Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Quotes

I went back two weeks running, then three months after, just to be sure, and then a year after that. So punctual are they that they have trained the local birds to fly in for their breakfast.” Holmes sighed as he took a pull of his Partagás. “Rich or poor, Douglas, we are all creatures of habit.

He had breath in him once,” he declared. “He is to be treated with respect, no matter the cost.” “Now is not the time for empty ritual,” Holmes thundered. “Now is precisely the time!” Douglas thundered back. “When we ourselves are empty, it is the ritual that turns us human again.

My opponent now is myself, my inclination toward laziness.

one bad apple spoils the bunch,

The good and the great are only separated by the willingness to sacrifice.

Regarding faith, my adherence to Islam had not diminished over the years since my conversion, but I had modified it from the intense orthodoxy I had followed at first to a more streamlined version that I felt was more progressive and inclusive. I practiced quietly on my own without the need to proselytize. I had been able to separate my faith in the theology from using it to make a cultural statement about black Americans. My only interest in Islam was spiritual and ethical guidance, not politics.

Don’t hope. Hope is for people who aren’t prepared.

Be more concerned with your character than your reputation, because your character is what you really are, while your reputation is merely what others think you are.

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

If you get yourself too engrossed in things over which you have no control, it’s going to adversely affect the things over which you have control.” His

Racism in America is like dust in the air. It seems invisible — even if you’re choking on it — until you let the sun in. As long as we keep shining that light, we have a chance of cleaning it wherever it lands.

You won’t win until you learn how to lose. I don’t like to do it, to lose, but I can stand it. Along with everything else, you have to acquire the ability to accept defeat. No one makes it without stumbling.

Don't hope. Hope is for people who aren't prepared.

The intellects of the Harlem Renaissance realized that before whites would see blacks as equals, first blacks had to see themselves that way- and not try to pretend to be white or adopt white ideals of beauty.

I wanted young men who wanted to play for UCLA, and not one that I had to talk into playing for UCLA. I always believed that the way to build a great team is to find the kind of people you want to work with and tell them the truth.