Quotes by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar - Page 4 | QuoteForever

A
B
C
D
E
F
G
H
I
J
K
L
M
N
O
P
Q
R
S
T
U
V
W
X
Y
Z

UCLA acknowledged this shift by bringing in Alex Haley (the co-author of The Autobiography of Malcolm X) and Eldridge Cleaver (Soul on Ice) as speakers.
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar / Basketball Player
Ice
Soul
Ucla
Copy Quote
There are a lot of authors in the world, so it's difficult to find a unique niche to present your take on things. That is always a challenge for any author.
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar / Basketball Player
Challenges
Niche
Unique
World
Always World Your
Author
Challenge
Copy Quote
We can learn from mistakes of others, whether they're kings or our parents. When we do learn those lessons, we're better equipped to make our own dreams come true.
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar / Basketball Player
Death
Dream
Kings
Mistake
Parent
Copy Quote
I want people to understand that I intend to continue living and doing all the things that I love to do up until the end. And the end is by no means rushing up on me.
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar / Basketball Player
Mean
People
Rushing
Love Me Living
Intend
Copy Quote
The lifespan of most professional athletes is relatively short, and most have no preparation for doing anything after their career ends, which it could in an instant.
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar / Basketball Player
Athlete
Careers
Preparation
Copy Quote
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 / Basketball Player
Kids
Sports
Cities
Development
Entertainment
Intellectual
Intellectual Development
Relate
Succeed
Places
Copy Quote
The saying, "Those that don't learn from history are condemned to repeat it" doesn't just apply to politicians and world leaders, it applies to all of us on a daily basis.
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar / Basketball Player
Leader
Politician
World
Copy Quote
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 / Basketball Player
Abuse
Critics
Institutions
Retired
Saws
Time Change Me
By The Time
Change Time Me
Institution
Outlived
Venerable
Copy Quote
When I was at UCLA, the Harlem Globetrotters offered me a million dollars to come play for them. I turned it down because my education was just as important as playing ball.
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar / Basketball Player
Important
Play
Ucla
Copy Quote
When I traveled through Greece in the '90s, everything [Albert Hoxie] taught me came flooding back and I was able to appreciate the art and culture much more because of him.
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar / Basketball Player
Art
Appreciate
Culture
Copy Quote
We all had a lot of fun making the film ["Airplane" ], but there weren't a lot of outtakes or cracking up because we all were focused on doing our jobs in a professional manner.
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar / Basketball Player
Jobs
Airplane
Fun
Copy Quote
Common decency demands that [NCAA athletes] should be paid, but the only way it will happen is the same way workers got paid throughout American history, through a strong union.
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar / Basketball Player
Athlete
Common Decency
Strong
Copy Quote
I read that Hollywood wanted to film Fences years ago with a white director, but [August] Wilson refused. He thought that the director needed to have lived the culture of black Americans.
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar / Basketball Player
August
White
Years
Copy Quote
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 / Basketball Player
Determined
Frightening
Killers
Leukemia
Serious
Way
Beat
Deal
Word
Copy Quote
The only reason is that I hadn't seen The Modern Jazz Quartet perform live and a live performance is often where the real experience of jazz takes place. I'm not familiar with the Boswell Sisters.
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar / Basketball Player
Jazz
Real
Reason
Copy Quote
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 / Basketball Player
Games
Missing
Player
Sportsmanship
Teamwork
Concept
Young Players
Copy Quote
Ken Heitz got drafted by the Bucks the same year I did. He went to their camp just for the experience, then dropped out to attend Harvard Law School. I always admired his combination of athleticism and brains.
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar / Basketball Player
Law
School
Years
Copy Quote
All the courage and competitiveness of Jackie Robinson affects me to this day. If I patterned my life after anyone it was him, not because he was the first black baseball player in the majors but because he was a hero.
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar / Basketball Player
Courage
Smile
Baseball
Basketball
Hero
Copy Quote
Each story, novel, poem and play presents a vision of the world that illuminates the dark cave of life we stumble through. We can see better where we're going, what sudden drop to avoid, where the cool water is running.
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar / Basketball Player
Running
Dark
Play
Copy Quote
The first time I shot the hook, I was in fourth grade, and I was about five feet eight inches tall. I put the ball up and felt totally at ease with the shot. I was completely confident it would go in. I've been shooting it ever since.
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar / Basketball Player
Basketball
Eight
Feet
Copy Quote
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 / Basketball Player
Kids
Band
Body
Garage
Math
Moving
Patterns
Song
Your Body
Hear
Parents
Realize
Rhythms
Copy Quote
Elgin's game was an incredible performance, also. I don't think there's any comparison. Elgin did it without three-point lines. His game was attacking the hoop and hitting jumpers inside 20 feet. Kobe's range is unreal, and he does it his way.
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar / Basketball Player
Basketball
Feet
Thinking
Copy Quote
I was especially impressed with Pauley Pavilion [at UCLA campus ]. The floors hadn't been laid down yet, when they gave me the tour, each new room got my heart thumping. They even had a surgical operating room in case an athlete was severely injured.
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar / Basketball Player
