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.
– John Wooden
Don't let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do.
– John Wooden
A coach is someone who can give correction without causing resentment.
– John Wooden
Ability is a poor man's wealth.
– John Wooden
Adversity is the state in which man mostly easily becomes acquainted with himself, being especially free of admirers then.
– John Wooden
Consider the rights of others before your own feelings, and the feelings of others before your own rights.
– John Wooden
Don't measure yourself by what you have accomplished, but by what you should have accomplished with your ability.
– John Wooden
It's what you learn after you know it all that counts.
– John Wooden
The worst thing about new books is that they keep us from reading the old ones.
– John Wooden
Things turn out best for the people who make the best of the way things turn out.
– John Wooden
Ability may get you to the top, but it takes character to keep you there.
– John Wooden
It is what we learn after we think we know it all, that counts.
– John Wooden
You cannot live a perfect day without doing something for someone who will never be able to repay you.
– John Wooden
Sports do not build character. They reveal it.
– John Wooden
You can do more good by being good than any other way.
– John Wooden
Whatever you do in life, surround yourself with smart people who'll argue with you.
– John Wooden
We can have no progress without change, whether it be basketball or anything else.
– John Wooden
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.
– John Wooden
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.
– John Wooden
The most important thing in the world is family and love.
– John Wooden
Talent is God given. Be humble. Fame is man-given. Be grateful. Conceit is self-given. Be careful.
– John Wooden
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.
– John Wooden
Success is never final, failure is never fatal. It's courage that counts.
– John Wooden
Passion is momentary love is enduring.
– John Wooden
No one can really honestly be the very best, no one.
– John Wooden
My eyesight is not nearly as good. My hearing is probably going away. My memory is slipping too. But I'm still around.
– John Wooden
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.
– John Wooden
Love is the most important thing in the world. Hate, we should remove from the dictionary.
– John Wooden
Just do the best you can. No one can do more than that.
– John Wooden
If you're not making mistakes, then you're not doing anything. I'm positive that a doer makes mistakes.
– John Wooden
If you don't have time to do it right, when will you have time to do it over?
– John Wooden
If I am through learning, I am through.
– John Wooden
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.
– John Wooden
I'm glad I was a teacher.
– John Wooden
I'd rather have a lot of talent and a little experience than a lot of experience and a little talent.
– John Wooden
I was built up from my dad more than anyone else.
– John Wooden
I think the teaching profession contributes more to the future of our society than any other single profession.
– John Wooden
I think permitting the game to become too physical takes away a little bit of the beauty.
– John Wooden
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.
– John Wooden
I like to spend time in the past, with the things that have been important to me.
– John Wooden
I found golf was too time consuming, but I did enjoy it.
– 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
Don't give up on your dreams, or your dreams will give up on you.
– John Wooden
Defense is a definite part of the game, and a great part of defense is learning to play it without fouling.
– John Wooden
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.
