Quotes from John Wooden

Be more concerned with your character than your reputation. Character is what you really are. Reputation is what people say you are.

principle, per-sis tence, and compassion—three

Minor details—like pennies—add up. A good banker isn't careless with pennies; a good leader isn't sloppy about details.

Our teams at UCLA had four perfect seasons, but we never played a perfect game, never played as well as we could. That's perfection. We didn't reach perfection, but we constantly strove toward it.

Nothing Is Stronger than Gentleness

you should learn as if you were going to live forever, and live as if you were going to die tomorrow.

when you start displaying courtesy, politeness, and consideration, people start displaying them right back.

Calvin Coolidge observed, "No person was ever honored for what he received. Honor has been the reward for what he gave.

There are no big things, only an accumulation of many little things. Remove enough rivets and the wing falls off. However, it is up to you, the leader, to identify the correct rivets and determine how much attention each will be given. Do this correctly and your organization will survive flying through even the most turbulent competitive storm.

You often find what you're looking for.

It is the little things that are vital. Little things make the big things happen.

Patience is the ability to wait and calmly preserve. We all grow impatient, but some people have more trouble waiting than others do. We tend to forget that all good things take time.

For the strength of the pack is the wolf; and the strength of the wolf is the pack." —Rudyard Kipling

Just do the best you can. No one can do more than that.

Solid respect without fear is what I was after. I wanted them to believe in themselves without being self-centered, intimidated or naive.

There is a choice you have to make, in everything you do. And you must always keep in mind the choice you make, makes you.

The smallest good dead is better than the best intention

It is most difficult in my mind, to seperate success, whether it be in your profession, your family, or as in my case, in basketball, from religion.

Peace of mind attained only through self-satisfaction in knowing you made the effort to do the best of which you're capable.

I believe that things are directed in some sort of way. I'm not exactly sure how. I also believe that things turn out best for those who make the best of the way things turn out.

Happiness is in many things. It's in love. It's in sharing. But most of all, it's in being at peace with yourself knowing that you are making the effort, the full effort, to do what is right.

when we are out of sympathy with the young, our work in this world is over.

I have prepared for death all of my life by the life I lived." Socrates was at peace with himself.

A player who makes a team great is more valuable than a great player. Losing yourself for the group, for the good of the group — that's teamwork.