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’re afraid to fail, then you’re probably going to fail.

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

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....

My brain… cannot process failure. It will not process failure. Because if I sit there and have to face myself and tell myself, ‘You’re a failure’… I think that’s almost worse than death.

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

Better learn not to talk to me. You shake the tree, a leopard’s gonna fall out.

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...

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

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.

Boos don’t block dunks.

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.

Trust me: Setting things up right from the beginning will avoid a ton of tears and heartache.

People just don’t understand how obsessed I am with winning.

Everyone looks at your watch and it represents who you are, your values and your personal style.

I remember feeling the silence. I remember feeling the fear. I’m like, ‘This could be a wrap.’ And that’s what the silence was. It was like, ‘This could really be a wrap for you.’

We all have self-doubt. You don’t deny it, but you also don’t capitulate to it. You embrace it.

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...

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

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.

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

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...

Friends can come and go, but banners hang forever.

I’m chasing perfection.

I’ve known for a long time they’re a bunch of idiots… I tend to use things as motivation that tend to be in the realm of reality. (Quoted after ESPN ranked Kobe Bryant the 40th-best...

The last time I was intimidated was when I was 6 years old in karate class. I was an orange belt and the instructor ordered me to fight a black belt who was a couple...

Hi, I’m Kobe Bryant. And I have decided to take my talent to, uh… I have decided to skip college and take my talent to the NBA.

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...

Are you willing to push the right buttons even if it means being perceived as the villain?

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

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’m here. I’m not going anywhere. No matter what the injury—unless it’s completely debilitating—I’m going to be the same player I’ve always been. I’ll figure it out. I’ll make some tweaks, some changes, but I’m...

I’d rather be perceived as a winner than a good teammate. I wish they both went hand in hand all the time but that’s just not reality.

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

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

I have nothing in common with lazy people who blame others for their lack of success.

I don’t want to be the next Michael Jordan, I only want to be Kobe Bryant.

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.

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

As I sit here now, when I take off my shoe and I look down at my scar, I see beauty in it. I see all the hard work, all the sacrifices. I see the...

I focus on one thing and one thing only—that’s trying to win as many championships as I can.

There’s so much beauty in the pain of this thing.

I’m playing against great players, playing against the best in the world. The competition—that’s what I’ve always wanted.