John Wooden

John Wooden

John Robert Wooden (October 14, 1910 – June 4, 2010) was an American basketball player and head coach at the University of California at Los Angeles. Nicknamed the "Wizard of Westwood," he won ten NCAA national championships in a 12-year period as head coach at UCLA, including a record seven in a row. 

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The worst thing about new books is that they keep us from reading the old ones.

Things turn out best for the people who make the best of the way things turn out.

The most important thing in the world is family and love.

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

I like to spend time in the past with the things that have been important to me.

Defense is a definite part of the game and a great part of defense is learning to play it without fouling.

You can't let praise or criticism get to you. It's a weakness to get caught up in either one.

Well if you're true to yourself you're going to be true to everyone else.

Success is peace of mind which is a direct result of self-satisfaction in knowing you did your best to become the best you are capable of becoming.

It's what you learn after you know it all that counts.

Young people need models not critics.

Whatever you do in life surround yourself with smart people who'll argue with you.

Adversity is the state in which man most easily becomes acquainted with himself being especially free of admirers then.

I found golf was too time consuming but I did enjoy it.

Discipline yourself and others won't need to.

I'm not afraid to die.

I think the teaching profession contributes more to the future of our society than any other single profession.

Today is the only day. Yesterday is gone.

When you hurry you're more apt to make mistakes. But you have to be quick. If you're not quick you can't get things done.

It's the little details that are vital. Little things make big things happen.

Success is never final failure is never fatal. It's courage that counts.

My eyesight is not nearly as good. My hearing is probably going away. My memory is slipping too. But I'm still around.

If you're not making mistakes then you're not doing anything. I'm positive that a doer makes mistakes.

A coach is someone who can give correction without causing resentment.

If I am through learning I am through.

I'm not going to say I was opposed to the Vietnam War. I'm going to say I'm opposed to war. But I'm also opposed to protests that deny other people their rights.

I was built up from my dad more than anyone else.

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.

It's not so important who starts the game but who finishes it.

What you are as a person is far more important than what you are as a basketball player.

I think you have to be what you are. Don't try to be somebody else. You have to be yourself at all times.

Failure is not fatal but failure to change might be.

I seldom was ever off my seat on the bench during the game.

Don't give up on your dreams or your dreams will give up on you.

I talked to the players and tried to make them aware of what was good and bad but I didn't try to run their lives.

Earn the right to be proud and confident.

You can do more good by being good than any other way.

Never mistake activity for achievement.

I'm no wizard and I don't like being thought of in that light at all. I think of a wizard as being some sort of magician or something doing something on the sly or something and I don't want to be thought of in that way.

Don't let making a living prevent you from making a life.

Do not let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do.

I don't believe in fate.

The main ingredient of stardom is the rest of the team.

I don't believe in praying to win.

Success is peace of mind which is a direct result of self-satisfaction in knowing you made the effort to become the best of which you are capable.

Material possessions winning scores and great reputations are meaningless in the eyes of the Lord because He knows what we really are and that is all that matters.

Talent is God given. Be humble. Fame is man-given. Be grateful. Conceit is self-given. Be careful.

You can't live a perfect day without doing something for someone who will never be able to repay you.

Consider the rights of others before your own feelings and the feelings of others before your own rights.

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.

If there's anything you could point out where I was a little different it was the fact that I never mentioned winning.

No one can really honestly be the very best no one.

Don't measure yourself by what you have accomplished but by what you should have accomplished with your ability.

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.

If you don't have time to do it right when will you have time to do it over?

I'm glad I was a teacher.

Never lie never cheat never steal.

I'd rather have a lot of talent and a little experience than a lot of experience and a little talent.

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

Passion is momentary, love is enduring.

Be prepared and be honest.

Winning takes talent to repeat takes character.

It isn't what you do but how you do it.

I think permitting the game to become too physical takes away a little bit of the beauty.

Success comes from knowing that you did your best to become the best that you are capable of becoming.

Love is the most important thing in the world. Hate we should remove from the dictionary.

There's as much crookedness as you want to find. There was something Abraham Lincoln said - he'd rather trust and be disappointed than distrust and be miserable all the time. Maybe I trusted too much.

If I were a young coach today I would be extremely careful in selecting assistants.

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.

I've been blessed in so many ways.

All of life is peaks and valleys. Don't let the peaks get too high and the valleys too low.

Be more concerned with your character than your reputation because your character is what you really are while your reputation is merely what others think you are.

Ability is a poor man's wealth.

We can have no progress without change whether it be basketball or anything else.

Well your greatest joy definitely comes from doing something for another especially when it was done with no thought of something in return.

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