Athlete
Heart
Ucla
Copy Quote
Actor Mike Warren [was my former teammate], who was in Hill Street Blues. There are more, but it's starting to sound like a team reunion at Red Lobster. They were a great bunch of guys and we accomplished a lot together. That's something you don't forget.
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar / Basketball Player
Guy
Team
Together
Copy Quote
If they took the idea that they could escape poverty through education, I think it would make a more basic and long-lasting change in the way things happen. What we need are positive, realistic goals and the willingness to work. Hard work and practical goals.
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar / Basketball Player
Education
Basketball
Hard Work
Thinking
Copy Quote
[Albert] Hoxie, my Western Civilization professor. I had him in my freshman year and he opened up an extraordinary world to me that I've never forgotten. He used his extensive knowledge of art history to illustrate the development of Western culture and politics.
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar / Basketball Player
Art
Civilization
Years
Copy Quote
I don't get a big charge out of being the leading scorer. The object of competing is winning. I just try to do what has to be done for us to win. That might be anything at the time - defense, rebounding, passing. I get great satisfaction out of being a team player.
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar / Basketball Player
Player
Team
Winning
Copy Quote
My English teacher, Dr. John Lindstrom, taught me an appreciation for the written word. Until his class, I'd dabbled in journalism and essay writing. But when he selected one of my essays as the best in the class, it gave me the confidence to see myself as a writer.
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar / Basketball Player
Appreciation
Smile
Teacher
Class
Writing
Copy Quote
I could have skated by as an athlete, but the world is so much bigger and more interesting than any one thing. I didn't want to be pigeonholed as just a jock. I'm also an author, a student of history, and I collect memorabilia from the Wild West. I'm also a son, a father, and a friend.
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar / Basketball Player
Athlete
Father
Son
Copy Quote
The Sixties was a perfect storm of disaffection with political leaders trying to pass off the same old platitudes to maintain the status quo and an unexpected courageousness in the masses of youth. Nothing on this scale had ever happened before in U.S. history and it hasn't happened since.
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar / Basketball Player
Leader
Perfect
Political
Copy Quote
I don't really care who's doing drugs in the NBA as long as the scene isn't adversely affecting my team and teammates. I've known enough drug users-going as far back as grade school and the streets of New York-not to view them as pariahs or lost souls. I've certainly smoked more than my quota of weed.
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar / Basketball Player
New York
Team
Weed
Copy Quote
Basketball is an endurance sport, and you have to learn to control your breath; that's the essence of yoga, too. So, I consciously began using yoga techniques in my practice and playing. I think yoga helped reduce the number and severity of injuries I suffered. As preventative medicine, it's unequaled.
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar / Basketball Player
Success
Yoga
Sports
Basketball
Copy Quote
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 / Basketball Player
Health
Blood
Disruption
Doctors
Good Health
Leukemia
Lifestyle
Might
Minimum
Type
Life Health Good
Additional
Doctor
Checked
Consult
Dealing
Follow
Instructions
Maintain
Regularly
Copy Quote
Pride was his life force; for us it was a live nerve that he could teach us to brush. One stroke, a good practice, and we could tingle for days ... First, he found the pride in each of us, then he taught us how good it could feel. What he was ultimately after was for every one of us to learn to light our own fires and glow our brightest.
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar / Basketball Player
Sports
Fire
Pride
Copy Quote
But all was not sunshine and Marvin Gaye songs. [UCLA] also recruited black students as part of a High Potential Program that was meant to bring diversity to the campus. Two of the students that were part of that program were Alprentice "Bunchy" Carter and John Huggins, Jr., both members of the Black Panther Party's Southern California Chapter.
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar / Basketball Player
Party
Song
Sunshine
Copy Quote
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 / Basketball Player
Appreciation
Smile
American Culture
Artist
Athlete
Community
First Time
Harlem
Mentoring
Program
Prominence
Renaissance
Taken
Artists
Athletes
Designed
Writers
Gained
Improve
Musicians
Seriously
Thinkers
Worked
Copy Quote
My high school had been a renovated old hospital, so when I first came to the UCLA campus in the spring of 1965, I was immediately impressed by the classic northern Italian architecture that was mixed with futuristic ultra-modern buildings. The classic architecture gave it the heft of old wisdom while the modernistic look inspired hope for the future.
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar / Basketball Player
Italian
School
Spring
Copy Quote
But people don't know if I can teach the game. I know I can. My experience in Oklahoma was positive. It opened my eyes to how the game is played - the interaction among players, fans and media, how all that works. You have to know about the business of the game and how the actions of players and coaches affect the business. I think I have it down now.
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar / Basketball Player
Basketball
Eye
Player
Copy Quote
In January of 1969, after a meeting to discuss the leadership of UCLA's new Afro-American Program, [Alprentice "Bunchy" Carter and John Huggins, Jr.] were murdered on campus by a rival black nationalist group, the United Slaves Organization. This shook up all the students, black and white, and made us all realize that what we were doing wasn't just an academic exercise, but had repercussions in the real world.
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar / Basketball Player
Black And White
Exercise
Real
Copy Quote

