forget to also check out these insightful Dennis Rodman quotes about his career and life.

Kobe Bryant quotes to elevate your perspective

45. “I don’t want to be the next Michael Jordan, I only want to be Kobe Bryant.” – Kobe Bryant

46. “Great things come from hard work and perseverance. No Excuses.” – Kobe Bryant

47. “Everyone looks at your watch and it represents who you are, your values and your personal style.” – Kobe Bryant

48. “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.” – Kobe Bryant

49. “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.” – Kobe Bryant

50. “I’m chasing perfection.” – Kobe Bryant

51. “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.” – Kobe Bryant

52. “I wanna be the best, simple, and plain.” – Kobe Bryant

53. “The important thing is that your teammates have to know you’re pulling for them and you really want them to be successful.” – Kobe Bryant

54. “What people see on court is another side of me; it’s not me.” – Kobe Bryant

55. “These young guys are playing checkers. I’m out there playing chess.” – Kobe Bryant

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Kobe Bryant quotes to encourage you

56. “Everything negative – pressure, challenges – is all an opportunity for me to rise.”- Kobe Bryant

57. “I want to learn how to become the best basketball player in the world. And if I’m going to learn that, I gotta learn from the best. Kids go to school to be doctors or lawyers, so forth and so on and that’s where they study. My place to study is from the best.”- Kobe Bryant

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58. “If you’re afraid to fail, then you’re probably going to fail.”- Kobe Bryant

59. “I saw you come in and I wanted you to know that it doesn’t matter how hard you work, that I’m willing to work harder than you.”- Kobe Bryant

60. “My parents are my backbone. Still are. They’re the only group that will support you if you score zero or you score 40.”- Kobe Bryant

61. “From the beginning, I wanted to be the best. I had a constant craving, a yearning, to improve and be the best. I never needed any external forces to motivate me.”― Kobe Bryant

62. “People just don’t understand how obsessed I am with winning.”- Kobe Bryant

63. “After all, greatness is not for everybody.”― Kobe Bryant

64. “If you do not believe in yourself no one will do it for you.”- Kobe Bryant

65. “May you always remember to enjoy the road, especially when it’s a hard one.”― Kobe Bryant

Kobe Bryant quotes to elevate your mind

66. “We psyche ourselves up too much. Like if you try to talk yourself into, ‘Oh, this is a big moment, this is a big shot,’ you’re putting a lot of pressure on yourself. You shot that shot hundreds and thousands of times. Just shoot another one.”― Kobe Bryant

67. “It’s hard for me to grasp the concept of somebody being nervous when I’m talking to them.” – Kobe Bryant

68. “I just got one more than Shaq. You can take that to the bank … You guys know how I am. I don’t forget anything.” – Kobe Bryant

69. “If I wanted to play, I’d still be playing for the Lakers. The health thing I could’ve figured out…I just don’t want to play anymore.” – Kobe Bryant

70. “There’s been a lot of talk of me being a one-man show but that’s simply not the case. We win games when I score 40 points and we’ve won when I score 10.” – Kobe Bryant

71. “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.” – Kobe Bryant

72. “Losing is losing, there aren’t different degrees of losing. You either win a championship or you’re s**t. It’s very black & white to me.” – Kobe Bryant

73. “The message was that if you want to win championships, you have to let people focus on what they do best while you focus on what you do best. For him, that was rebounding, running the floor, and blocking shots.”― Kobe Bryant

74. “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.” – Kobe Bryant

75. “A lot of people say they want to be great, but they’re not willing to make the sacrifices necessary to achieve greatness.”― Kobe Bryant

Memorable Kobe Bryant quotes

76. “Better learn not to talk to me. You shake the tree, a leopard’s gonna fall out.” – Kobe Bryant

77. “Hi, I’m Kobe Bryant. And I have decided to take my talent to, uh… I have decided to skip college and take my talent to the NBA.” – Kobe Bryant

