Best 421 quotes of John Wooden on MyQuotes

Make your "yes" mean yes, and your "no" mean no.

Losing is only temporary and not encompassing. You must simply study it, learn from it, and try hard not to lose the same way again. Then you must have the self-control to forget about it.

Love is the most powerful four letter word.

Loyalty is a cohesive force that forges individuals into a team.

Loyalty is very important when things get a little tough, as they often do when the challenge is great. Loyalty is a powerful force in producing one's individual best and more so in producing a team's best.

Make sure that team members know they are working with you, not for you.

Make a decision! Failure to act is often the biggest failure of all.

Make each day a masterpiece. Don't think your best days are out there somewhere. Why not today? Why can't today be a great day? It can if you believe it will.

Make each day a masterpiece.

Make each day your masterpiece. Life is now. Life is not later on.

Make every day your masterpiece.

Make friendship a fine art.

Make no mistake, I always want to win, but I never fight with an opponent. My fight is within me it is the struggle to be the best I can be at whatever I do.

Many ... have tremendous God-given gifts, but they don't focus on the development of those gifts. Who are these individuals? You've never heard of them- and you never will .

Many leaders don't listen, and it is one of the greatest methods we have of learning. You need to listen to those under your supervision and to those who are above you.

Material possessions, winning scores, and great reputations are meaningless in the eyes of the Lord, because He knows what we really are and that is all that matters.

Mentors are available at all stages of your leadership life - early, middle and late. Seek them out and listen; absorb their knowledge and use it.

Mix idealism with realism and add hard work. This will often bring much more than you could ever hope for.

Most people think of poise as calm, self-assured dignity; but I call it “just being you”.

Motivating through fear may work in the short term to get people to do something, but over the long run I believe personal pride is a much greater motivator. It produces far better results that last for a much longer time.

My assistants and I often would spend more time planning a practice than the actual practice itself

My bench never heard me mention winning. My whole emphasis was for each one of my players to try to learn to execute the fundamentals to the best of their ability. Not to try to be better than somebody else, but to learn from others, and never cease trying to be the best they could be; that's what I emphasized more than anything else.

My eyesight is not nearly as good. My hearing is probably going away. My memory is slipping too. But I'm still around.

My philosophy of defense is to keep the pressure on an opponent until you get to his emotions

Never be thrown off stride in how you behave or what you believe in because of outside events.

Never complain about the officiating. It does no good. During the game I don't want to be fighting two opponents.

Never confuse activity with accomplishment.

Never did I want to call the first time-out during a game. Never. I wanted UCLA to come out and run our opponents so hard that they would be forced to call the first time-out just to catch their breath. At that first time-out the opponents would know, and we would know that they knew, who was in better condition. This has a psychological impact.

Never lie; never cheat; never steal. Don't whine; don't complain; don't make excuses.

Never lie, never cheat, never steal.

Never mistake activity for achievement.

Never try to be better than somebody else. But most importantly, never cease trying to be the best you can be.

Never try to be better than someone else. Learn from others.

Next to love, balance is the most important thing.

Nobody is a real loser-until they start blaming somebody else.

Nobody is defeated until he starts blaming somebody else. My advice to you is don't fix the blame. Fix the problem.

No building is better than its structural foundation, and no man (woman) is better than his (her) mental foundation. When I prepared my original Success Pyramid years ago, I put industriousness and enthusiasm as the two cornerstones with LOYALTY right in the middle of the pyramid - Loyalty to yourself and to all those dependent upon you.

No individual should take the blame for a loss, because no individual should get the credit for a victory.

No matter how you total success in the coaching profession it all comes down to a single factor - talent. There may be a hundred great coaches of whom you have never heard in basketball, football, or any sport who will probably never receive the acclaim they deserve simply because they have not been blessed with the talent. Although not every coach can win consistently with talent, no coach can win without it.

Not everyone is equipped to be a leader, but in a sense, everyone is a leader to someone, even though you're not equipped. I think parents are a leader to youngsters, teacher are leaders, coaches are leaders, businessmen are leaders.

Once you become a good person, then you have a chance of becoming a good basketball player.

One of my constant reminders was, "End practice on a happy note." I wanted the boys to want to come out to practice, and I wanted them to get a certain amount of pleasure out of basketball. It's a game. It should be fun. So I always tried to counterbalance any criticism in practice with a bit of praise. I wanted my players to feel that the worst punishment I could give them was to deny them the privilege of practicing. If they did not want to practice, I did not want them there.

One of the greatest motivating factors is the pat on the back, although with some individuals, you have to make the pat a little lower or a little harder.

One of the greatest motivating things that a coach has is the bench. They all love to play, all of them. You sit them on the bench, and they come around pretty good.

Opponents are working very hard to defeat us. Let's not do it for them by defeating ourselves from within.

Others may have more ability than you, they may be larger, faster, quicker, better jumpers ... but no one should be your superior in respect to team spirit, loyalty, enthusiasm, cooperation, determination, industriousness, fight effort, and character.

Our land is everything to us.... I will tell you one of the things we remember on our land. We remember that our grandfathers paid for it - with their lives.

Our titles would not have been possible without the unselfishness displayed by all our teams, the team wins, not the individuals

Over-coaching can be more harmful than under-coaching. Keep it simple!

Parenting is the most important profession in the world.