“I tell kids to pursue their basketball dreams, but I tell them to not let that be their only dream.”
Dreams
“My grandfather and my uncle both died from colorectal cancer, my dad almost died from it and I have the gene for it.”
DadAll Quotes by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
“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.”
History“Music is really something that makes people whole.”
Music“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.”
Sports“My health is fine.”
Health“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.”
Health“I would suggest that teachers show their students concrete examples of the negative effects of the actions that gangsta rappers glorify.”
Teacher“I think that the good and the great are only separated by the willingness to sacrifice.”
Great“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.”
Time“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.”
Time“I hope to be involved in a successful movie script.”
Hope“Black people don't have an accurate idea of their history, which has been either suppressed or distorted.”
History“If not for the success that medicine has made, I might be part of a much different story right now.”
Success“When I was a kid, no one would believe anything positive that you could say about black people. That's a terrible burden.”
Positive“I have been coaching recently. I coached high school basketball in Arizona, and I hope that more opportunities become available.”
Hope“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.”
History“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.”
Change“Jackie Robinson, as an athlete and as someone who was trying to make a stand for equality, he was exemplary.”
Equality“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.”
Movies“My grandfather and my uncle both died from colorectal cancer, my dad almost died from it and I have the gene for it.”
Dad