Related Basketball Player Authors

Zack Rosen
Basketball Player
Tuesday, Mar 14, 1989
Yao Ming
Basketball Player
Friday, Sep 12, 1980
Winston Bennett
Basketball Player
Tuesday, Feb 09, 1965
Wilt Chamberlain
Basketball Player
Friday, Aug 21, 1936
Tuesday, Oct 12, 1999
Willis Reed
Basketball Player
Thursday, Jun 25, 1942
Willie Green
Basketball Player
Tuesday, Jul 28, 1981
William Avery
Basketball Player
Wednesday, Aug 08, 1979
Wes Unseld
Basketball Player
Thursday, Mar 14, 1946
Wendy Palmer
Basketball Player
Monday, Aug 12, 1974
Walt Frazier
Basketball Player
Thursday, Mar 29, 1945
Wally Walker
Basketball Player
Sunday, Jul 18, 1954
Vlade Divac
Basketball Player
Saturday, Feb 03, 1968
Vince Carter
Basketball Player
Wednesday, Jan 26, 1977
Uljana Semjonova
Basketball Player
Sunday, Mar 09, 1952
Tyson Chandler
Basketball Player
Saturday, Oct 02, 1982

View All Basketball Player Quotes

Top Authors

Pope John Paul Ii
Priest
Tuesday, May 18, 1920
Saturday, Apr 02, 2005
George Carlin
Comedian
Wednesday, May 12, 1937
Sunday, Jun 22, 2008
Zig Ziglar
Author
Saturday, Nov 06, 1926
Wednesday, Nov 28, 2012
Winston Churchill
Former Prime Minister Of The United Kingdom
Monday, Nov 30, 1874
Sunday, Jan 24, 1965
Tyler, The Creator
Rapper
Wednesday, Mar 06, 1991
Marcus Tullius Cicero
Philosopher
Elon Musk
Investor
Monday, Jun 28, 1971
Jean De La Bruyere
Wednesday, Aug 16, 1645
Thursday, May 10, 1696
John Locke
Philosopher
Sunday, Aug 29, 1632
Tuesday, Oct 28, 1704
Leonardo Da Vinci
Painter
Thursday, Apr 15, 1452
Friday, May 02, 1519
Ronald Reagan
40Th US President
Monday, Feb 06, 1911
Saturday, Jun 05, 2004
Joe Biden
Vice President Of The United States
Friday, Nov 20, 1942
Nelson Mandela
Former President Of South Africa
Thursday, Jul 18, 1918
Thursday, Dec 05, 2013
Lucy Larcom
Poet
Friday, Mar 05, 1824
Monday, Apr 17, 1893
Henry David Thoreau
Author
Saturday, Jul 12, 1817
Tuesday, May 06, 1862

View All Authors

Share This Page