Top 400 John Wooden Quotes (2023 Update)
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301. “Many leaders don’t listen, and it is one of the greatest methods we have of learning. You need to listen to those under your supervision and to those who are above you.”

— John Wooden

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

— John Wooden

303. “An effective leader allows exceptions to the rule for exceptional results or when circumstance demands.”

— John Wooden

304. “Knowledge is not enough to get desired results. You must have the more elusive ability to teach and to motivate. This defines a leader; if you can’t teach and you can’t motivate, you can’t lead.”

— John Wooden

305. “I always talked to my players about today. It’s the only day that matters.”

— John Wooden

306. “I always stress condition with my basketball players. I don’t mean physical condition only. You cannot attain and maintain physical condition unless you are morally and mentally conditioned.”

— John Wooden

307. “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

308. “I do not judge success based on championships; rather, I judge it on how close we came to realizing our potential.”

— John Wooden

309. “Motivating through fear may work in the short term to get people to do something, but over the long run I believe personal pride is a much greater motivator. It produces far better results that last for a much longer time.”

— John Wooden

310. “It is harmful to compare yourself to others. Others will do that for you.”

— John Wooden

311. “Whatever you’re doing, you must have patience.”

— John Wooden

312. “Every person under your supervision is different. They’re all different. They’re identical in most ways, but not in all ways. You have to study and analyze every individual under your supervision and try to work with them in a way that will be most productive.”

— John Wooden

313. “Don’t beat yourself. That’s the worst kind of defeat you’ll ever suffer.”

— John Wooden

314. “The team is the star, never an individual player.”

— John Wooden

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

— John Wooden

316. “Promise to wear a cheerful appearance at all times and give every person you meet a smile.”

— John Wooden

317. “You never fail if you know in your heart that you did the best of which you are capable.”

— John Wooden

318. “Real happiness comes from the things that can not be taken away from you.”

— John Wooden

319. “Being yourself; not acting. You therefore can function near your own level of competence. Satisfy you own expectations rather than those of others.”

— John Wooden

320. “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.”

— John Wooden

321. “In spite of all that doctors know, and their studies never end, the best cure of all when spirits fall is a kind note from a friend.”

— John Wooden

322. “We can plan a roadtrip or a workday down to the last detail but the unexpected will always arise. If we are not malleable, we will get left behind.”

— John Wooden

323. “If there’s anything you could point out where I was a little different, it was the fact that I never mentioned winning.”

— John Wooden

324. “The person who is afraid to risk failure seldom has to face success. I expected my players to make mistakes, as long as they were mistakes of commission. A mistake of commission happens when you are doing what should be done but don’t get the results you want.”

— John Wooden

325. “You have success within. It’s up to you to bring it out.”

— John Wooden

326. “Be true to yourself. Be true to those you lead.”

— John Wooden

327. “Real wealth comes to the person who learns that we are paid best for the things we do for nothing.”

— John Wooden

328. “Never be disagreeable just because you disagree.”

— John Wooden

329. “Passion is temporary. It doesn’t last long. Love is enduring. And that’s the important thing. If we all had love in our lives to the degree that we should, it would be much happier.”

— John Wooden

330. “Winning and losing aren’t all they’re cracked up to be, but the trip to the destination is.”

— John Wooden

331. “Opponents are working very hard to defeat us. Let’s not do it for them by defeating ourselves from within.”

— John Wooden

332. “Mistakes come from doing, but so does success.”

— John Wooden

333. “No one can really honestly be the very best, no one.”

— John Wooden

334. “Good players can take coaching; great players can take coaching and learn.”

— John Wooden

335. “You get ideas across better through listening and the pat-on-the-back method than you do with a kick on the pants.”

— John Wooden

336. “The important things to me are your faith, your family and your friends. If you have that, you have everything.”

— John Wooden

337. “One of the greatest motivating things that a coach has is the bench. They all love to play, all of them. You sit them on the bench, and they come around pretty good.”

— John Wooden

338. “It’s important to keep trying to do what you think is right no matter how hard it is or how often you fail. Never stop trying.”

— John Wooden

339. “I never yelled at my players much. That would have been artificial stimulation, which doesn’t last very long. I think it’s like love and passion. Passion won’t last as long as love. When you are dependent on passion, you need more and more of it to make it work. It’s the same with yelling.”

— John Wooden

340. “Your energy and enjoyment, drive and dedication will stimulate and greatly inspire others.”

— John Wooden

341. “Goals should be difficult to achieve because those achieved with little effort are seldom appreciated, give little personal satisfaction, and are often not very worthwhile. There is a price to be paid for achieving anything of significance.”

— John Wooden

342. “Without organization and leadership toward a realistic goal, there is no chance of realizing more than a small percentage of your potential.”

— John Wooden

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

— John Wooden

344. “Not everyone is equipped to be a leader, but in a sense, everyone is a leader to someone, even though you’re not equipped. I think parents are a leader to youngsters, teacher are leaders, coaches are leaders, businessmen are leaders.”

— John Wooden

345. “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

346. “The player who puts the ball through the hoop has ten hands.”

— John Wooden

347. “Material possessions, winning scores, and great reputations are meaningless in the eyes of the Lord, because He knows what we really are and that is all that matters.”

— John Wooden

348. “You cannot antagonize and be a positive influence, and you will antagonize when you discipline through emotion.”

— John Wooden

349. “You can lose when you outscore somebody in a game, and you can win when you’re outscored.”

— John Wooden

350. “Selfishness is the greatest challenge for a coach. Most players are more concerned with making themselves better than the team.”

— John Wooden