John Wooden Quotes

You must believe in what you're doing, that what you're doing is the proper thing, the right thing. And you must have faith that things will end up as they should, which doesn't mean as you want them to, but things will work out as they should.

We can become great in the eyes of others, but we'll never become successful when we compromise our character and show disloyalty toward friends or teammates. The reverse is also true: No individual or team will become great without loyalty.

Climb the mountain so you can see the world, not so the world can see you. Focus all your effort on what is in your power to control.

Success is a personal matter - only you as an individual can tell if you did everything within your power to give your best effort

Dwelling in the past prevents doing something in the present.

So often we fail to acknowledge what we have because we're so concerned about what we want.

The locker rooms were clean when we departed because I asked the players to pick up after themselves. I believe this is just common courtesy. Somebody's going to have to clean it up, and I see no reason why it shouldn't be the person who messed it up.

The time to prepare isn't after you have been given the opportunity. It's long before that opportunity arises. Once the opportunity arrives, it's too late to prepare.

You'd like to see your team reasonably happy, but that's not your job. Gain their respect and get them to accept their roles

Show me what you can do; don't tell me what you can do.

Real happiness comes from the things that can not be taken away from you.

Let's face it, we're all imperfect and we're going to fall short on occasion. But we must learn from failure and that will enable us to avoid repeating our mistakes. Through adversity, we learn, grow stronger, and become better people.

Love is the most powerful four letter word.

Adversity is the state in which man most easily becomes acquainted with himself, being especially free of admirers then.

Be quick without hurrying.

I thought treating everyone the same was being fair and impartial. Gradually I began to suspect that it was neither fair nor impartial. In fact, it was just the opposite. That's when I began announcing that team members wouldn't be treated the same or alike; rather, each one would receive the treatment they earned and deserved.

It isn't what you do, but how you do it.

Hardship brings people closer together if you share it.

Don't let yesterday take up too much of today.

People ask me if I'd permit fancy things, like dunks. Well, if they did dunk, it was with no fancy flair. No behind-the-back dribbles or passes unless necessary. If it was for show, you were on the bench.

Always think of passing the ball before shooting it.

I am not as good as I ought to be. I am not as good as I want to be. I am not as good as I'm going to be. But I am thankful that I am better than I used to be.

Fairness is giving all people the treatment they earn and deserve. It doesn't mean treating everyone alike.

Those of us who have been blessed with worldly success have an even greater responsibility to make an impact with our time, talents, and resources;

The team is the star, never an individual player.

Why can't we have patience and expect good things to take time?

Big things are accomplished only through the perfection of minor details.

You get ideas across better through listening and the pat-on-the-back method than you do with a kick on the pants.

Losing does not make you a failure; it is when you blame someone for losing when you become a failure

The purpose is to help, to prevent, to correct, to improve, rather than to punish. Criticism is not meant to punish, but rather to correct something that is preventing better results. The only goal is improvement.

There are three things an athlete must do. You must be in physical condition ... You must execute properly and quickly the fundamentals ... and you must have eagerness to sacrifice personal interests or glory for the welfare of the team.

Your reputation is what you're perceived to be,
Your character is what you really are

As a leader, you must be filled with energy and eagerness, joy and love for what you do. If you lack enthusiasm for your job, you cannot perform to the best of your ability. Industriousness is unattainable without Enthusiasm.

Great leaders are always out front with a banner, instead of behind with a whip.

The greatest ally you have to get things working well and the players performing as a team is the bench. Don't be afraid to use it, either for the star player or anyone else.

My assistants and I often would spend more time planning a practice than the actual practice itself

Friendship is two-sided. It isn't a friend just because someone's doing something nice for you. That's a nice person. There's friendship when you do for each other. It's like marriage - it's two-sided.

Good values are like a magnet, they attract good people.

Goals achieved with little effort are seldom worthwhile or lasting.

Being a role model is the most powerful form of educating ... too often fathers neglect it because they get so caught up in making a living they forget to make a life.

We don't have to be superstars or win championships ... . All we have to do is learn to rise to every occasion, give our best effort, and make those around us better as we do it.

Being true to ourselves doesn't make us people of integrity. Charles Manson was true to himself, and as a result, he rightly is spending the rest of his life in prison. Ultimately, being true to our Creator gives us the purest form of integrity.

You will never outperform your inner circle.

No one is an overachiever. How can you rise above your level of competency? Everyone is an underachiever to different degrees. The harder you work, the more luck you will have.

You can always do more than you think you can.

A Coach must never forget that he is a leader and not merely a person with authority.

