You can't win unless you learn how to lose.
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
One man can be a crucial ingredient on a team, but one man cannot make a team.
I think that the good and the great are only separated by the willingness to sacrifice.
You can't win if you don't play as a unit.
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.
High school dropouts are forfeiting their opportunity to pursue the American Dream.
Great players are willing to give up their own personal achievement for the achievement of the group. It enhances everybody.
A team will always appreciate a great individual if he's willing to sacrifice for the group.
Five guys on the court working together can achieve more than five talented individuals who come and go as individuals.
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.
Your mind is what makes everything else work.
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.
I enjoy seeing new places.
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.
The extra pass and the extra effort on defense always get the job done.
It's hard for young players to see the big picture. They just see three or four years down the road.
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.
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.
I tell kids to pursue their basketball dreams, but I tell them to not let that be their only dream.
My choosing Islam was not a political statement; it was a spiritual statement.
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.
I got all A's and was hated for it; I spoke correctly and was called a punk.
I think the NBA players have to be held accountable in a reasonable way, just like any other professionals.
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.
When I was a kid, no one would believe anything positive that you could say about black people. That's a terrible burden.
I can do something else besides stuff a ball through a hoop. My biggest resource is my mind.
I wanted to play baseball!
I think the NBA will certainly survive without Michael Jordan.
As a parent, I have a job as a role model to my children, and by extension, to other young people.
Cancer is a scary thing and you have to deal with it seriously.
I would suggest that teachers show their students concrete examples of the negative effects of the actions that gangsta rappers glorify.
My health is fine.
LeBron James can get a shot off under any and all circumstances and he makes them.
Well, I'm a professional.
OK, I'll put it like this: I doubt if we will see another All-American basketball athlete who is a Rhodes Scholar.
I think I really benefited from going to college.
I didn't really seek attention. I just wanted to play the game well and go home.
I think I did very well against everyone who tried to defend me.
Michael Jordan and Magic and myself all learned how to play the game in college programs that emphasized the team.
The game has basically not changed since I ended my career.
My grandfather and my uncle both died from colorectal cancer, my dad almost died from it and I have the gene for it.
I've always tried to stay out of the fray and not be an object of controversy.
A lot of players think the game is all about individual performances when it's really all about a team game.
I am highly offended by the total lack of acknowledgement of my contribution to Laker success.
I saw Islam as the correct way to live, and I chose to try to live that way.
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.
Today's youth are told to get rich or die trying and they really shouldn't take that attitude forward with them.
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.
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.
Even when there are adverse circumstances, I try to do my job. And I usually do.
