70 Kobe Bryant Quotes To Inspire You To Channel That 'Mamba Mentality'

"Dedication makes dreams come true." —Kobe Bryant

Kobe Bryant left us far too soon, but he also left an indelible mark on basketball, culture and the world.

The NBA legend, known as "The Black Mamba," died in a helicopter crash along with his daughter Gianna Bryant on Jan. 26, 2020. In addition to being a Los Angeles Laker, Bryant was an author, entrepreneur, coach—and, of course, a loving father-slash-"girl dad." He previously told Parade that his daughters were the reason he focused on building a legacy.

"Everything I’m building now is because of them and for them," he said. "As a coach for one of my daughter’s teams, I also hope to pass along a little basketball knowledge too."

Bryant had a magnificent and straightforward way with words, a talent he worked hard at, just like he did to hone his skills on the court. "Through basketball, I learned discipline, perseverance, teamwork, failure, success. These are lessons that can be applied to any field," he said, "but particularly a creative field such as storytelling, where you have to constantly hone your craft, stay focused and committed, be prepared to pivot when necessary, and work well with your collaborators to ensure success."

These 70 Kobe Bryant quotes display his skills with language, as well as the drive, motivation and grit that cemented him as an icon.

Kobe Bryant Quotes

1. "Dedication makes dreams come true."

2. "Once you know what failure feels like, determination chases success."

3. "The most important thing is you must put everybody on notice that you’re here and you are for real."

4. "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."

5. "After all, greatness is not for everybody."

6. "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."

7. "May you always remember to enjoy the road, especially when it’s a hard one."

8. "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."

9. "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."

10. "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?"

Related: Look Back at Vanessa and Kobe Bryant's Love Story

11. "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."

12. "If you’re afraid to fail, then you’re probably going to fail."

13. "The beauty of coaching is growing the players from the ground up. That journey continues."

14. "Use your success, wealth, and influence to put them in the best position to realize their own dreams and find their true purpose."

15. "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."

16. "A lot of leaders fail because they don’t have the bravery to touch that nerve or strike that chord."

17. "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."

18. "Trust me, setting things up right from the beginning will avoid a ton of tears and heartache."

19. "These young guys are playing checkers. I'm out there playing chess."

20. "I want to see if I can. I don't know if I can. I want to find out. I want to see. I'm going to do what I always do: I'm going to break it down to its smallest form, smallest detail, and go after it. Day by day, one day at a time."

Related: Kobe Bryant’s Books Are Bringing Sports Fantasy to Young Readers—'Develop Your Own Inner Magic'

21. "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."

22. "When I have the chance to guard Michael Jordan, I want to guard him. I want him. It’s the ultimate challenge."

23. "A lot of people say they want to be great, but they’re not willing to make the sacrifices necessary to achieve greatness."

24. "It’s hard for me to grasp the concept of somebody being nervous when I’m talking to them."

25. "From the beginning, I wanted to be the best. I had a constant craving, a yearning, to improve and be the best."

26. "My parents are my backbone. Still are. They're the only group that will support you if you score zero or you score 40."

27. "I never needed any external forces to motivate me."

28. "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."

29. "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."

30. "You guys know how I am. I don’t forget anything."

Related: MVP of Life! These 50 Inspirational Michael Jordan Quotes Prove He’s the GOAT

31. "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."

32. "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."

33. "Leadership is lonely. I'm not going to be afraid of confrontation to get us to where we need to go."

34. "The important thing is that your teammates have to know you're pulling for them and you really want them to be successful."

35. "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."

36. "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."

37. "Everything negative—pressure, challenges—is all an opportunity for me to rise."

38. "I realized that intimidation didn't really exist if you're in the right frame of mind."

39. "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."

40. "This is the moment I accept the most challenging times will always be behind me and in front of me."

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41. "Great things come from hard work and perseverance. No excuses."

42. "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."

43. "The moment you give up, is the moment you let someone else win."

44. "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."

45. "If I wanted to play, I’d still be playing for the Lakers."

46. "The most important thing is to try and inspire people so that they can be great at whatever they want to do."

47. "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 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."

48. "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."

49. "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 play back. But reality gives nothing back and nor should you."

50. "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 or too few. There were as many as necessary."

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51. "I love that kids are building confidence on and off the court and unlocking their potential through sport."

52. "I don't want to be the next Michael Jordan, I only want to be Kobe Bryant."

53. "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."

54. "I don’t f**k with bees, man. Other than that, I’m not afraid of nothing."

55. "If you do not believe in yourself no one will do it for you."

56. "I’m reflective only in the sense that I learn to move forward. I reflect with a purpose."

57. "I got one more than Shaq. So you can take that to the bank."

58. "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."

59. "I never looked at [basketball] as work. I didn't realize it was work 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."

60. "We can always kind of be average and do what’s normal. I’m not in this to do what’s normal."

Related: Vanessa Bryant Opens up About Grieving Gigi and Kobe Bryant

61. "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."

62. "Haters are a good problem to have. Nobody hates the good ones. They hate the great ones."

63. "Boos don’t block dunks."

64. "The beauty in being blessed with talent is rising above doubters to create a beautiful moment."

65. "Winning takes precedence overall. There’s no gray area. No almosts."

66. "I don’t want chumps, I don’t want pushovers, and if you’re a chump and a pushover, I will run over you."

67. "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."

68. "Friends can come and go, but banners hang forever."

Related: Vanessa Bryant’s Emotional Speech at Kobe and Gianna Bryant’s Memorial: ‘They Couldn’t Be on This Earth Without Each Other’

69. "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."

70. "You are responsible for how people remember you—or don’t. So don’t take it lightly."

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