Top 400 John Wooden Quotes (2024 Update)
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201. “Make your “yes” mean yes, and your “no” mean no.”

— John Wooden

202. “Good judgment, common sense, and reason all fly out the window when emotions kick down your door.”

— John Wooden

203. “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.”

— John Wooden

204. “Nobody is defeated until he starts blaming somebody else. My advice to you is don’t fix the blame. Fix the problem.”

— John Wooden

205. “It is easier to reach our potential when we learn the value of including others in our quest.”

— John Wooden

206. “Character is more important than any other leadership trait.”

— John Wooden

207. “Mix idealism with realism and add hard work. This will often bring much more than you could ever hope for.”

— John Wooden

208. “Never allow anyone else to define your success.”

— John Wooden

209. “Be more concerned with your character than your reputation.”

— John Wooden

210. “Surround yourself with people strong enough to change your mind.”

— John Wooden

211. “Build shelter against a rainy day.”

— John Wooden

212. “Everything we know, we learned from someone else!”

— John Wooden

213. “Effective leaders are, first and foremost, good teachers. We’re in the education business.”

— John Wooden

214. “Intensity makes you stronger. Emotionalism makes you weaker.”

— John Wooden

215. “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

216. “The four laws of learning are: the first is demonstration of what you want. The second is the criticism of the demonstration. The third is the imitation of the correct model, and the fourth is repetition, over and over until it becomes habit where is you don’t think about it.”

— John Wooden

217. “The ability to see the good in others and the bad in ourselves is perfect vision.”

— John Wooden

218. “Make no mistake, I always want to win, but I never fight with an opponent. My fight is within me it is the struggle to be the best I can be at whatever I do.”

— John Wooden

219. “The man who is afraid to risk failure seldom has to face success.”

— John Wooden

220. “Doing the best you are capable of doing is victory in itself, and less than that is defeat.”

— John Wooden

221. “It’s always about focusing not on the mistakes but on the lessons learned from them.”

— John Wooden

222. “As a leader, you will receive a large amount of praise and criticism and you should not unduly affected by either.”

— John Wooden

223. “I never let our players get satisfied, I never let our Coaches get satisfied, I was never satisfied. We can always do it better.”

— John Wooden

224. “The individual who is mistake-free is also probably sitting around doing nothing. And that is a very big mistake.”

— John Wooden

225. “I grew up on a farm. We learned that there was a season to plant, a season to water, and season to harvest. The planting and watering could be laborious, but without those stages, there would never be a harvest.”

— John Wooden

226. “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

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

— John Wooden

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

— John Wooden

229. “Being a role model is the most powerful form of educating. Youngsters need good models more than they need critics. It’s one of a parent’s greatest responsibilities and opportunities.”

— John Wooden

230. “It takes 10 hands to score a basket.”

— John Wooden

231. “Make friendship a fine art.”

— John Wooden

232. “The main ingredient of stardom is the rest of the team.”

— John Wooden

233. “A leader must listen to those under their supervision.”

— John Wooden

234. “Enthusiasm brushes off upon those with whom you come in contact.”

— John Wooden

235. “Every day was a good day at UCLA.”

— John Wooden

236. “You have to work hard, and you have to enjoy what you’re doing. If you don’t enjoy it, no matter how hard you seem to work, you’re not going to be working as hard as you can because you’re not enjoying it.”

— John Wooden

237. “Success is mine when I work my hardest to become my best, and I alone determine whether I do so.”

— John Wooden

238. “Hustle makes up for many a mistake.”

— John Wooden

239. “Over-coaching can be more harmful than under-coaching. Keep it simple!”

— John Wooden

240. “There are little details in everything you do, and if you get away from any one of the little details, you’re not teaching the thing as a whole. For it is little things which, together, make the whole. This, I think, is extremely important.”

— John Wooden

241. “Make greatness attainable by all.”

— John Wooden

242. “I would spend almost as much time planning a practice as conducting it. Everything was planned out each day.”

— John Wooden

243. “Working with others makes us much more than we could ever become alone.”

— John Wooden

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

— John Wooden

245. “Acquire peace of mind by making the effort to become the best of which you are capable.”

— John Wooden

246. “Mentors are available at all stages of your leadership life – early, middle and late. Seek them out and listen; absorb their knowledge and use it.”

— John Wooden

247. “I constantly caution our teams: ‘Play your game, just play your game. Eventually, if you play your game, stick to your style, class will tell in the end.’ This does not mean that we will always outscore our opponent, but it does insure that we will not beat ourselves.”

— John Wooden

248. “Losing is only temporary and not encompassing. You must simply study it, learn from it, and try hard not to lose the same way again. Then you must have the self-control to forget about it.”

— John Wooden

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

— John Wooden

250. “It is normal to enjoy praise and dislike criticism. True character is when you prevent either from affecting you in a negative matter.”

— John Wooden