Top 400 John Wooden Quotes (2024 Update)
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201. “Mix idealism with realism and add hard work. This will often bring much more than you could ever hope for.”

— John Wooden

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

— John Wooden

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

— John Wooden

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

— John Wooden

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

— John Wooden

206. “Build shelter against a rainy day.”

— John Wooden

207. “When I am through learning, I am through.”

— John Wooden

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

— John Wooden

209. “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

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

— John Wooden

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

— John Wooden

212. “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

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

— John Wooden

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

— John Wooden

215. “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

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

— John Wooden

217. “It isn’t about what you do, but how you do it.”

— John Wooden

218. “Success may result in winning, but winning does not necessarily mean you are a success.”

— John Wooden

219. “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

220. “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

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

— John Wooden

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

— John Wooden

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

— John Wooden

224. “Do your best every day. Live each day as if it’s your masterpiece.”

— John Wooden

225. “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

226. “Make friendship a fine art.”

— John Wooden

227. “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

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

— John Wooden

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

— John Wooden

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

— John Wooden

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

— John Wooden

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

— John Wooden

233. “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

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

— John Wooden

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

— John Wooden

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

— John Wooden

237. “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

238. “Make greatness attainable by all.”

— John Wooden

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

— John Wooden

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

— John Wooden

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

— John Wooden

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

— John Wooden

243. “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

244. “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

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

— John Wooden

246. “Reputation is what others perceive you as being, and their opinion may be right or wrong. Character, however, is what you really are, and nobody truly knows that but you. But you are what matters most.”

— John Wooden

247. “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

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

— John Wooden

249. “Class is an intangible quality which commands, rather than demands, the respect of others.”

— John Wooden

250. “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.”

— John Wooden