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John Wooden Quotes

20 quotes from John Wooden — Legendary UCLA basketball coach who won 10 NCAA championships in 12 years, including 7 in a row..

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

Perseverance

Never mistake activity for achievement.

Leadership

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

Character

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.

Character

Be quick, but don't hurry.

Leadership

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

Resilience

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

Service

Winning takes talent; to repeat takes character.

Success

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

Excellence

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

Innovation

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

Courage

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

Attention

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

Success

Make each day your masterpiece.

Motivation

I never talked about winning to our players. When you start thinking about winning, you stop thinking about doing your job.

John Wooden

The Wooden Effect — where you concentrate your resources on your very best opportunities — is the fundamental principle behind Berkshire Hathaway.

Charlie Munger

I think they're permitting the game to become a little too physical today. I've been watching the games in the tournament. There's not a game when you don't see them on the floor a good part of the time. I think permitting the game to become too physical takes away a little bit of the beauty.

John Wooden, in his NPR interview at age 96

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

John Wooden

How does one assess John Wooden? How does one assess a giant? Coach was gifted in so many ways that it is difficult to pin him down in a few words.

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, on Wooden's death

There is this perception of John Wooden that he is this saint-like creature and so calm, so reserved. But there is also the side of Coach Wooden that he is this caged tiger.

Bill Walton, on ESPN's SportsCentury

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