Kareem Abdul-Jabbar 70 Inspiring Quotes

Kareem Abdul is a retired professional basketball player from the United States who was born on April 16, 1947. He played in the National Basketball Association (NBA) for the Milwaukee Bucks and the Los Angeles Lakers for the whole 20-year career.

In addition, he is a six-time NBA Most Valuable Player (MVP), a 19-time NBA All-Star, a 15-time All-NBA pick, and an 11-time NBA All-Defensive Team member. He was also named one of the NBA’s 50 Greatest Players of All Time. His retirement was completed in 1989, at the age of 42. He was the NBA’s all-time leading scorer at the time. President of the United States Barack Obama awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2016.

The top 70 Kareem Abdul-Jabbar quotations are presented in this article. Follow them and you will see a favorable result.

1. “You can’t win unless you learn how to lose.”― Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

2. “I try to do the right thing at the right time. They may just be little things, but usually they make the difference between winning and losing.”― Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

3. “I saw Islam as the correct way to live, and I chose to try to live that way.”― Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

4. “The word ‘leukemia’ is a very frightening word. In many instances, it’s a killer and it’s something that you have to deal with in a very serious and determined way if you’re going to beat it.”― Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

5. “I am highly offended by the total lack of acknowledgment of my contribution to Laker success.”― Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

6. “Five guys on the court working together can achieve more than five talented individuals who come and go as individuals.”― Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

7. “Fundamental preparation is always effective. Work on those parts of your game that are fundamentally weak.”― Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

8. “I think that the good and the great are only separated by the willingness to sacrifice.”― Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

9. “You can’t win if you don’t play as a unit.”― Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

10. “I’m not comfortable being preachy, but more people need to start spending as much time in the library as they do on the basketball court.”― Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

11. “I enjoy seeing new places.”― Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

12. “When the line started to blur between the fans and the players, sometimes things can get ugly.”― Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

13. “Yoga is just good for you.”― Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

14. “Great players are willing to give up their own personal achievement for the achievement of the group. It enhances everybody.”― Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

15. “A lot of young players don’t really know much about the history of the game and a lot of them are missing out on what the game is all about, especially the whole concept of sportsmanship and teamwork.”― Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

16. “Your mind is what makes everything else work.”― Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

17. “I tell kids to pursue their basketball dreams, but I tell them to not let that be their only dream.”― Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

18. “The type of leukemia that I am dealing with is treatable. So if I do what my doctors tell me to do – get my blood checked regularly, take my meds and consult with my doctor and follow any additional instructions he might make – I will be able to maintain my good health and live my life with a minimum of disruptions to my lifestyle.”― Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

19. “Islam is about finding your own space.”― Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

20. “One man can be a crucial ingredient on a team, but one man cannot make a team.”― Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

21. “The ’80s made up for all the abuse I took during the ’70s. I outlived all my critics. By the time I retired, everybody saw me as a venerable institution. Things do change.”― Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

22. “My choosing Islam was not a political statement; it was a spiritual statement.”― Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

23. “I didn’t really seek attention. I just wanted to play the game well and go home.”― Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

24. “I can do something else besides stuff a ball through a hoop. My biggest resource is my mind.”― Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

25. “High school dropouts are forfeiting their opportunity to pursue the American Dream.”― Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

26. “I’m still my parent’s child, I’m still me, but I made a choice. I evolved into Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. I think it has to do with evolution.”― Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

27. “The game has basically not changed since I ended my career.”― Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

28. “Music is really something that makes people whole.”― Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

29. “If not shown appreciation, it gets to you.”― Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

30. “You have to be able to center yourself, to let all of your emotions go… Don’t ever forget that you play with your soul as well as your body.”― Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

31. “A team will always appreciate a great individual if he’s willing to sacrifice for the group.”― Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

32. “I’m not going to disappear.”― Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

33. “Michael Jordan and Magic and myself all learned how to play the game in college programs that emphasized the team.”― Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

