Have you ever seen the scene of Los Angeles at four am?
I see often, because I have been starting training at that time.
I don't want to be the next Michael Jordan, I only want to be Kobe Bryant.
Took the second place just means you are number one loser.
There is always a person to win, so why not me?
When you want to give up, think about what made you insist on coming here.
Everything negative - pressure, challenges - is all an opportunity for me to rise.
What I'm doing right now, I'm chasing perfection.
My biggest enemy is myself.
What can stop me is me.
I can accept failure, but I cannot accept giving up.
I play every game like it is my last.
Love me or hate me, it's one or the other. Always has been. Hate my game,
my swagger. Hate my fadeaway, my hunger. Hate that I'm a veteran. A champion.
Hate that. Hate it with all your heart. And hate that I'm loved, for the exact same reasons.
My parents are my backbone. Still are. They're the only group that will support you if
you score zero or you score forty.
As far as carrying the torch for the years to come, I don't know.
I just want to be the best basketball player I can be.
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.
Even if the world abandoned me, but I also accompany basketball.
"I just go. I just go. I just keep going until it feels right to me," Kobe says of his habits.
"If something doesn't feel right, I'm gonna stay there until I get it right.
I just continue to keep pushing and pushing and pushing.
That's all I've known. That's how my parents raised me.
If you're going to be focused on something,
if you want to do something,
you can't, you can't go about it in a half-assed way.
You really gotta dedicate yourself to it, try to be the best at it. That's the only way."
If you are afraid of failure, it means that you have already lost.
If making history was easy, why bother?
What I do is just keep repeating.
To get everything, we must give everything and conquer everything.
We must seize every opportunity to prove ourselves to everyone and
prove that you can meet challenges.
I've learned to play when I'm struggling, I think that's what being a professional
and growing up is all about. You realize you're not going to play well every night.
You keep fighting and something good will happen.
This is the moment I accept the most challenging times will always be behind me and in front of me.
The most important thing is to try and inspire people so that they can be great in whatever
they want to do.
Once you know what failure feels like, determination chases success.
I realized that intimidation didn't really exist if you're in the right frame of mind.
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.
The moment you give up, is the moment you let someone else win.
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.
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.
If you want to be great at something, there's a choice you have to make.
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.
We all have self-doubt. You don't deny it, but you also don't capitulate to it. You embrace it.
I am what I am.
And what can I say? Mamba out.