Top 535 Quotes & Sayings by John Wooden

Explore popular quotes and sayings by an American coach John Wooden.

Last updated on December 23, 2024.

John Robert Wooden was an American basketball coach and player. Nicknamed the "Wizard of Westwood", he won ten National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) national championships in a 12-year period as head coach for the UCLA Bruins, including a record seven in a row. No other team has won more than four in a row in Division I college men's or women's basketball. Within this period, his teams won an NCAA men's basketball record 88 consecutive games. Wooden won the prestigious Henry Iba Award as national coach of the year a record seven times and won the AP award five times.

American - Coach | October 14, 1910 - June 4, 2010

Source: Wikipedia

Young people need models, not critics.

John Wooden

Never mistake activity for achievement.

John Wooden

Things turn out best for the people who make the best of the way things turn out.

John Wooden

Success is peace of mind, which is a direct result of self-satisfaction in knowing you made the effort to become the best of which you are capable.

John Wooden

Today is the only day. Yesterday is gone.

John Wooden

Talent is God given. Be humble. Fame is man-given. Be grateful. Conceit is self-given. Be careful.

John Wooden

You can't let praise or criticism get to you. It's a weakness to get caught up in either one.

John Wooden

Whatever you do in life, surround yourself with smart people who'll argue with you.

John Wooden

Love is the most important thing in the world. Hate, we should remove from the dictionary.

John Wooden

In the end, it's about the teaching, and what I always loved about coaching was the practices. Not the games, not the tournaments, not the alumni stuff. But teaching the players during practice was what coaching was all about to me.

John Wooden

Don't measure yourself by what you have accomplished, but by what you should have accomplished with your ability.

John Wooden

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.

John Wooden

Consider the rights of others before your own feelings, and the feelings of others before your own rights.

John Wooden

You can do more good by being good than any other way.

John Wooden

Never lie, never cheat, never steal.

John Wooden

Success comes from knowing that you did your best to become the best that you are capable of becoming.

John Wooden

If I am through learning, I am through.

John Wooden

Just try to be the best you can be; never cease trying to be the best you can be. That's in your power.

John Wooden

Somebody asked me - you know, how come it took you so long to win a national championship? And I said, 'I'm a slow learner; but you notice when I learn something, I have it down pretty good.'

John Wooden

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

John Wooden

Winning takes talent, to repeat takes character.

John Wooden

I'm glad I was a teacher.

John Wooden

Success is never final, failure is never fatal. It's courage that counts.

John Wooden

If you're not making mistakes, then you're not doing anything. I'm positive that a doer makes mistakes.

John Wooden

All of life is peaks and valleys. Don't let the peaks get too high and the valleys too low.

John Wooden

If you don't have time to do it right, when will you have time to do it over?

John Wooden

I think the teaching profession contributes more to the future of our society than any other single profession.

John Wooden

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

John Wooden

You can't live a perfect day without doing something for someone who will never be able to repay you.

John Wooden

I think that in any group activity - whether it be business, sports, or family - there has to be leadership or it won't be successful.

John Wooden

Don't let making a living prevent you from making a life.

John Wooden

It's not so important who starts the game but who finishes it.

John Wooden

Passion is momentary; love is enduring.

John Wooden

The most important thing in the world is family and love.

John Wooden

A coach is someone who can give correction without causing resentment.

John Wooden

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

John Wooden

The main ingredient of stardom is the rest of the team.

John Wooden

You can lose when you outscore somebody in a game. And you can win when you're outscored.

John Wooden

I worry that business leaders are more interested in material gain than they are in having the patience to build up a strong organization, and a strong organization starts with caring for their people.

John Wooden

Be true to yourself. Make each day a masterpiece. Help others. Drink deeply from good books. Make friendship a fine art. Build a shelter against a rainy day.

John Wooden

Well, if you're true to yourself you're going to be true to everyone else.

John Wooden

Defense is a definite part of the game, and a great part of defense is learning to play it without fouling.

John Wooden

I think you have to be what you are. Don't try to be somebody else. You have to be yourself at all times.

John Wooden

It's the little details that are vital. Little things make big things happen.

John Wooden

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.

John Wooden

Do not let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do.

John Wooden

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.

John Wooden

Don't give up on your dreams, or your dreams will give up on you.

John Wooden

When you hurry you're more apt to make mistakes. But you have to be quick. If you're not quick you can't get things done.

John Wooden

It's what you learn after you know it all that counts.

John Wooden

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

John Wooden

Ability is a poor man's wealth.

John Wooden

There are many things that are essential to arriving at true peace of mind, and one of the most important is faith, which cannot be acquired without prayer.

John Wooden

Discipline yourself, and others won't need to.

John Wooden

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

John Wooden

Success is peace of mind which is a direct result of self-satisfaction in knowing you did your best to become the best you are capable of becoming.

John Wooden

Failure is not fatal, but failure to change might be.

John Wooden

I had three rules for my players: No profanity. Don't criticize a teammate. Never be late.

John Wooden

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

John Wooden

There's as much crookedness as you want to find. There was something Abraham Lincoln said - he'd rather trust and be disappointed than distrust and be miserable all the time. Maybe I trusted too much.

John Wooden

Top 535 Quotes & Sayings by John Wooden

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