As a parent, I have a job as a role model to my children, and by extension, to other young people.
- Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Quote

As brilliant an individual that Michael Jordan was, he was not successful until he got with a good team unit.
- Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Quote

Black people don't have an accurate idea of their history, which has been either suppressed or distorted.
- Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Quote

Five guys on the court working together can achieve more than five talented individuals who come and go as individuals.
- Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Quote

Fundamental preparation is always effective. Work on those parts of your game that are fundamentally weak.
- Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Quote

Great players are willing to give up their own personal achievement for the achievement of the group. It enhances everybody.
- Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Quote

I can do something else besides stuff a ball through a hoop. My biggest resource is my mind.
- Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Quote

I feel that there has been progress made since I was a boy on matters of race, but we have a long way to go.
- Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Quote

I felt that a number of people might have questioned my loyalty, but I continue to be a patriotic American.
- Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Quote

I have been coaching recently. I coached high school basketball in Arizona, and I hope that more opportunities become available.
- Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Quote

I hope to be involved in a successful movie script.
- Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Quote

I listen to jazz mainly. Mainstream jazz.
- Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Quote

I think black Americans expect too much from individual black Americans in terms of changing the status quo.
- Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Quote

I think I did very well against everyone who tried to defend me.
- Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Quote

I think race has been a burden for black Americans. Being Muslim has also been a challenge because so many people do not understand Islam.
- Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Quote

I think the NBA players have to be held accountable in a reasonable way, just like any other professionals.
- Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Quote

I think the NBA will certainly survive without Michael Jordan.
- Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Quote

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.
- Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Quote

I would suggest that teachers show their students concrete examples of the negative effects of the actions that gangsta rappers glorify.
- Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Quote

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.
- Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Quote

In athletics there's always been a willingness to cheat if it looks like you're not cheating. I think that's just a quirk of human nature.
- Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Quote

Jackie Robinson, as an athlete and as someone who was trying to make a stand for equality, he was exemplary.
- Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Quote

Michael Jordan and Magic and myself all learned how to play the game in college programs that emphasized the team.
- Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Quote

My choosing Islam was not a political statement; it was a spiritual statement.
- Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Quote

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.
- Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Quote

One man can be a crucial ingredient on a team, but one man cannot make a team.
- Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Quote

The extra pass and the extra effort on defense always get the job done.
- Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Quote

The transition was difficult. It's hard to stop something that you've enjoyed and that has been very rewarding.
- Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Quote

When I was a kid, no one would believe anything positive that you could say about black people. That's a terrible burden.
- Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Quote

When we went up against teams that were better, I just hoped that we could steal the victories.
- Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Quote

You can't win unless you learn how to lose.
- Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Quote

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.
- Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Quote