John Wooden Quotes

The only discipline that lasts is self-discipline.

The rivalry is with ourself. I try to be better than is possible. I fight against myself, not against the other.

Make yourself do unpleasant things so as to gain the upper hand of your soul.

because the hardest boss a man can ever have is himself.

No man is such a conqueror, as the one that has defeated himself.

If you want to overcome the whole world, overcome yourself.

The most important battle is one to conquer yourself.

Every attainment, every step forward in knowledge, follows from courage, from hardness against oneself, from cleanliness in relation to oneself.

Winning isn't getting ahead of others. It's getting ahead of yourself.

In reading the lives of great men, I found that the first victory they won was over themselves... self-discipline with all of them came first.

Do not forget: seek to win all your battles, including those you fight against yourself. Do not fear the scars. Do not be afraid of victory.

He who overcomes others has force; he who overcomes himself is strong.

The hardest victory is the victory over self.

Conquering others takes force, conquering yourself is true strength.

Discipline, it has been suggested, is the means of human spiritual evolution. What provides the motive, the energy for discipline? This force I believe to be love. I define love thus: The will to extend one's self for the purpose of nurturing one's own or another's spiritual growth.

The highest strength is acquired not in overcoming the world, but in overcoming one's self. Learn to be cruel to thyself, to withstand thy appetites, to bear thy sufferings, and thou shalt become free and able.

The only competition that matters is the one that takes place within yourself.

It is hard to keep that which has not been obtained through personal development.

The first and the best victory is to conquer self.

This ability to conquer oneself is no doubt the most precious of all things sports bestows.

Every talent must unfold itself in fighting.

All successes begin with Self-Discipline. It starts with you.

Self-respect leads to self-discipline.

Self-respect is the fruit of discipline.