78. “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.” – Kobe Bryant

79. “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.’” – Kobe Bryant

80. “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.” – Kobe Bryant

81. “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.” – Kobe Bryant

82. “I focus on one thing and one thing only – that’s trying to win as many championships as I can.” – Kobe Bryant

83. “I like playing for the purple and gold. This is where I want to finish up.” – Kobe Bryant

84. “I’m playing against great players, playing against the best in the world. The competition – that’s what I’ve always wanted.” – Kobe Bryant

85. “I’ll figure it out. I’ll make some tweaks, some changes, but I’m still coming.” – Kobe Bryant

Kobe Bryant quotes to brighten your day

86. “Winning takes precedence overall. There’s no grey area. No almost.” – Kobe Bryant

87. “Only an idiot would doubt my return.” – Kobe Bryant

88. “I don’t think a coach becomes the right coach until he wins a championship.” – Kobe Bryant

89. “I’m not jumping through the gym by any means. But I don’t need to be able to do that in order to be a great player.” – Kobe Bryant

90. “I’m not the most patient of people.” – Kobe Bryant

91. “What does perfection look like to me? Championship rings.” –
Kobe Bryant

92. “We all know what flopping is when we see it. The stuff that you see is where guys aren’t really getting hit at all and are just flailing around like a fish out of water.” – Kobe Bryant

93. “Sometimes I do wonder what college would have been like. But I made my decision.” – Kobe Bryant

94. “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.” –Kobe Bryant

95. “My role is to make sure we’re moving in the right direction, getting points, rebounds, steals, assists and providing leadership.” – Kobe Bryant

If you’re enjoying these quotes, make sure to read our collection of moving quotes about the power of a new environment.

Kobe Bryant quotes to remember him

96. “There is beauty in that. I mean, it’s going through the cycle. I mean, it’s the cycle that is the natural progression of growth, of maturation. I mean, there’s no sadness in that … I see the beauty in not being able to blow past defenders anymore, you know what I mean? I see the beauty in getting up in the morning and being in pain because I know all the hard work that it took to get to this point. So, I’m not, I’m not sad about it. I’m very appreciative of what I’ve had.” – Kobe Bryant

97. “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.” – Kobe Bryant

98. “Leadership is lonely … I’m not going to be afraid of confrontation to get us to where we need to go. There’s a big misconception where people thinking winning or success comes from everybody putting their arms around each other and singing kumbaya and patting them on the back when they mess up, and that’s just not reality. If you are going to be a leader, you are not going to please everybody. You have to hold people accountable. Even if you have that moment of being uncomfortable.” – Kobe Bryant

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99. “You just try to take it one day at a time, … You step on the basketball floor and just play. It’s fun. I’m comfortable with it.” – Kobe Bryant
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100. “I was just letting the shots fly. You know, I don’t leave any bullets in the chamber.” – Kobe Bryant

101. “The only thing I’m afraid of is bees. I don’t like bees. I’m allergic to them.” – Kobe Bryant

102. “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.” – Kobe Bryant

103. “You want me to own a team and deal with these rich, spoiled stubborn athletes, and try to get them to perform? No thank you.” – Kobe Bryant

104. “I draw from the crowd a lot.” – Kobe Bryant

105. “I grew up in front of these people, and now they are seeing me as an ‘older’ young man.” – Kobe Bryant

Kobe Bryant quotes that will make you think different

106. “I can remember winning the first championship and kind of being like, ‘Okay, now what? What happens now?’ … [Teammates] celebrating, waving champagne bottles around … And outside of that, it was, ‘Okay, now what?’” – Kobe Bryant

107. “When I have the chance to guard Michael Jordan, I want to guard him. I want him. It’s the ultimate challenge.” – Kobe Bryant

