John Wooden Quotes

I believe in the basics: attention to, and perfection of, tiny details that might be commonly overlooked. They may seem trivial, perhaps even laughable to those who don’t understand, but they aren’t. They are fundamental to your progress in basketball, business, and life. They are the difference between champions and near champions.

For example, at the first squad meeting each season, held two weeks before our first actual practice, I personally demonstrated how I wanted players to put on their socks each and every time: Carefully roll the socks down over the toes, ball of the foot, arch and around the heel, then pull the sock up snug so there will be no wrinkles of any kind.

Some of those under your supervision will catch on quickly, others not. Understanding that patience is an integral part of good teaching and effective leadership allowed me to accept the varying speeds at which people learn and to accommodate, within reason, those differences. Patience became an asset for me rather than a liability. I came to understand that good things take time.

You can't live a perfect day unless you do something for someone who will never be able to repay you.

Condition Your Team to Love the Struggle.

there are no big things, only a logical accumulation of little things done at a very high standard of performance.

You must be interested in finding the best way, not in having your own way.

Never make excuses. Your friends don't need them and your foes won't believe them.

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

I believe that things are directed in some sort of way. I’m not exactly sure how. I also believe that things turn out best for those who make the best of the way things turn out.

A coach’s primary function should be not to make better players, but to make better people.

Be more concerned with character than reputation. Character is what you are, reputation is what people think you are.

If you don’t have time to do it right, when will you have time to do it again?

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

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

will do the best I am capable of doing today to bring out my best tomorrow.