James Russell Lowell wrote: It's not what we give but what we share, For the gift without the giver is bare. Who gives of himself of his alms feeds three, Himself, his hungering neighbor, and me.

Good coaching is about leadership and instilling respect in your players. Dictators lead through fear - good coaches do not.

A Dominican monk, Father Henri Didon, used it as a watchword for his pupils in sports at Arcueil College in Paris. Baron Pierre De Coubertin, founder of the modern Olympics, made it the Olympic Games ideal adopted at the Antwerp Games in 1920. I never mentioned winning to my players. I mentioned constantly that all I wanted them to do was the best they could. If they're good enough, the score will be to their liking; if they're not, it won't be but that's nothing to hang their head about. Sometimes the other fellow is just better than you are.

It's always about focusing not on the mistakes but on the lessons learned from them.

If I were ever prosecuted for my religion, I truly hope there would be enough evidence to convict me.

Never confuse activity with accomplishment.

Leadership is the ability to get individuals to work together for the common good and the best possible results while at the same time letting them know they did it themselves.

The score will take care of itself when you take care of the effort that precedes the score.

My philosophy of defense is to keep the pressure on an opponent until you get to his emotions

Everything we know, we learned from someone else!

Don't whine, complain, or make excuses.

In game play it was always my philosophy that patience would win out. By that, I meant patience to follow our game plan. If we believed in it, we would wear the opposition down and would eventually get to them. If we broke away from our style, however, and played their style, we would be in trouble. And if we let our emotions, rather than our reason, command the game we would not function effectively.

We can have no progress without change, whether it be basketball or anything else.

Remember this your lifetime through:
Tomorrow there will be more to do.
And failure waits for all who stay
With some success made yesterday.
Tomorrow you must try once more,
And even harder than before.

Make each day your masterpiece. Life is now. Life is not later on.

Don't beat yourself. That's the worst kind of defeat you'll ever suffer.

Success is peace of mind in knowing you did your best.

Before You Can Lead Others, You Must Be Able to Lead Yourself.

The purpose of discipline is not to punish, but to correct.

Competitiveness must be focused exclusively on the process of what you are doing rather than the result of that effort (the so-called winning or losing).

You better play together as a team or you sit.

You should never try to be better than someone else, you should always be learning from others. But you should never cease trying to be the best you could be because that's under your control and the other isn't.

Never be thrown off stride in how you behave or what you believe in because of outside events.

Just do the best you can. No one can do more than that.

The two hardest things to handle in life are failure and success.

Hustle makes up for many a mistake.

There is nothing stronger than gentleness.

Whatever you're doing, you must have patience.

It is amazing how much can be accomplished if no one cares who gets the credit.

Confidence - Poise and confidence are not possible unless you have prepared correctly. Failing to prepare is preparing to fail. Poise and confidence are a natural result of proper preparation.

The uphill climb is slow,but the downhill road is fast.

Parenting is the most important profession in the world.

Knowledge is not enough to get desired results. You must have the more elusive ability to teach and to motivate. This defines a leader; if you can't teach and you can't motivate, you can't lead.

Consideration for others brings many things.

You are no better than anyone else and no one is better than you.

If there's anything you could point out where I was a little different, it was the fact that I never mentioned winning.

There is no great fun, satisfaction, or joy derived from doing something that's easy.

Promise to wear a cheerful appearance at all times and give every person you meet a smile.

Conditioning is essential to success in basketball.

Be true to yourself, help others, make each day your masterpiece, make friendship a fine art, drink deeply from good books - especially the Bible, build a shelter against a rainy day, give thanks for your blessings and pray for guidance every day.

It is most difficult, in my mind, to separate any success, whether it be
in your profession, your family, or as in my case, in basketball, from
religion.

I am just a common man who is true to his beliefs.

I wanted my players to always be searching, especially for truth. I wanted them to know what they believed and be able to defend it. Truth will always stand the test of scrutiny.

Make today your master piece.

I never met a person from whom I did not learn something.

He told me that he always insisted on two things above all else in his players: That they were always trying to improve and always willing to put the team above themselves. If they weren't willing to do those things, he didn't want them at UCLA.

The true athlete should have character, not be a character

The outstanding coach is a teacher that gets all his squad to accept the role that he considers to be the most important for the welfare of all.

In life, worthwhile accomplishments and acquisitions take time. Usually the better the reward, the more time it takes to acquire it.

Although I wanted my players to work to win, I tried to convince them they had always won when they had done their best.

What you are as a person is far more important than what you are as a basketball player.

Work without joy is drudgery. Drudgery does not produce champions, nor does it produce great organizations.

Kindness makes for much better teamwork.

With the experience to judge, one need not pre-judge.