From the moment I started rolling my dad's tube socks and shooting imaginary game-winning shots in the Great Western Forum, I knew one thing was real: I fell in love with you.
Kobe Bryant
Kobe Bryant spent twenty seasons with the Los Angeles Lakers and left behind a vocabulary: Mamba Mentality, 'Job's not finished,' the 4 a.m. workout mythology. The real record is unusually rich for an athlete -- a book (The Mamba Mentality: How I Play, 2018), the Dear Basketball letter that became an Oscar-winning short, two decades of press conferences, and the farewell speech that ended with 'Mamba out.' It is also a magnet for invented inspiration: plenty of poster lines circulate under his name with no interview behind them. The sourced lines here carry their receipts; the unsourced favorites are flagged, because knowing what he actually said is the point.
You asked for my hustle. I gave you my heart. Because it came with so much more.
Kobe Bryant
My heart can take the pounding. My mind can handle the grind. But my body knows it's time to say goodbye.
Kobe Bryant
We both know, no matter what I do next, I'll always be that kid with the rolled up socks, garbage can in the corner, :05 seconds on the clock, ball in my hands. 5... 4... 3... 2... 1
Kobe Bryant
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
I never needed external forces to motivate me.
Kobe Bryant
If you want to be a better player, you have to prepare, prepare, and prepare some more.
Kobe Bryant
The mindset isn't about seeking a result -- it's more about the process of getting to that result. It's about the journey and the approach. It's a way of life.
Kobe Bryant
What can I say? Mamba out.
Kobe Bryant
You can't write something better than this.
Kobe Bryant
Those times when you get up early and you work hard, those times when you stay up late and you work hard, those times when you don't feel like working, you're too tired, you don't want to push yourself, but you do it anyway -- that is actually the dream.
Kobe Bryant
Job's not finished.
Kobe Bryant
There are far greater issues and challenges in the world than a torn Achilles. Stop feeling sorry for yourself, find the silver lining and get to work with the same belief, same drive and same conviction as ever.
Kobe Bryant
I would go 0-for-30 before I would go 0-for-9. 0-for-9 means you beat yourself, you psyched yourself out of the game.
Kobe Bryant
I don't want to be the next Michael Jordan, I only want to be Kobe Bryant.
Kobe Bryant
These young guys are playing checkers. I'm out there playing chess.
Kobe Bryant
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
We all have self-doubt. You don't deny it, but you also don't capitulate to it. You embrace it.
Kobe Bryant
Friends hang sometimes, banners hang forever.
Kobe Bryant
The most important thing is to try and inspire people so that they can be great in whatever they want to do.
Kobe Bryant
Everything negative -- pressure, challenges -- is all an opportunity for me to rise.
Kobe Bryant
The moment you give up is the moment you let someone else win.
Kobe Bryant
Great things come from hard work and perseverance. No excuses.
Kobe Bryant
If you see me in a fight with a bear, pray for the bear.
Kobe Bryant
Heroes come and go, but legends are forever.
Kobe Bryant