John Wooden Quotes

The people who have sacrificed their view in order to get to the top have very often left no footprints in the sands of time.

Leadership is much less about what you do, and much more about who you are. If you view leadership as a bag of manipulative tricks or charismatic behaviors to advance your own personal interest, then people have every right to be cynical. But if your leadership flows first and foremost from inner character and integrity of ambition, then you can justly ask people to lend themselves to your organization and its mission.

There's more than one way to get to the goal that you want to get to, but once you compromise your own principles, then you're lost. You're really lost.

David Robinson chose to stay at Navy. He talked about commitment, loyalty and values. I wonder how many of us would choose these virtues rather than the chance of becoming a millionaire, especially if you were a college sophomore when you had to make that choice.

One of the great lessons I've learned in athletics is that you've got to discipline your life. No matter how good you may be, you've got to be willing to cut out of your life those things that keep you from going to the top.

Never do a wrong thing to make a friend or keep one; the man who requires you to do so is dearly purchased at a sacrifice.

I've always said that I want to win as many trophies as possible in my career, but not at any price.

My personal code of conduct and compliance with a wide range of government ethics provisions have ensured that I have maintained ethical standards.

The foundation of leadership is your own moral compass. I think the best quality leaders really know where their moral compass is. They get it out when they are making decisions. It's their guide. But not only do you have to have a moral compass and take it out of your pocket, it has to have a true north.

Being responsible sometimes means pissing people off.

[T]he more one is conscious of one's political bias, the more chance one has of acting politically without sacrificing one's aesthetic and intellectual integrity.

Ambition without principle never was long under the guidance of good sense.

Success is not easy and I think everyone should know that hard work and perseverance and being open to giving back are so much more powerful than stepping all over people to get to the top.

Ninety-nine percent of leadership failures are failures of character.

There are certain promises you make that are more sacred than anything that happens in a court of law,I don't care how many Bibles you put your hand on.Some of the promises,it's true,you make to young,before you really have an understanding of what they mean.But once you've made those first promises,other promises are called for.And the thing is you can't deny the new ones without betraying the old ones.The promises get bigger,there are more people to be hurt and disappointed if you don't live up to them.Then, at some point, your called upon to make a promise to a dying man.

A good man knows when to sacrifice himself, a bad man survives but loses his soul.

Integrity is never painless.

No one has needed favours more than I, and generally, few have been less unwilling to accept them; but in this case, favour to me,would be injustice to the public, and therefore I must beg your pardon for declining it.

If we aren't willing to pay a price for our values, then we should ask ourselves whether we truly believe in them at all.

Character is more important than any other leadership trait.

The future success of our nation depends on our ability to understand the difference between right and wrong and to have the strength of character to make the right choices.

Character in many ways is everything in leadership. It is made up of many things, but I would say character is really integrity.

Inventing your dream is the first and biggest step toward making it come true.

One of the reasons that I came forward and sort burned of my life to the ground, and I can't go back and see my family in the United States - I obviously lost my job, which I was quite comfortable with. I lost my home. It was because I felt there was no alternative.