John Wooden Quotes

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

I do not have the right, Bill, but I do have the right to say who is going to play on my team and we’re going to miss you.

Never mistake activity for achievement.

Don’t be afraid to fail. The greatest failure of all is not to act when action is needed.

Coach Wooden never mentioned winning. It was always, “Fellas, we’ve got to play to our best. Let’s do that.” That’s a lot different from saying, “Fellas, we’ve got to win.” A lot different.

Organizations Succeed When They Become More Than the Sum of Their Players. That’s one of the real tests of any leader, making the whole more than the sum of its parts. No team will consistently succeed unless the leader is able to achieve this critical goal.

Results matter. They matter a great deal. But if this is an organization’s singular purpose, then the people who sign on are often doing it for the wrong reasons.

you should learn as if you were going to live forever, and live as if you were going to die tomorrow.

True happiness comes from the things that cannot be taken away from you. Making the full effort to do the right thing can never be taken away from you.

Trusting is part of our higher nature. Doubting is a lower instinct. The latter is easy to do, the former more difficult — but so much more rewarding.

The best leaders are lifelong learners; they take measures to create organizations that foster and inspire learning throughout. The most effective leaders are those who realize it’s what you learn after you know it all that counts most.

Even if we were big underdogs I always felt anything could happen. Often enough, I was right. That’s also why I never assumed we were going to win.

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

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

Politeness and courtesy are a small price to pay for the goodwill of others.

when we are out of sympathy with the young, our work in this world is over.