These John Wooden quotes showcase the wisdom, intelligence, and winning attitude of the most successful college basketball coach ever. Sharpen your pencils, and take notes.
Best John Wooden Quotes
- Never mistake activity for achievement.
- Don’t let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do.
- Be more concerned with your character than with your reputation. Your character is what you really are while your reputation is merely what others think you are.
- The main ingredient of stardom is the rest of the team.
- The most important key to achieving great success is to decide upon your goal and launch, get started, take action, move.
Good John Wooden Quotes
- Do not let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do.
- Although I wanted my players to work to win, I tried to convince them they had always won when they had done their best.
- It’s what you learn after you know it all that counts.
- It’s the little details that are vital. Little things make big things happen.
- Talent is God-given. Be humble. Fame is man-given. Be grateful. Conceit is self-given. Be careful.
Short Sayings from John Wooden
- What you are as a person is far more important than what you are as a basketball player.
- It’s not so important who starts the game but who finishes it.
- You can’t let praise or criticism get to you. It’s a weakness to get caught up in either one.
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Video on John Wooden requiring Bill Walton to get a haircut
On Basketball
- Success comes from knowing that you did your best to become the best that you are capable of becoming.
- Winning takes talent, to repeat takes character.
- Young people need models, not critics.
- Things turn out best for the people who make the best of the way things turn out.
— Mike O’Halloran
Mike has authored three basketball coaching books and is the editor of Sports Feel Good Stories.
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