In remembering more than just Kobe Bryant's legacy as a basketball player on the two-year anniversary of his passing, take a look at some of the more memorable quotes from the mind and voice of an all-time great.
Credit to various interviews with ESPN, Nike, post-game pressers, Muse: The Kobe Bryant Documentary, The Players' Tribune and more.
On failure:
“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.”
On being afraid to fail:
“If you’re afraid to fail, then you’re probably going to fail.”
On pain:
“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.”
On pushing past mental and physical road blocks:
“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.”
On making sacrifices to be great:
“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."
On being hated:
“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.”
To Jay Williams asking about his work ethic after a regular season game between theBulls andLakers:
"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.”
On realizing he was different than other NBA players:
"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."
On comparisons to Michael Jordan:
"When I have the chance to guard Michael Jordan, I want to guard him. I want him. It’s the ultimate challenge. I don’t want to be the next Michael Jordan, I only want to be Kobe Bryant.”
On laziness:
"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."
On winning:
“Winning takes precedence over all. There’s no gray area. No almosts.”
On the difference between losers and winners:
“Losers visualize the penalties of failure. Winners visualize the rewards of success.”
On being a leader:
"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."
On "The Black Mamba" nickname:
“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’show I became the Black Mamba.”
On his shot selection:
“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.”
On rough shooting nights:
“I would go 0-for-30 [from the field]before I would go 0-for-9. 0-for-9 means you beat yourself, you psyched yourself out of the game. … The only reason is because you’ve just now lost confidence in yourself.”
On being a parent:
“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.”
On leaving his mark on the game:
“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.”
On being remembered:
“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.”
On the end of his basketball career:
"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."
Insights, advice, suggestions, feedback and comments from experts
Introduction
As an expert and enthusiast, I have access to a wide range of information and can provide insights on various topics. While I have personal experiences or emotions like humans do, I can provide factual information and analysis based on the data I have been trained on. In this case, I can provide information related to the concepts used in this article.
Public Speaking
The quotes you shared from Kobe Bryant touch on various aspects of life, motivation, and success. One concept that can be related to these quotes is public speaking. Public speaking is the act of delivering a speech or presentation to an audience. It involves using words, physical delivery, and visual or audio aids to inform, persuade, or entertain the audience .
Public speaking requires effective communication skills, confidence, and the ability to engage and connect with the audience. It is important for speakers to present themselves professionally, use language correctly and appropriately, and make eye contact with the audience . Establishing credibility is also crucial in public speaking, as the audience wants to know why they should believe what the speaker has to say .
Introduction to Public Speaking
When delivering a speech, it is common to include an introduction that grabs the audience's attention and provides an overview of the topic. The introduction should include an attention-getter, introduction of the topic, speaker credibility, and a preview of the main points . Some common techniques used in introductions include using an interesting quote, sharing a startling fact or statistic, referencing the occasion, or using a brief demonstration or multimedia element.
Organizing a Speech
Organizing a speech is essential for clarity and effectiveness. It helps the audience understand the message and view the speaker as reliable and credible . A well-organized speech typically includes an introduction, body, and conclusion. The introduction sets the stage for the speech, the body contains the main points and supporting evidence, and the conclusion wraps up the speech and reinforces the main message .
Conclusion
In conclusion, the quotes from Kobe Bryant touch on various aspects of life, motivation, and success. While they are not directly related to public speaking, they can be connected to concepts such as effective communication, confidence, and the importance of establishing credibility when delivering a speech. Public speaking involves delivering a speech or presentation to an audience, and it requires skills such as engaging the audience, using language appropriately, and organizing the speech effectively.
