Quotes By John Wooden

It's not so important who starts the game but who finishes it.

We can have no progress without change, whether it be basketball or anything else.

I don't believe in fate.

I talked to the players and tried to make them aware of what was good and bad, but I didn't try to run their lives.

What you are as a person is far more important than what you are as a basketball player.

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

I'm no wizard, and I don't like being thought of in that light at all. I think of a wizard as being some sort of magician or something, doing something on the sly or something, and I don't want to be thought of in that way.

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

I'd rather have a lot of talent and a little experience than a lot of experience and a little talent.

Passion is momentary; love is enduring.

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

You can do more good by being good than any other way.

Ability is a poor man's wealth.

Whatever you do in life, surround yourself with smart people who'll argue with you.

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

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.

There's as much crookedness as you want to find. There was something Abraham Lincoln said - he'd rather trust and be disappointed than distrust and be miserable all the time. Maybe I trusted too much.

Talent is God given. Be humble. Fame is man-given. Be grateful. Conceit is self-given. Be careful.

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

Earn the right to be proud and confident.

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.

There are many things that are essential to arriving at true peace of mind, and one of the most important is faith, which cannot be acquired without prayer.

Failure is not fatal, but failure to change might be.

No one can really honestly be the very best, no one.

All of life is peaks and valleys. Don't let the peaks get too high and the valleys too low.

Love is the most important thing in the world. Hate, we should remove from the dictionary.

If I were a young coach today, I would be extremely careful in selecting assistants.

I seldom was ever off my seat on the bench during the game.

The worst thing about new books is that they keep us from reading the old ones.

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