Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Quotes

One man can be a crucial ingredient on a team, but one man cannot make a team.

I would suggest that teachers show their students concrete examples of the negative effects of the actions that gangsta rappers glorify.

High school dropouts are forfeiting their opportunity to pursue the American Dream.

You can't win unless you learn how to lose.

I think that the good and the great are only separated by the willingness to sacrifice.

My most memorable moment came in 1985 as we beat the Boston Celtics.

Five guys on the court working together can achieve more than five talented individuals who come and go as individuals.

Good thoughts are no better than good dreams, unless they are executed.

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.

I think the NBA players have to be held accountable in a reasonable way, just like any other professionals.

If ISIS represents Islam, then the KKK represents Christianity

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.

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.

Great players are willing to give up their own personal achievement for the achievement of the group. It enhances everybody.

A lot of players think the game is all about individual performances when it's really all about a team game.

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.

I tell kids to pursue their basketball dreams, but I tell them to not let that be their only dream.

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.

Fundamental preparation is always effective. Work on those parts of your game that are fundamentally weak.

One man cannot make a team.

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.

The extra pass and the extra effort on defense always get the job done.

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.

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.

My choosing Islam was not a political statement; it was a spiritual statement.

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.

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 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.

You can't win if you don't play as a unit.

Your mind is what makes everything else work.

I saw Islam as the correct way to live, and I chose to try to live that way.

I was latching on to something that was part of my heritage, because many of the slaves who were brought here were Moslems.

When we went up against teams that were better, I just hoped that we could steal the victories.

Islam is about finding your own space.

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.

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.

I can do something else besides stuff a ball through a hoop. My biggest resource is my mind.

It's hard for young players to see the big picture. They just see three or four years down the road.

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.

I didn't really seek attention. I just wanted to play the game well and go home.

When you're a coach you've got to go up the ladder, you've got to be ready to travel. That's the nature of coaching

Some stuff can be fixed, some stuff can’t be. Deciding which is which is part of maturing.

Center is a very tough position to play.

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.

As a parent, I have a job as a role model to my children, and by extension, to other young people.

What we need are positive, realistic goals and the willingness to work. Hard work and practical goals.

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.

What I have is P.H. positive chronic myeloid leukemia, which is an aberration in your white blood cells.

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.

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.