Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Sports Quotations

Even when there are adverse circumstances, I try to do my job. And I usually do.

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.

The Lakers were able to maintain a certain level of talent and success, and so were the Celtics. It became part of people's sports lore.

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.

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

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.

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.

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

One man cannot make a team.

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

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