Today, the world lost a legend, both on and off the court. Kobe Bryant transformed not just basketball, but inspired an entire generation on what it meant to compete, win, and have a mamba mentality.

I was fortunate enough to watch him play in person many times and am grateful to have those memories.

In honor of his legacy, I share with you today 8 inspirational Kobe quotes:

1. “Learn to love the hate. Embrace it. Enjoy it. You earned it. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion and everyone should have one about you. Haters are a good problem to have. Nobody hates the good ones. They hate the great ones.”
   
   
2. “If you don’t believe in yourself, no one will do it for you” 
   
   
3. “The most important thing is to try and inspire people so that they can be great in whatever they want to do.”
   
   
4. “I’ll do whatever it takes to win games, whether it’s sitting on a bench waving a towel, handing a cup of water to a teammate, or hitting the game-winning shot.”
   
   
5. “I have self-doubt. I have insecurity. I have fear of failure. I have nights when I show up at the arena and I’m like, ‘My back hurts, my feet hurt, my knees hurt. I don’t have it. I just want to chill.’ We all have self-doubt. You don’t deny it, but you also don’t capitulate to it. You embrace it.”
   
   
6.  “I don’t want to be the next Michael Jordan, I only want to be Kobe Bryant.”
   
   
7. “If you’re afraid to fail, then you’re probably going to fail.”
   
   
8. “As I sit here now, when I take off my shoe and I look down at my scar, I see beauty in it. I see all the hard work, all the sacrifices. I see the journey that it took to get back to this point of being healthy. And I see beauty in that struggle. That’s what makes it beautiful.” 

And an extra one I found after I recorded...

"Those times when you get up early and you work hard, those times when you stay up late and you work hard, those times when you don't want to push yourself but you do it anyway. That is actually the dream.

It's not the destination, it's the journey. And if you guys can understand that, then what you'll see happen is that you won't accomplish your dreams. Your dreams won't come true, something greater will.

And if you guys can understand that, then I'm doing my job as a father."

- To his daughters on his journey retirement night.

*****
Thank you Kobe. You will be forever missed, but your legacy and work will never be forgotten.

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