"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."
— John Wooden
Be More Concerned With Your Character
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.
About this quote
This distinction appears in Wooden: A Lifetime of Observations and Reflections (1997) and was one of Wooden's most frequently repeated teachings. He had received a version of it from his father Joshua Wooden, who gave him a handwritten card of seven life principles when John left for college. Wooden argued that character — what one actually does when unobserved — is the only reliable guide to a person's true nature, whereas reputation is merely the product of others' perceptions.
Source
Wooden: A Lifetime of Observations and Reflections, 1997
