I definitely cherish these pearls, these John Wooden quotes. These words of wisdom.
The best college basketball coach ever, and arguably the best basketball coach in the world has so much to bring to the table about life and death and basketball and balance and love.
In fact, the 2 most important words in the dictionary according to John R. Wooden are love and balance.
His philosophy about basketball was quite different and never before seen at the time.
Wooden was going against the current. When every coach talked basketball and winning games he was talking life and having peace of mind. He didn’t allow dunks during practice because he thought that that makes you think of yourself and how much you can be a show off.
John knows that there are times when you can dunk the ball, for example when making a run on a fast break but he didn’t like to see that. His winning team, never heard him say anything about winning. Never.
He preached about having that peace of mind when you know you’ve given your “all” and you’ve been the best you can possibly be. Get everybody involved.
Make every player better around. And as a result, this man, often called the “Wizard of Westwood” has won, unprecedented 10 NCAA championship in 12 years. No one ever comes close.
Here are 24 John Wooden quotes..
“Be humble. Be grateful. Be careful. Be wooden”
“You can’t live a perfect day without doing something for someone who will never be able to repay you”
“Discipline yourself and others won’t need to”
“Talent is God given. Be humble. Fame is man-given. Be grateful. Conceit is self-given. Be careful”
“Parenting is the most important profession”
“Young people need models, not critics”
“It’s the little details that are vital. Little things make big things happen”
“A coach is someone who can give correction without causing resentment”
“Success is never final, failure is never fatal. It’s courage that counts”
“Stubborness we deprecate, firmness we condone, the former is our neighbors trait, the latter is our own”
“Don’t measure yourself by what you have accomplished, but what you should have accomplished with your ability”
“Things turn out best for the people who make the best of the way things turn out”
“Success comes from knowing that you did your best to become the best that you are capable of becoming”
Failure is not fatal, but failure to change might be”
“It is most difficult, in my mind, to separate any success, whether it be in your profession, your family, or as in my case, in basketball, from religion.”
“Success is peace of mind that is the direct result of self-satisfaction in knowing you did your best to become the best that you are capable of becoming”
“Consider the rights of others before your own feelings, and the feelings of others before your own rights”
“Winning takes talent, to repeat takes character”
“Never mistake activity for achievement”
“You can’t let praise or criticism get to you. It’s a weakness to get caught up in either one”
“It’s what you learn after you know it all that counts”
“Be most interested in find the best way , not in having your own way”
“If you’re not making mistakes, then you’re not doing anything. I’m positive that a doer makes mistakes”
If you liked these John Wooden quotes, check out some other ones I have..