Top 150 Kobe Bryant Quotes (2025 Update)
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51. “A lot of people say they want to be great, but they’re not willing to make the sacrifices necessary to achieve greatness. They have other concerns, whether important or not, and they spread themselves out. That’s totally fine. After all, greatness is not for everybody.”

— Kobe Bryant

52. “Being a leader, it’s the art of trying to find the balance, the right times with each individual and what they need at that moment. It requires looking outward as opposed to looking inside.”

— Kobe Bryant

53. “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.”

— Kobe Bryant

54. “Once you open your eyes and start looking around you, you start picking up things that are very obvious.”

— Kobe Bryant

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

— Kobe Bryant

56. “I’ve pretty much done all I can here and, you know, God will carry me the rest of the way, so I’m pretty comfortable with that.”

— Kobe Bryant

57. “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

58. “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. I do think that it’s important, in all endeavors, to have that mentality.”

— Kobe Bryant

59. “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

60. “When I’m finished playing, I want people to say, ‘He handled this well, he kept his cool.’”

— Kobe Bryant

61. “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

62. “I don’t want to say I’ll be back at the top of my game because everybody’s gonna think I’m crazy and it’s the old player not letting go sort of thing, but that’s what it’s gonna be.”

— Kobe Bryant

63. “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

64. “I like playing for the purple and gold. This is where I want to finish up.”

— Kobe Bryant

65. “I wear the number 10 Jersey for the US National Team in honour of the Greatest athlete I have ever seen: Messi.”

— Kobe Bryant

66. “I was an idiot when I was a kid.”

— Kobe Bryant

67. “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

68. “What does perfection look like to me? Championship rings.”

— Kobe Bryant

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

— Kobe Bryant

70. “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

71. “I realize now that there’s a strength in dunking that I can use to my advantage. When you dunk all the time it isn’t as demoralizing to the opponent, but when you dunk at a key moment in the game you can use it to change the momentum.”

— Kobe Bryant

72. “I’m not the most patient of people.”

— Kobe Bryant

73. “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

74. “You have to work hard in the dark to shine in the light.”

— Kobe Bryant

75. “He is a fool who only sees the mischiefs that are past.”

— Kobe Bryant

76. “He shouldn’t have been in the NBA, but we were too cheap to pay for a point guard.”

— Kobe Bryant

77. “I draw from the crowd a lot.”

— Kobe Bryant

78. “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

79. “I was just letting the shots fly. You know, I don’t leave any bullets in the chamber.”

— Kobe Bryant

80. “What people see on court is another side of me; it’s not me.”

— Kobe Bryant

81. “I wouldn’t say I’m a ball hog. I’m a shooter.”

— Kobe Bryant

82. “Sometimes I do wonder what college would have been like. But I made my decision.”

— Kobe Bryant

83. “I don’t talk trash often, but when I do, I go for the jugular.”

— Kobe Bryant

84. “Just got one more than Shaq. You can take that to the bank.”

— Kobe Bryant

85. “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

86. “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

87. “If they want to win right now, I’m all for it. That’s all I said the whole time. If you want to wait five years, let me know. My legs aren’t as young as they used to be.”

— Kobe Bryant

88. “I think that game is a testament to what happens when you put no ceiling to what you’re capable of doing.”

— Kobe Bryant

89. “Dropkick Murphys get me going, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Nirvana... plus, all the regular hip-hop stuff.”

— Kobe Bryant

90. “I wouldn’t say I’m a ball hog. I’m a shooter. I don’t necessarily hog the ball, but I put them up, though. I definitely much rather shoot it than pass it. That’s just how I am.”

— Kobe Bryant

91. “I won’t react to something just because I’m supposed to, because I’m an African-American.”

— Kobe Bryant

92. “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

93. “You have to dance beautifully in the box that you’re comfortable dancing in. My box was to be extremely ambitious within the sport of basketball. Your box is different than mine. Everybody has their own. It’s your job to try to perfect it and make it as beautiful of a canvas as you can make it. And if you have done that, then you have lived a successful life. You have lived with Mamba Mentality.”

— Kobe Bryant

94. “If I panic, everyone else panics.”

— Kobe Bryant

95. “One of the main takeaways was that you have to work hard in the dark to shine in the light. Meaning: It takes a lot of work to be successful, and people will celebrate that success, will celebrate that flash and.”

— Kobe Bryant

96. “The only thing I’m afraid of is bees. I don’t like bees. I’m allergic to them.”

— Kobe Bryant

97. “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

98. “In an individual sport, yes, you have to win titles. Baseball’s different. But basketball, hockey? One person can control the tempo of a game, can completely alter the momentum of a series. There’s a lot of great individual talent.”

— Kobe Bryant

99. “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

100. “I don’t think a coach becomes the right coach until he wins a championship.”

— Kobe Bryant