John Wooden Quotes

303 John Wooden Quotes

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Ability may get you to the top, but character keeps you there: mental, moral, and physical.
John Wooden

Be concerned with your preparation, not theirs; your execution, not theirs; your effort and desire, not theirs. Don’t worry about them. Let them worry about you.
John Wooden

All we’ve worked so hard to accomplish on the court today can be torn down quickly, in a matter of minutes, if you make the wrong choices between now and our next practice.
John Wooden

There is a choice you have to make, in everything you do. So keep in mind that in the end, the choice you make, makes you.
John Wooden

What a leader learns after having learned it all counts most of all.
John Wooden

Push yourself to keep learning or you will stay as close to the bottom as to the top.
John Wooden

The star of your team is the team. The star of the team is the team.
John Wooden

“We” supersedes “me.”
John Wooden

Unselfish team play and team spirit are two of the foremost essentials for our success.
John Wooden

Just be yourself. Don’t be rattled by events, whether good or bad.
John Wooden



Have respect for, without fear of, every opponent, and confidence without cockiness in regard to yourself.
John Wooden

You must earn the right to be confident, the kind of confidence that comes from proper preparation.
John Wooden

The strongest steel is well-founded self-belief. It is earned, not given.
John Wooden

Every opponent is to be respected; no opponent is to be feared if you have prepared properly.
John Wooden

A goal beyond victory, a standard above winning.
John Wooden

Performing at your best when your best is needed; a real love for the hard battle.
John Wooden

When the going gets tough, the tough get going.
John Wooden

Personal greatness is not determined by the size of the job, but by the size of the effort that one puts into the job. This applies to everyone on your team.
John Wooden

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

When you’ve done your best, you may call yourself a success.
John Wooden



Success may result in winning, but winning does not necessarily make you a success. Success, as I define it, is harder to achieve.
John Wooden

If I did my best I believed in my heart that I was a success. Whether our team won a championship or not had little to do with my final reckoning of my success.
John Wooden

Treat all people with dignity and respect.
John Wooden

Character— doing the right thing—is fundamental to successful leadership.
John Wooden

Be more concerned with what you can do for others than what others can do for you. You’ll be surprised at the result.
John Wooden

Nobody on this team gets left behind.
John Wooden

Be more concerned with what you can do for others than what others can do for you. You’ll be surprised at the result.
John Wooden

Each member of your team has the potential for personal greatness; a leader’s job is to teach them how to do it.
John Wooden

An effective leader is very good at listening. It’s difficult to listen when you are talking.
John Wooden

If you let your emotions take over, you will be outplayed.
John Wooden



Intensity makes you stronger. Emotionalism makes you weaker.
John Wooden

If you let your emotions take control, you have lost control. You are vulnerable.
John Wooden

A leader defined by intensity is a stronger leader. A leader ruled by emotions is weak, the team vulnerable.
John Wooden

Be sure you acknowledge and give credit to a teammate who hits you with a scoring pass or for any fine play he may make.
John Wooden

Have one team, not starters and substitutes. No one feels good being a “substitute.”
John Wooden

Acknowledge your teammate.
John Wooden

Acquire peace of mind by making the effort to become the best of which you are capable.
John Wooden

Minor details, like pennies, add up. A good banker isn’t careless with pennies; a good leader isn’t careless with details.
John Wooden

Activity to produce real results must be organized and executed meticulously. Otherwise, it’s no different from children running around the playground at recess.
John Wooden

If you do not have the time to do it right, when will you find the time to do it over?
John Wooden



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