John Wooden Quotes

The eight laws of learning are explanation, demonstration, imitation, repetition, repetition, repetition, repetition, repetition.

It's too late for preparation when opportunity strikes.

Be quick without hurrying.

Honors are very fleeting, just as fame is; cherish friendship more.

Remember, results aren't the criteria for success — it's the effort made for achievement that is most important.

Remember this, the choices you make in life, make 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.

We may not be the best conditioned team in the country, but our players think they are.

I found the bench to be the greatest ally when I had to make individuals comply with what was best for the team

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

No building is better than its structural foundation, and no man (woman) is better than his (her) mental foundation. When I prepared my original Success Pyramid years ago, I put industriousness and enthusiasm as the two cornerstones with LOYALTY right in the middle of the pyramid - Loyalty to yourself and to all those dependent upon you.

I've never stopped trying to do what's right. I'm not doing it to earn favor with God. I'm doing it because it's the right thing to do.

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

If you do enough small things right, big things can happen

Helping others is perhaps the greatest joy! You cannot have a perfect day without helping others with no thought of getting something in return.

I don't believe in praying to win.

In my opinion, being an effective leader requires being an effective listener. The most productive leaders are usually those who are consistently willing to listen and learn.

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.

You never fail if you know in your heart that you did the best of which you are capable. I did my best. That is all I could do. Are you going to make mistakes? Of course. But it is not failure if you make the full effort.

The general feeling is, if you don't treat everyone the same you're showing partiality. To me, that's when you show the most partiality, when you treat everyone the same. You must give each individual the treatment that you feel he earns and deserves, recognizing at all times that you're imperfect and you're going to be incorrect oftentimes in your judgment.

Never did I want to call the first time-out during a game. Never. I wanted UCLA to come out and run our opponents so hard that they would be forced to call the first time-out just to catch their breath. At that first time-out the opponents would know, and we would know that they knew, who was in better condition. This has a psychological impact.

We're not all equal as far as intelligence is concerned. We're not equal as far as size. We're not all equal as far as appearance. We do not all have the same opportunities. We're not born in the same environments, but we're all absolutely equal in having the opportunity to make the most of what we have and not comparing or worrying about what others have.

Make friendship a fine art.

I'm no wizard, and I don't like being thought of in that light at all. I think of a wizard as being some sort of magician or something, doing something on the sly or something, and I don't want to be thought of in that way.

Although there is no progress without change, not all change is progress.

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

Never let your emotions overrule your head.

Be true to yourself. Be true to those you lead.

It takes time to create excellence. If it could be done quickly, more people would do it.

We’re all imperfect and we all have needs. The weak usually do not ask for help, so they stay weak. If we recognize that we are imperfect, we will ask for help and we will pray for the guidance necessary to bring positive results to whatever we are doing.

There is no more powerful leadership tool than your own personal example.

You may be better than the rest, but you are not a success until you have made the effort to become the best you can be.

If we magnified blessings as much as we magnify disappointments, we would all be much happier.

My bench never heard me mention winning. My whole emphasis was for each one of my players to try to learn to execute the fundamentals to the best of their ability. Not to try to be better than somebody else, but to learn from others, and never cease trying to be the best they could be; that's what I emphasized more than anything else.

Every day, try to help someone who can't reciprocate your kindness.

Confidence comes from being prepared.

Make each day a masterpiece. Don't think your best days are out there somewhere. Why not today? Why can't today be a great day? It can if you believe it will.

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

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.

The courageous struggle for a noble cause should be considered success itself.

Others may have more ability than you, they may be larger, faster, quicker, better jumpers ... but no one should be your superior in respect to team spirit, loyalty, enthusiasm, cooperation, determination, industriousness, fight effort, and character.

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.

A good banker isn't careless with pennies; a good leader isn't sloppy about details.

You have to apply yourself each day to becoming a little better. By becoming a little better each and every day, over a period of time, you will become a lot better.

There is no pillow as soft as a clear conscience.

When opportunity comes it is too late to prepare.

We are all equal in that we can all strive to become the best we are capable of becoming. We can always improve but we shouldn't compare ourselves to others. We get in trouble when we start trying to measure up to someone else.

Reverse the ball one time for a good shot, two times for a great shot, three times for a layup.