John Wooden Quotes

When I was teaching basketball, I urged my players to try their hardest to improve on that very day, to make that practice a masterpiece.

Too often we get distracted by what is outside our control. You can’t do anything about yesterday. The door to the past has been shut and the key thrown away. You can do nothing about tomorrow. It is yet to come. However, tomorrow is in large part determined by what you do today. So make today a masterpiece. You have control over that.

This rule is even more important in life than basketball. You have to apply yourself each day to become a little better. By applying yourself to the task of becoming a little better each and every day over a period of time, you will become a lot better. Only then will you will be able to approach being the best you can be. It begins by trying to make each day count and knowing you can never make up for a lost day.

Coach Wooden didn’t treat everybody the same; he treated people the way they deserved to be treated.

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.

I thought treating everyone the same was being fair and impartial. Gradually I began to suspect that it was neither fair nor impartial. In fact, it was just the opposite. That’s when I began announcing that team members wouldn’t be treated the same or alike; rather, each one would receive the treatment they earned and deserved.

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

A mentor must always guide, never push. It was my job to listen to them, offer my perspective, and encourage them to pursue the ideals they believed to be true.

A strong leader accepts blame and gives the credit. A weak leader gives blame and accepts the credit.

Perfection is what you are striving for, but perfection is an impossibility. However, striving for perfection is not an impossibility. Do the best you can under the conditions that exist. That is what counts.

Sposobnost može da te dovede na vrh al da bi opstao na vrhu, potreban ti je karakter.

"If a player appeared to be taking it easy in practice, I told him, "Don't think you can make up for it by working twice as hard tomorrow. If you have it within your power to work twice as hard, why aren't you doing it now?

I wanted to win every single game I ever played in or coached. Absolutely. I wanted to win. But, I understood that ultimately the winning or losing may not be under my control. What was under my control was how I prepared myself and our team. I judged my success, my “winning,” on that. It just made more sense.

During the toughest challenges in my life I’ve come to most appreciate all Coach Wooden means to me. The things he would say — “Don’t lie, don’t cheat, don’t steal, don’t whine, don’t complain, don’t make excuses; worry about the things you can control, and not the things you can’t” — were endless. Yet there is an appropriate one for every situation. The real

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.

Lincoln himself once said, “The worst things you can do for those you love are the things they could and should do for themselves.” He fiercely believed in self-sufficiency, and in the maturity and character that struggles and hardships can bring.

The locker rooms were clean when we departed because I asked the players to pick up after themselves. I believe this is just common courtesy. Somebody’s going to have to clean it up, and I see no reason why it shouldn’t be the person who messed it up.