Top 400 John Wooden Quotes (2024 Update)
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301. “The player who puts the ball through the hoop has ten hands.”

— John Wooden

302. “Well, if you’re true to yourself you’re going to be true to everyone else.”

— John Wooden

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

— John Wooden

304. “A knowledge of and the ability to properly and quickly execute the fundamentals. Be prepared and cover every little detail.”

— John Wooden

305. “You control the terms of the conflict. Make them play your game. Don’t try to play theirs.”

— John Wooden

306. “I think anyone’s success depends on working hard, Industriousness and Enthusiasm, enjoying what you are doing. You can’t work your best if you’re not enjoying what you are doing. No way you can force yourself to.”

— John Wooden

307. “I am just a common man who is true to his beliefs.”

— John Wooden

308. “Cultivate the ability to make decisions and think alone. Do not be afraid of failure, but learn from it.”

— John Wooden

309. “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

310. “When you give total effort – everything you have – the score can never make you a loser. And when you do less, it can’t somehow magically turn you into a winner.”

— John Wooden

311. “Whether you know it or not, whether you like it or not, the habits you are developing now will be with you for the rest of your life.”

— John Wooden

312. “Constantly be aware and observing. Always seek to improve yourself and the team.”

— John Wooden

313. “When you choose to become part of a team, you cease to exist as an individual.”

— John Wooden

314. “People want to believe you are sincerely interested in them as a person, not just what they can do for you.”

— John Wooden

315. “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

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

— John Wooden

317. “Place the team above yourself always.”

— John Wooden

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

— John Wooden

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

— John Wooden

320. “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

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

— John Wooden

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

— John Wooden

323. “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

324. “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

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

— John Wooden

326. “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

327. “Nobody is a real loser-until they start blaming somebody else.”

— John Wooden

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

— John Wooden

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

— John Wooden

330. “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

331. “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

332. “To win once you must have talent, but to win again you must have character.”

— John Wooden

333. “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

334. “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

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

— John Wooden

336. “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

337. “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

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

— John Wooden

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

— John Wooden

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

— John Wooden

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

— John Wooden

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

— John Wooden

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

— John Wooden

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

— John Wooden

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

— John Wooden

346. “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

347. “It matters not the subject taught, nor all the books on all the shelves, What matters most, yes most of all, is what the teachers are themselves.”

— John Wooden

348. “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

349. “Being true to ourselves doesn’t make us people of integrity. Charles Manson was true to himself, and as a result, he rightly is spending the rest of his life in prison. Ultimately, being true to our Creator gives us the purest form of integrity.”

— John Wooden

350. “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