Kobe Bryant may be gone, but his legacy remains even today! Even though he’s dead, he lived a conventionally successful life, winning five NBA championships with the Los Angeles Lakers. He also earned an Oscar and was a loving husband and father. Out of sports, his actions and quotes stood out to many.
One of the core principles he lived by was the “Mamba mentality”. Even today, anyone can use his words to achieve success. Instead of going to search for his books, we have provided him with a list of 60+ of Kobe Bryant's quotes. We have also given a section on how to get the mamba mentality of Kobe through his quotes!
Kobe Bryant is a legendary basketball player. He was born in Philadelphia but he passed away at the age of 41 in a tragic helicopter crash on January 26, 2020. Aside from being with the Los Angeles Lakers, Kobe was also an author, entrepreneur, coach, and a proud “girl dad.” So, you can know that someone like that would have been a man of his word. His quotes can help you become the best “you”.
He had a natural way with words, even in casual moments, his words left an impact. If you recall the famous Kobe Bryant and Kanye West “Kobe System” commercial, you'll remember how often he responded with just classic quotes. See our list of best Kobe Bryant quotes based on over 5 categories:
About Life and Relationships
Kobe saw life as a journey where pain and joy go hand in hand. His advice? Keep moving forward and appreciate every step, especially the “hard” ones.
- “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.”
- “The most important thing is you must put everybody on notice that you’re here and you are for real.”
- “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 [retiring]. I'm very appreciative of what I've had.”
- “Trust me, setting things up right from the beginning will avoid a ton of tears and heartache.”
- “May you always remember to enjoy the road, especially when it’s a hard one.”
- “My parents are my backbone. Still are. They're the only group that will support you if you score zero or you score 40.”
- “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.”
- “Friends can come and go, but banners hang forever.”
On Dedication
Dedication wasn’t a word for Kobe, it was a lifestyle. These quotes will make you understand that success comes from focus and relentless effort.
- “Dedication makes dreams come true.”
- “If you do not believe in yourself no one will do it for you.”
- “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.”
- “If you’re afraid to fail, then you’re probably going to fail.”
- “I want to see if I can. I don't know if I can. I want to find out. I want to see it. I'm going to do what I always do: I'm going to break it down to its smallest form, and smallest detail, and go after it. Day by day, one day at a time.”
- “This is the moment I accept the most challenging times will always be behind me and in front of me.”
- “When you make a choice and say, ‘Come hell or high water, I am going to be this,' then you should not be surprised when you are that. It should not be something that is 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.”
- “Great things come from hard work and perseverance. No excuses.”
- “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 me, that was rebounding, running the floor, and blocking shots.”
- “The last time I was intimidated was when I was six years old in karate class. I was an orange belt and the instructor ordered me to fight a black belt who was a couple of years older and a lot bigger. I was scared s**tless. I mean, I was terrified and he kicked my a**. But then I realized he didn't kick my a** as bad as I thought he was going to and that there was nothing really to be afraid of.”
On Motivation
These quotes show that Kobe never needed others to push him, his motivation came from within. See why true motivation comes from wanting to be better than who you were yesterday!
- “From the beginning, I wanted to be the best. I had a constant craving, a yearning, to improve and be the best.”
- “We can always kind of be average and do what’s normal. I’m not in this to do what’s normal.”
- “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.”
- “Be sad. Be mad. Be frustrated. Scream. Cry. Sulk. When you wake up you will think it was just a nightmare only to realize it’s all too real. You will be angry and wish for the day back, the game back, that playback. But reality gives nothing back and nor should you.”
- “Everything negative—pressure, challenges—is all an opportunity for me to rise.”
- “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.”
- “I never needed any external forces to motivate me.”
- “A lot of leaders fail because they don’t have the bravery to touch that nerve or strike that chord.”
- “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.”
- “The moment you give up is the moment you let someone else win.”
- “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.”
- “I have self-doubt. I have insecurity. I have a 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.”
