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Quotes from John Wooden

People want to believe you are sincerely interested in them as a person, not just what they can do for you.
~ John Wooden
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
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
Failure is not fatal, but failure to change might be.
~ John Wooden
Failure is never fatal. But failure to change can and might be.
~ John Wooden
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
Just try to be the best you can be; never cease trying to be the best you can be. That's in your power.
~ John Wooden
I'd be satisfied just coaching in high school. I turned down a number of colleges when I was teaching in South Bend, Indiana, before I went into the service. I honestly believe that if I hadn't enlisted in the service, I would never have left high school teaching. I'm sure I would have never left.
~ John Wooden
Never mistake activity for achievement.
~ John Wooden
Adversity is the state in which man most easily becomes acquainted with himself, being especially free of admirers then.
~ John Wooden
Never lie, never cheat, never steal.
~ John Wooden
Don't mistake activity with achievement.
~ John Wooden
No one is an overachiever. How can you rise above your level of competency? Everyone is an underachiever to different degrees. The harder you work, the more luck you will have.
~ John Wooden
Promise to think only the best, to work only for the best, and to expect only the best from yourself and others.
~ John Wooden
There is no substitute for work. Worthwhile results come from hard work and careful planning.
~ John Wooden
Failure is not fatal, but failing to change might be.
~ John Wooden
The most powerful leadership tool you have is your own personal example.
~ John Wooden
6. All of life is peaks and valleys. Don't let the peaks get too high and the valleys too low.
~ John Wooden
It isn't what you do, but how you do it.
~ John Wooden
Working with others makes us much more than we could ever become alone
~ John Wooden
All of life is peaks and valleys. Don't let the peaks get too high and the valleys too low.
~ John Wooden
Although I wanted my players to work to win, I tried to convince them they had always won when they had done their best.
~ John Wooden
Condition comes from hard work during practice and proper mental and moral conduct between practices.
~ John Wooden
Work without joy is drudgery. Drudgery does not produce champions, nor does it produce great organizations.
~ John Wooden