108. “I don’t mean to sound cavalier when I say that, but never. It’s basketball. I’ve practiced and practiced and played so many times. There’s nothing truly to be afraid of, when you think about it … Because I’ve failed before, and I woke up the next morning, and I’m OK. People say bad things about you in the paper on Monday, and then on Wednesday, you’re the greatest thing since sliced bread. I’ve seen that cycle, so why would I be nervous about it happening?” – Kobe Bryant

109. “He is a fool who only sees the mischiefs that are past.” – Kobe Bryant

110. “If I panic, everyone else panics.” – Kobe Bryant

111. “I won’t react to something just because I’m supposed to, because I’m an African-American.” – Kobe Bryant

112. “It doesn’t matter to me what place I get traded to. If I was traded someplace – I’d play anywhere.” – Kobe Bryant

113. “It never bothered me when people would say, ‘You only win championships because you’re playing with Shaq.’ It bothered me when he said it.” – Kobe Bryant

114. “I’ve been watching Messi for some time now, and his ability to decide games and keep possession of the ball is amazing.” – Kobe Bryant

115. “I’m going to be the Will Smith of the NBA.” – Kobe Bryant

Kobe Bryant quotes that will live on forever

116. “It’s just a matter of the pieces that you have around you and what you can do to elevate everybody else.” – Kobe Bryant

117. “Rest at the end, not in the middle.”― Kobe Bryant

118. “People sit there – and Google themselves? That’s kind of weird.” – Kobe Bryant

119. “If you want to be a better player, you have to prepare, prepare, and prepare some more.”
Kobe Bryant

120. “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.” – Kobe Bryant

121. “I think the definition of greatness is to inspire the people next to you.”― Kobe Bryant
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122. “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.” – Kobe Bryant

123. “Some people, after all, enjoy looking at a watch; others are happier figuring out how the watch works.”― Kobe Bryant

124. “Good coaches, however, teach you how to think and arm you with the fundamental tools necessary to execute properly.”― Kobe Bryant

125. “Good coaches tell you where the fish are, great coaches teach you how to find them.”
Kobe Bryant

More Kobe Bryant quotes and sayings

126. “If there were camera phones back in the day, the biggest athletes in the world would have had a lot of explaining to do.” – Kobe Bryant

127. “You have to work hard in the dark to shine in the light”― Kobe Bryant

128. “As a kid growing up, I never skipped steps. I always worked on fundamentals because I know athleticism is fleeting.” – Kobe Bryant

129. “When everyone else was thinking it was time for bed, his mind was telling him it’s time to get ahead of the competition.”― Kobe Bryant

130. “Magic has five championships. I have five championships. I’m pretty sure we both know what we’re doing.” – Kobe Bryant

131. “The key, though, is being aware of how you’re feeling and how you need to be feeling. It all starts with awareness.”― Kobe Bryant

132. “It’s different from being 21 and you think there’s an endless amount of opportunities. At 33, the ending is much, much closer.” – Kobe Bryant

133. “I wasn’t willing to sacrifice my game, but I also wasn’t willing to sacrifice my family time. So I decided to sacrifice sleep, and that was that.”― Kobe Bryant

134. “I never felt outside pressure. I knew what I wanted to accomplish, and I knew how much work it took to achieve those goals. I then put in the work and trusted in it. Besides, the expectations I placed on myself were higher than what anyone expected from me.”― Kobe Bryant

135. “If you really want to be great at something you have to truly care about it. If you want to be great in a particular area, you have to obsess over it.”― Kobe Bryant

Did these Kobe Bryant quotes inspire you?

Through these quotes, you can see what made him special as an athlete and intriguing as a person.

Most of us love him because we can relate to him and have the same mind frame, that the only thing stopping us from achieving our goals is us.

Others hate him because he has the relentlessness that many wish they had. There’s no doubt his words poke at your soul like needles.

Cherish these quotes by Kobe Bryant and find your inner “Mamba Mentality”.

If you want to read more like this article, you can visit our Inspirational category.

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