Coach Wooden's Favorite Quotes

Quote, Pyramid Block, Coaching Definition
A good memory is one that can remember the day's blessings and forget the day's troubles
A good place to find a helping hand is at the end of your arm.
A great deal of talent may be lost for the want of a little courage.
A mistake is valuable if you do four things with it: recognize it, admit it, learn from it, forget it.
A person can make mistakes but they are not a failure until they blame others.
A person who trusts people will make fewer mistakes than a person who distrusts them.
A philosopher is a person who meets all events, whether favorable or unfavorable, with calmness and composure
A setback is a setup for a comeback.
Ability is a poor mans wealth.
Ability may get you to the top, but it takes character to keep you there.
Adversity is the state in which man most easily becomes acquainted with himself, being especially free of admirers then.
All change may not be progress, but all progress is the result of change.
Although it may not be possible to determine what happens to you, you should control how you react and respond
Bad times can make you bitter or better.
Be as enthusiastic about the success of others as you are about your own.
Be clever not fancy
Be more concerned with - loving than being loved, giving than receiving, being a friend than having a friend.
Be more concerned with what you can do for others than what others can do for you. You'll be surprised at the results.(Part Two)
Be more concerned with what you can do for others than what others can do for you. You'll be surprised at the results.(Part One)
Be more concerned with your character than with your reputation as your character is what you really are while your reputation is merely what others think you are.
Be most interested in finding the best way, not in having your own way.
Be quick but do not hurry.
Be slow to criticize and quick to commend.
Be True to Yourself
Big things are accomplished only through the perfection of minor details.
Consider the rights of others before your own feelings, and the feelings of others before your own rights.
Content makes poor men rich, discontent makes rich men poor.
Discipline Yourself and Others Won't Need To
Do not get so concerned with making a living that you forget to make a life.
Do not permit what you cannot do to interfere with what you can do.
Don't count the days, make the day count.
Don't let yesterday take up too much of today.
Don't Mistake Activity for Achievement
Don't permit fear of failure to prevent effort. We are all imperfect and will fail on occasions, but fear of failure is the greatest failure of all.
Don't Whine, Don't Complain, Don't Make Excuses
Dont let your means keep you from your dreams.
Drink Deeply From Good Books
Dwelling in the past prevents doing something in the present.
Earn the right to be proud and confident.
Failure to prepare is preparing to fail.
Fairness is giving all people the treatment they earn and deserve. It doesn't mean treating everyone alike.
Forget the favors you have given--remember those received.
Goals achieved with little effort are seldom worthwhile or lasting.
God grant me the courage to change the things I can change, the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, and the wisdom to know the difference.(Part Two)
Grant me the courage to change the things I can change, the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, and the wisdom to know the difference. (Part One)
Gratitude is a duty which ought to be paid, but which none have a right to expect.
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; shallow minds discuss people.
He who is really kind can never be unhappy; He who is really wise can never be confused; He who is really brave is never afraid.
He who has a why to live can bear almost any how.
Hear no ill of a friend, nor speak any of an enemy.
Honors are very fleeting, just as fame is; cherish friendship more.
Hustle makes up for many a mistake
I am not what I want to be, not what I ought to be, and not what I am going to be but I am thankful I am not what I used to be.
I will get ready and then, perhaps, my chance will come.
If I am through learning, I am through.
If I were ever prosecuted for my religion, I truly hope there would be enough evidence to convict me.
If we magnified blessings as much as we magnify disappointments, we would all be much happier.
If we magnified our blessings as much as we magnify disappointments, we would all be much happier.
If you always tell the truth, you will not have to remember what you said.
If you are afraid of criticism, you will die doing nothing. (Part One)
If you are afraid of criticism, you will die doing nothing. (Part Two)
If you are going nowhere, you'll get there.
If you do not have the time to do it right, when will you have time to do it over?
If you keep too busy learning the tricks of the trade, you may never learn the trade.
If you lose self-control everything will fail.
If you sacrifice principle trying to please everyone, you end up pleasing no one.
It is amazing how much can be accomplished if no one is concerned who gets the credit.
It is better to trust and occasionally be disappointed than to mistrust and be miserable all the time.
It is one of the most beautiful compensations of this life that no man can sincerely help another without helping himself.
It is the little details that make things work.
It is what you learn after you know it all that counts.
It takes a lot of little things to make one big thing.
It's not what you think you are, but what you think.
Keep a cheerful, optimistic disposition. Think positively rather than negatively. Sincere optimism builds confidence and courage.
Keep courtesy and consideration of others foremost in your mind at home and away.
Kindness in words creates confidence, Kindness in thinking creates profoundness, Kindness in giving creates love.
Kindness is a language which the blind can see and the deaf can hear.
Knowledge + preparation + attention to detail = skill
Learn as if you were going to live forever, live as if you were to die tomorrow.
Learn to disagree without being disagreeable.
Let me give so much time to the improvement of myself that I shall have no time to criticize others.
Let us overcome the angry man with gentleness, the evil man with goodness, the miser with generosity, the liar with truth.
Listen If You Want To Be Heard.
Loyalty like respect must be given before you get it.