34. “As brilliant an individual that Michael Jordan was, he was not successful until he got with a good team unit.”― Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

35. “In athletics, there’s always been a willingness to cheat if it looks like you’re not cheating. I think that’s just a quirk of human nature.”― Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

36. “Jackie Robinson, as an athlete and as someone who was trying to make a stand for equality, he was exemplary.”― Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

37. “I think race has been a burden for black Americans. Being Muslim has also been a challenge because so many people do not understand Islam.”― Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

38. “I would suggest that teachers show their student’s concrete examples of the negative effects of the actions that gangsta rappers glorify.”― Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

39. “As a parent, I have a job as a role model to my children, and by extension, to other young people.”― Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

40. “Sports and entertainment are the only places where inner-city kids see themselves being able to succeed. Their intellectual development is something they don’t relate to.”― Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

41. “When I was 17, I worked in a mentoring program in Harlem designed to improve the community. That’s when I first gained an appreciation of the Harlem Renaissance, a time when African-Americans rose to prominence in American culture. For the first time, they were taken seriously as artists, musicians, writers, athletes, and as political thinkers.”― Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

42. “After practice, I would have to go back to the dorm and take a nap.”― Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

43. “When I was a kid, no one would believe anything positive that you could say about black people. That’s a terrible burden.”― Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

44. “Black people don’t have an accurate idea of their history, which has been either suppressed or distorted.”― Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

45. “The extra pass and the extra effort on defense always get the job done.”― Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

46. “I expect more people from China and Asia to end up in the NBA.”― Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

47. “I felt that a number of people might have questioned my loyalty, but I continue to be a patriotic American.”― Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

48. “I have been coaching recently. I coached high school basketball in Arizona, and I hope that more opportunities become available.”― Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

49. “I feel that there has been progressing made since I was a boy on matters of race, but we have a long way to go.”― Kareem Abdul-Jabbar\

50. “I WANTED TO PLAY BASEBALL!”― KAREEM ABDUL-JABBAR

51. “The transition was difficult. It’s hard to stop something that you’ve enjoyed and that has been very rewarding.”― Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

52. “My most memorable moment came in 1985 as we beat the Boston Celtics.”― Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

53. “I think black Americans expect too much from individual black Americans in terms of changing the status quo.”― Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

54. “I think someone should explain to the child that it’s OK to make mistakes. That’s how we learn. When we compete, we make mistakes.”― Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

55. “I think the NBA will certainly survive without Michael Jordan.”― Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

56. “I listen to jazz mainly. Mainstream jazz.”― Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

57. “I think the NBA players have to be held accountable in a reasonable way, just like any other professionals.”― Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

58. “I hope to be involved in a successful movie script.”― Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

59. “When we went up against teams that were better, I just hoped that we could steal the victories.”― Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

60. “I think I did very well against everyone who tried to defend me.”― Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

61. “Center is a very tough position to play.”― Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

62. “It’s hard for young players to see the big picture. They just see three or four years down the road.”― Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

63. “My mother had to send me to the movies with my birth certificate, so that I wouldn’t have to pay the extra fifty cents that the adults had to pay.”― Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

64. “I rooted for the Dodgers when they were in Brooklyn.”― Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

65. “I did a book in 1996, an overview of black history. In that process I became more aware of a lot of the black inventors of the 19th century.”― Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

66. “In a typical history book, black Americans are mentioned in the context of slavery or civil rights. There’s so much more to the story.”― Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

67. “My biggest accomplishment has been making a transition from athlete to author.”― Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

68. “Music rhythms are mathematical patterns. When you hear a song and your body starts moving with it, your body is doing math. The kids in their parents’ garage practicing to be a band may not realize it, but they’re also practicing math.”― Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

69. “My health is fine.”― Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

70. “I have always thought that writers come with any variety of attributes. Some are capable and some aren’t.”― Kareem Abdul-Jabbar