Sports are such a great teacher. I think of everything they’ve taught me: camaraderie, humility, how to resolve differences. – Kobe Bryant
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 still coming. – Kobe Bryant
Can I jump over two or three guys like I used to? No. Am I as fast as I used to be? No, but I still have the fundamentals and smarts. That’s what enables me to still be a dominant player. As a kid growing up, I never skipped steps. I always worked on fundamentals because I know athleticism is fleeting. – Kobe Bryant
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
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
If there were camera phones back in the day, the biggest athletes in the world would have had a lot of explaining to do. – Kobe Bryant
My parents are my backbone. Still are. They’re the only group that will support you if you score zero or you score 40. – Kobe Bryant
I’m more than comfortable just sitting back and scoring 21, 22 points or whatever and getting 10, 11 assists whatever the case might be. More than comfortable with that. It’s just a matter of the pieces that you have around you and what you can do to elevate everybody else. – Kobe Bryant
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
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
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
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
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
It’s disgusting, but my father taught me when your mouth gets dry, just suck the sweat out of your own jersey. There’s no bravado to any of it; it’s just a disgusting little trick. – Kobe Bryant
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
Everyone looks at your watch and it represents who you are, your values and your personal style. – Kobe Bryant
Eeew, I’d be a little uncomfortable Googling myself. People sit there – and Google themselves? That’s kind of weird. – Kobe Bryant
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