Make Each Day Your Masterpiece
Make friendship a fine art.
Make sure the team members know they're working with you, not for you
Material things are not gifts but apologies for gifts. The only true gift is a portion of thyself.
More often than we e'er suspect, the lives of others we affect.
Most anyone can handle adversity, but to test a person's character, give them power.
Much of what we see depends on what we are seeking.
Never Lie, Never Cheat, Never Steal
Never make excuses. Your friends don't need them and your foes won't believe them.
Never try for a laugh at another's expense.
Never try to be better than someone else; but always be learning from others.
No human life is ever really finished as long as there is someone to remember it.
Not all change is progress, but there is no progress without change.
Nothing can give you greater joy than doing something for another.
Nothing will work unless you do.
People are usually as happy as they make their mind up to be.
Physical strength is measured by what one can carry, spiritual strength by what one can bear.
Prejudice may be being down on what we are not up on.
Pride is a better motivator then fear.
Real happiness begins where selfishness ends.
Real happiness comes from the things that can not be taken away from you.
Real wealth comes to the fellow who learns that he is paid best for the things he does for nothing.
Respect every opponent, but fear none.
Revenge is the weak pleasure of a little and narrow mind.
Success is never final. Failure is never fatal. It's courage that counts.
Success is peace of mind which is a direct result of self-satisfaction in knowing you made the effort to become the best of which you are capable.
Talent is God given, be humble; fame is man given, be thankful; conceit is self given, be careful. Your feedback is welcome!
The ability to see the good in others and the bad in ourselves is perfect vision.
The best thing a father can do for his children is to love their mother.
The best way to improve the team is to improve our self.
The future may be when you wish you had done what you are not doing now.( Part Two)
The future may be when you wish you had done what you are not doing now.(Part One)
The future may be when you wish you had done what you are not doing now.(Part Three)
The goal is to satisfy not everyone else's expectations, but your own.
The great secret of life is to cultivate the ability to appreciate the things you have, not compare them.
The greatest conquest of man is the conquering of himself
The happiest moments in life come from making someone else happy.
The harder you work, the more luck you will have.
The important thing in life is not what belongs to us, but what we belong to.
The Leader has a sense of humor and a humble spirit and can laugh at her/himself.
The Leader has faith in people. He believes in them, trusts them, and thus draws out the best in them.)
The Leader is a servant. The Leader keeps his eyes on high goals. (Making the world a better place to live by helping others.)
The main ingredient of stardom is the rest of the team
The man who is not afraid of failure seldom has to face it.
The more concerned we become over the things we can't control, the less we will do with the things we can control.
The most important word in our language is love and the second most important word is balance. (Part One: Love)
The most important word in our language is love and the second most important word is balance. (Part Two: Balance)
The people who don't make mistakes are the people who don't do anything.
The person who is afraid to risk failure seldom has to face success. The only real failure is the failure to act when action is required.
The person who usually does what he pleases is seldom pleased with what he does.
The possibility we may fail in the struggle ought not to deter us from the support of a cause we believe to be just. - Abraham Lincoln
The smallest good deed is better than the best intention.
The strength of the pack is the wolf, and the strength of the wolf is the pack.
The time to make friends is before you need them
The true athlete should have character, not be a character.
The uphill climb is slow, but the downhill road is fast.
The worst thing about new books is they keep us from reading the old ones
The worst thing you can do for those you love is the things they could and should do for themselves.
The worst thing you can do for those you love is to do the things they could and should do for themselves.
There are no hopeless situations; there are only people who have grown hopeless about them
There is a wonderful, mystical law of nature that the three things man craves the most in life - happiness, freedom, and peace - are always attained by giving them to someone else.
There is no pillow as soft as a clear conscience.
There is no substitute for hard work and careful planning.
There is so much good in the worst of us, and so much bad in the best of us, there can hardly be room for any of us to talk about the rest of us.
Things turn out best for those who make the best of the way things turn out.
Those who have never suffered adversity, never experience the true meaning of success.
Time spent getting even would be better spent trying to get ahead.
Treat all people with dignity and respect
Valid self-analysis means improvement.
We can do more good by being good than any other way
What is right is more important than who is right.
When everyone thinks alike, no one thinks.
When success turns your head, you face failure.
Wisdom, like the wind, blows on unused, except for those who know the art of sailing.
You are honored for giving, not for receiving.
You can give without loving, but you cannot love without giving
You can not antagonize and influence at the same time.
You cannot antagonize and influence at the same time.
You cannot live a perfect day without doing something for someone without a thought of repayment.
You cannot truly be judged by what others say about you, but you can be judged by what you say about others
You destroy an enemy when you make a friend of him.
You discipline those under your supervision to correct, to help, to improve - not to punish.
You handle things. You work with people.
You have success within; it is up to you to bring it out
You haven't taught until they have learned.
You may be deceived if you trust too much, but you will be in torment if you do not trust enough.
You meet the same people on the way up as you meet on the way down
You must have discipline. You discipline those under your supervision to correct, to help, to improve - not to punish.
You must listen to others if you want others to listen to you.
You'll never know a thing that you didn't learn from someone else
Young people need good models more than they need critics
Young people need models, not critics.