Quotes by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

“Many people are born into their religion. For them it is mostly a matter of legacy and convenience. Their belief is based on faith, not just in the teachings of the religion but also in the accepta...”

“You have to be able to center yourself, to let all of your emotions go. Dont ever forget that you play with your soul as well as your body.”

“Many of the people I write about were deliberately left out of the history books that we were forced to read in school. For me, that history was "written wrong" and needed to be corrected. My inten...”

“If there is moral insanity," he said in a conspiratorial whisper, "then there may be the reverse, immoral sanity, if you will, that comes upon one suddenly, like a fever.”

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

“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.”

“Islam is about finding your own space.”

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

“This is what I would have done if I had to have a real job: I would have been a history teacher.”

“Jackie Robinson, as an athlete and as someone who was trying to make a stand for equality, he was exemplary.”

“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.”

“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 ...”

“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.”

“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.”

“When I was a kid, no one would believe anything positive that you could say about black people. That's a terrible burden.”

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

“I am highly offended by the total lack of acknowledgement of my contribution to Laker success.”

“My grandfather and my uncle both died from colorectal cancer, my dad almost died from it and I have the gene for it.”

“Today's youth are told to get rich or die trying and they really shouldn't take that attitude forward with them.”

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