Kwame Alexander Quotes

#1. Basketball Rule #6
A great team
has a good scorer
with a teammate
who's on point
and ready
to assist.

Kwame Alexander

#2. Basketball Rule #9

When the game is on
the line,
don't fear.
Grab the ball.
Take it
to the hoop.

Kwame Alexander

#3. Basketball Rule #10

A loss is inevitable,
like snow in winter.
True champions
learn
to dance
through
the storm.

Kwame Alexander

#4. Did y'all arrest Uncle Bob's turkey? It was just criminal what he did to that bird, wasn't it? You

Kwame Alexander

#5. Basketball Rule #4

If you miss
enough of life's
free throws
you will pay
in the end.

Kwame Alexander

#6. A Warrior of the Light has no regrets, because regrets can kill.

Paulo Coelho

#7. Thought
It does not take
a math genius
to understand that
when you subtract
a mother
from the equation
what remains
is negative.

Kwame Alexander

#8. Books are fun, Nicholas, he says,
they're like
amusement parks
for readers.

Yeah, well, maybe
they would be fun
if I got to pick
the rides
sometimes, you answer

Kwame Alexander

#9. We all have what it takes to do exactly what we want to do in life, no matter what anyone else says. If someone tells you, "You can't do this because you are [fill in the blank]," I say embrace the challenge. Wear it like a new pair of Converse or Jordans. Meet it head-on.

Kwame Alexander

#10. Basketball Rule #1

In this game of life
your family is the court
and the ball is your heart.
No matter how good you are,
no matter how down you get,
always leave
your heart
on the court.

Kwame Alexander

#11. America, like all nations, has to renounce war.

Benjamin Creme

#12. Basketball Rule #2 (random text from Dad)
Hustle dig
Grind push
Run fast
Change pivot
Chase pull
Aim shoot
Work smart
Live smarter
Play hard
Practice harder

Kwame Alexander

#13. Identical twins
are no different
from everyone else,
except we look and
sometimes sound
exactly alike.

Kwame Alexander

#14. Half of this story is true and the other half might very well have happened.

William Pene Du Bois

#15. Never let anyone lower your goals. Others' expectations of you are determined by their limitations of life. The sky is your limit, sons. Always shoot for the sun and you will shine.

Kwame Alexander

#16. Basketball Rule #5
When
you stop
playing
your game
you've already
lost.

Kwame Alexander

#17. Basketball Rule #7

Rebounding
is the art
of anticipating,
of always being prepared
to grab it.
But you can't
drop the ball.

Kwame Alexander

#18. Find your grit and put in the work to elevate your game. Champions train. Chumps complain.

Kwame Alexander

#19. tricks are for kids,

Kwame Alexander

#20. Bullies don't like to fight, son. They like to win. Being afraid is normal. The only fight you really have to win is the one against the fear.

Kwame Alexander

#21. Because Dad told you he'd be here forever.
Because I thought forever was like Mars -- far away.

Kwame Alexander

#22. The world, as it is, is not a permanent reality, but is a temporary product of our choices as creators.

Bryant McGill

#23. The poems
were cool.

The best ones were
like bombs,
and when all the right words

came together
it was like an explosion.

Kwame Alexander

#24. Meaning grows in the mind, but the shape and form of the act remains.

Ralph Ellison

#25. You can get used to things going well, but you're never prepared for something going wrong.

Kwame Alexander