- “What moves me is watching young men bond together and tap into the magic that arises when they focus—with their whole heart and soul—on something greater than themselves. Once you’ve experienced that, it’s something you never forget.” Eleven Rings: The Soul of Success. Phil Jackson and Hugh Delehanty. Kindle Loc. 78-79
- “It takes a number of critical factors to win an NBA championship, including the right mix of talent, creativity, intelligence, toughness, and, of course, luck. But if a team doesn’t have the most essential ingredient—love—none of those other factors matter.” Eleven Rings: The Soul of Success. Phil Jackson and Hugh Delehanty. Kindle Loc.108-10
- “I learned to dial back my ego and distribute power as widely as possible without surrendering final authority. Paradoxically, this approach strengthened my effectiveness because it freed me to focus on my job as keeper of the team’s vision.” Eleven Rings: The Soul of Success. Phil Jackson and Hugh Delehanty. KindleLoc.. 210-12
- “Some coaches insist on having the last word, but I always tried to foster an environment in which everyone played a leadership role, from the most unschooled rookie to the veteran superstar. If your primary objective is to bring the team into a state of harmony and oneness, it doesn’t make sense for you to rigidly impose your authority.” Eleven Rings: The Soul of Success. Phil Jackson and Hugh Delehanty. Kindle Loc. 212-14
- “One thing I’ve learned as a coach is that you can’t force your will on people. If you want them to act differently, you need to inspire them to change themselves.” Eleven Rings: The Soul of Success. Phil Jackson and Hugh Delehanty. Kindle Loc. 220-21
- “But I’ve found that a few kinds, thoughtful words can have a strong transformative effect on relationships, even with the toughest men on the team.” Eleven Rings: The Soul of Success. Phil Jackson and Hugh Delehanty. Kindle Loc.298-99
- “What’s more, obsessing about winning is a loser’s game: The most we can hope for is to create the best possible conditions for success, then let go of the outcome. The ride is a lot more fun that way.” Eleven Rings: The Soul of Success. Phil Jackson and Hugh Delehanty. Kindle Loc.358-60
- “Practice doesn’t make perfect,” he used to say. “Perfect practice does.” Eleven Rings: The Soul of Success. Phil Jackson and Hugh Delehanty. Kindle Loc. 471-72
- “In the foreword to his adaptation of Lao-tzu’s Tao TeChing, Stephen Mitchell compares non-action to athletic performance. “A good athlete can enter a state of body-awareness in which the right stroke or the right movement happens by itself, effortlessly, without any interference of the conscious will,” he writes. “This is the paradigm for non-action: the purest and most effective form of action. The game plays the game; the poem writes the poem; we can’t tell the dancer from the dance.” Or as Lao-tzu proclaims in Mitchell’s work: Less and less do you need to force things, until finally, you arrive at non-action. When nothing is done, nothing is left undone.” Eleven Rings: The Soul of Success. Phil Jackson and Hugh Delehanty. Page 238
- “The late Lakers’ broadcaster, Chick Hearn, often used to proclaim when he thought a contest had been decided: “This game’s in the refrigerator, the door is closed, the lights are out, the eggs are cooling, the butter’s getting hard, and the jello’sjigglin!” Eleven Rings: The Soul of Success (Phil Jackson and Hugh Delehanty) Page 332
- “Basketball isn’t a one-person game, even though the media lords sometimes portray it that way. Nor is it a five-person game, for that matter. It’s an intricate dance that includes everything happening at any given moment—the tap of the ball against the rim, the murmur of the crowd, the glint of anger in your opponent’s eyes, the chatter of your own monkey mind.” Eleven Rings: The Soul of Success (Phil Jackson and Hugh Delehanty) Page 335
- “Today’s kids feel tremendous pressure to develop as athletes and play on winning teams. Many will put years of tee-ball, Little League, high school, and college games under their belt, with parents yelling and screaming as life depended on whether you win or lose. Parents fight for positions for their kids on traveling teams and spend thousands of dollars on private coaching, equipment, tournament fees, and airfare. No one pretends it’s about fun for the better players; it’s about preparing them for the next level. Many parents of talented kids see their offspring’s athletic prowess as their own ticket to success. Look at those ballplayers on television making millions. Why not my son? He can play. If I can just get him to focus, to work harder, to spend more time on his drills. Sure, not all parents fall into this category, but today there is a definite tendency to push kids very hard, very early. Look, my parents took me to Little League games, they worked in the concession stand, and they sponsored teams. But they never saw me as a kid destined for stardom, much less their ticket to a life on Easy Street. They wanted me to grow up, go to college, be well-rounded, be what I wanted to be. They didn’t push me. Baseball for me was never a hyper-competitive, pressure-cooker deal as it so often is for so many kids today.” Clearing the Bases (Schmidt, Mike; Waggoner, Glen) Kindle Location 309-318
- “In the foreword to his adaptation of Lao-tzu’s Tao Te Ching, Stephen Mitchell compares non-action to athletic performance. “A good athlete can enter a state of body-awareness in which the right stroke or the right movement happens by itself, effortlessly, without any interference of the conscious will,” he writes. “This is the paradigm for non-action: the purest and most effective form of action. The game plays the game; the poem writes the poem; we can’t tell the dancer from the dance.” Or as Lao-tzu proclaims in Mitchell’s work: Less and less do you need to force things, until finally, you arrive at non-action. When nothing is done, nothing is left undone.” Eleven Rings: The Soul of Success. Phil Jackson and Hugh Delehanty. Page 238