Quotes from John Wooden

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

I am not what I ought to be, Not what I want to be, Not what I am going to be, But I am thankful that I am better than I used to be.

You and I must accept some accountability for future bloodshed if each and every day we don't do something in our own way to alleviate prejudice in ourselves or others.

There is a choice you have to make in everything you do. So keep in mind that in the end, the choice you make, makes you.

You never stop trying.

When You Start Having All the Right Answers, You Will Stop Asking All the Right Questions. The path to success lies in the realization that there is always more to learn.

three of the things we want most—happiness, freedom, and peace of mind—are always attained when we give them to others.

Why can't we realize that it only weakens those we want to help when we do things for them that they should do for themselves?

Why does the person with the least to say usually take the longest to say it?

I told players at UCLA that we, as a team, are like a powerful car. Maybe a Bill Walton or Kareem Abdul-Jabbar or Michael Jordan is the big engine, but if one wheel is flat, we're going no place. And if we have brand new tires but the lug nuts are missing, the wheels come off. What good is the powerful engine now? It's no good at all.

Good values are like a magnet, they attract good people.

Trusting is part of our higher nature. Doubting is a lower instinct. The latter is easy to do, the former more difficult—but so much more rewarding.

there would be times when we disagreed but there would never be times when we had to be disagreeable.

what I say about leadership: "You must be interested in finding the best way, not in having your own way.

Your family is what counts, and you must always remember that as you get caught up in your own professional responsibilities.

I'm very proud of the fact that while all the records were being set at UCLA by our basketball teams, I felt exactly the same way. Family is first. Always. Always.

You can't live a perfect day unless you do something for someone who will never be able to repay you.

winning is not the point. Wanting to win is the point. Not giving up is the point. Never being satisfied with what you've done is the point. Never letting up is the point. Never letting anyone down is the point. Play to win. Sure. But lose like a champion. Because it's not winning that counts. What counts is trying.

Commend, Don't Criticize

Be true to yourself, help others, make each day your masterpiece, make friendship a fine art, drink deeply from good books – especially the Bible, build a shelter against a rainy day, give thanks for your blessings and pray for guidance every day.

I prize intensity and fear emotionalism. Consistency in high performance and production is a trademark of effective and successful organizations and those who lead them. Emotionalism destroys consistency. A leader who is ruled by emotions, whose temperament is mercurial, produces a team whose trademark is the roller coaster—ups and downs in performance; unpredictability and un-dependability in effort and concentration; one day good, the next day bad.

I think parenting and coaching or teaching are the same thing. And they are the two most important professions in the world.

My Favorite Four-Letter Words: "Kids" and "Love

No written word nor spoken plea Can teach our youth what they should be. Nor all the books on all the shelves. It's what the teachers are themselves.