- “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.”
- “A lot of people say they want to be great, but they’re not willing to make the sacrifices necessary to achieve greatness.”
- “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.”
About Success
To Kobe, success was about being remembered for the hard work, resilience, and impact you leave behind, and he made “his definition of success” happen. Read these quotes to make success happen for you:
- “No matter what, people are going to like you or not like you. So be authentic, and let them like you or not for who you actually are.”
- “Once you know what failure feels like, determination chases success.”
- “After all, greatness is not for everybody.”
- “You are responsible for how people remember you—or don’t. So don’t take it lightly.”
- “The beauty in being blessed with talent is rising above doubters to create a beautiful moment.”
- “Winning takes precedence overall. There’s no gray area. No almosts.”
- “The most important thing is to try and inspire people so that they can be great at whatever they want to do.”
- “Use your success, wealth, and influence to put them in the best position to realize their own dreams and find their true purpose.”
- “Haters are a good problem to have. Nobody hates the good ones. They hate the great ones.”
- “Boos don’t block dunks.”
- “If I wanted to play, I’d still be playing for the Lakers.”
- “I realized that intimidation didn't really exist if you're in the right frame of mind.”
- “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?”
- “I’m extremely willful to win, and I respond to challenges. It’s not a challenge to me to win the scoring title, because I know I can.”
- “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.”
- “Losing is losing. There aren’t different degrees of losing. You either win a championship or you’re s**t. It’s very black and white to me.”
- “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.”
About Basketball and Practice
For Kobe, basketball wasn’t just a game, it was an obsession. Here are quotes that will make you want to practice to push past limits!
- “I don't want to be the next Michael Jordan, I only want to be Kobe Bryant.”
- “I love that kids are building confidence on and off the court and unlocking their potential through sport.”
- “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.”
- “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.”
- “The important thing is that your teammates have to know you're pulling for them and you really want them to be successful.”
- “I don’t want chumps, I don’t want pushovers, and if you’re a chump and a pushover, I will run over you.”
- “You guys know how I am. I don’t forget anything.”
- “We psych 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.”
- “The beauty of coaching is growing the players from the ground up. That journey continues.”
- “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, and so forth, and so on and that's where they study. My place to study is from the best.”
- “When I have the chance to guard Michael Jordan, I want to guard him. I want him. It’s the ultimate challenge.”
- “There’s no need to get too crazy or bent out of shape. There are still challenges every day. But I’m still having fun. I was born to play this game. I still love it.”
- “I’ve shot too much from the time I was eight 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 nor too few. There were as many as necessary.”
- “I never looked at [basketball] as work. I didn't realize it was working until my first year in the NBA. When I came around, I was surrounded by other professionals and I thought basketball was going to be everything to them, and it wasn't. And I was like, ‘This is different.' I thought everybody was so obsessive about the game like me. It was like, ‘No? Oh, that's hard work.' I get it now.”
How Kobe Bryant’s Words Inspire Us
Many people don’t see Kobe as the GOAT (Greatest of All Time), but he is still a huge icon in the NBA. His career was filled with amazing moments like five NBA championships and 18 All-Star appearances. While watching him play, even we felt excited as he made the game seem fun.
Plus, he has inspired many players like Joel Embiid. Even superstars know of his mentality and his classic quotes drop. The reason people love Kobe’s quotes is because they do more than just inspire. They help us develop a “mindset of a winner” (1) through his famous “Mamba Mentality” (2). Here’s how you can adopt his winning mentality through his quotes to become the best version of yourself!
1. Get The Mindset Of Winner
People say Bryant’s ego exceeded his ego (But that’s what mediocre people say to winners when they don't know the effort put in by them). It didn’t help when Kobe famously stated,
“I got one more than Shaq. So you can take that to the bank.”
While some viewed this as arrogant, Kobe often used humor in interviews. Real ones know that his relationship with Shaquille O'Neal was of love-hate and mutual respect.
