Quotessence
Home / Authors / John Wooden
John Wooden

John Wooden Quotes

Basketball player

Filter quotes by topic

AllBasketballCoachingIfsCoachesNbaPlayerSportsUclaTeamMotivationalBasketball CoachingWinningInspirationalPeopleThinkingMotivational BasketballEffortMotivational SportsShouldGiving

Famous John Wooden Quotes

“If you spend too much time learning the 'tricks' of the trade, you may not learn the trade. There are no shortcuts. If you're working on finding a short cut, the easy way, you're not working hard enough on the fundamentals. You may get away with it for a spell, but there is no substitute for the basics. And the first basic is good, old fashioned hard work.”

IfsWayFirstsMayHardEnoughEasyToo MuchCuttingHard WorkFindingsFundamentalsTradeTricksGet AwaySubstitutesSpellsOld FashionedBasicsShortcutsEasy WayShort Cuts
Author:John Wooden
Create image

“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.”

IfsWantGivingFeelsShouldTryingI CanEndsCertainGamesFunBitsSportsPleasureBoysPracticePlayerWorstAmountCriticismPraiseConstantNotesPrivilegeDenyPunishmentReminders
Author:John Wooden
Create image

“A Dominican monk, Father Henri Didon, used it as a watchword for his pupils in sports at Arcueil College in Paris. Baron Pierre De Coubertin, founder of the modern Olympics, made it the Olympic Games ideal adopted at the Antwerp Games in 1920. I never mentioned winning to my players. I mentioned constantly that all I wanted them to do was the best they could. If they're good enough, the score will be to their liking; if they're not, it won't be but that's nothing to hang their head about. Sometimes the other fellow is just better than you are.”

IfsMadeSometimesEnoughWantedUsedFatherGamesWinningSportsPlayerModernCollegeIdealsFellowsMade ItParisScoreGood EnoughFoundersOlympicsAdoptedMonkPupilsBetter Than YouOlympic GamesAntwerp
Author:John Wooden
Create image

“What it comes down to, I believe, is that mentoring often involves telling people what they need to hear, rather than what they want to hear. When you are able to be humbly honest with someone about a situation with which you have personal experience-even if you risk angering or hurting that person-you are offering the most valuable gift of all.”

PeopleIfsWantNeedsBelievePersonsAbleI BelieveHurtSituationRiskHonestValuableOfferingMentorPersonal ExperiencesMentoring
Author:John Wooden
Create image