We get to understand his mindset further, through his quote,
“I’m reflective only in the sense that I learn to move forward. I reflect with a purpose.”
This means he focused on growing rather than bragging. Growth comes from hard work and hard work leads to confidence, not arrogance. Also, Passion was important for him. Larry Nance Jr. said,
“Just watching Kobe Bryant, you could see his passion for the game.”
So, to be successful, your art should be your life. Many people tell you to “not take winning seriously” but that’s not what Kobe believed,
“If you really want to be great at something, you have to truly care about it.”
Kobe was obsessed with winning, saying,
“People just don’t understand how obsessed I am with winning.”
This obsession will help you wake up early, work harder, and aim for the best. Being relentless means putting in the effort, even if it means giving up some comforts.
Lastly, be fearless. Kobe expressed his approach to trying new things by saying,
“If I wanted to implement something new into my game, I’d see it and try incorporating it immediately. I wasn’t scared of missing, looking bad, or being embarrassed.”
Just know that failure and fears are part of life. And if someone asks what your fears are, don’t take yourself too seriously and say something like Kobe,
“I don’t f**k with bees, man. Other than that, I’m not afraid of anything.”
That being said, let’s take a peek into his mamba mentality!
2. Become The Best Version Of Yourself
Kobe Bryant’s Mamba Mentality is a great way to become the best version of yourself. The first step is to be “yourself” and many people say it but what it means is that embracing “being lonely” as being at the top can feel lonely. Kobe learned to stay true to himself even after getting hate, saying,
“I think fans and reporters came to appreciate that, came to appreciate the real me.”
Kobe knew that being a leader meant facing challenges alone. He said,
“Leadership is lonely. I'm not going to be afraid of confrontation to get us to where we need to go.”
This means you have to make tough choices and hold people accountable, even if it's uncomfortable.
He also stressed the importance of passion:
“You don't want to jump into something if you're not passionate about it.”
It’s essential not to settle for things that don’t excite you.
When he faced criticism and asked about his “airball game”, Kobe reminded himself saying,
“Get over yourself. ‘Cause it's not about you, man.” He believed in moving forward, saying, “You have to keep moving. You have to keep going. Put one foot in front of the other, smile and just keep on rolling.”
To manage his challenges, he created the “Black Mamba” persona. He explained,
“I had to organize things. So I created the ‘Black Mamba.’ So Kobe has to deal with these issues; the Black Mamba steps on the court and does what he does.”
So, you need to be the “best you” even if it means you don’t believe in yourself, as the time will come when you do. Next, you need to think ahead as Kobe said,
“These young guys are playing checkers. I'm out there playing chess.”
Recognize that being great requires some selfishness like Kobe said,
“In order to get to a certain level, you have to have a certain amount of selfishness.” and “If you want to be the greatest of all time at something, there’s going to be a negative side to that.”
After all this, you will be confident and believe in yourself. Kobe emphasized the importance of confidence by saying,
“I would go 0-30 before I would go 0-9. 0-9 means you beat yourself, you psyched yourself out of the game.”
Finally, he was serious about his goals, he said “I don't negotiate with myself.” He made a promise to himself to be one of the greatest, and he stuck to it. By following this mindset, you can work toward becoming the best version of yourself.
Conclusion
All in all, Kobe Bryant's quotes along with his mindset can guide you to become your best self. Remember, it’s okay to feel lonely when you're trying to reach your goals, and hard work pays off. Do not be afraid of criticism, use it to grow and you’ll be fine!
FAQs
1. Why did Kobe decide to retire?
Kobe retired on April 13, 2016, at the age of 37. After the 2015-16 season, he didn’t continue.
2. What does the “Mamba” quote mean?
The Mamba mindset quote tells us to focus on the process, not just the result.
3. What did Kobe say about achieving greatness?
Kobe believed that to be truly great at something, you need to be fully passionate and dedicated to it.
