70 Phil Jackson Quotes From The Basketball Player & Chicago Bulls Coach

Phil Jackson is a former American basketball player and one of the best coaches NBA has ever seen.

As a coach, he surprised his teams with a total of 11 NBA titles. He modernized basketball coaching and its technique.

He is also the author of the book 'Eleven Rings' where he generously shared his agendas about basketball. Phil is also called the "Zen Master" due to his practice of Eastern Zen philosophy.

After his long journey, he finally retired as a coach in 2011. His journey in basketball has been an amazing one and these Phil Jackson championships quotes given below will encourage you to play more and worry less.

If you like Phil Jackson quotes, check out NBA quotes and Larry Bird quotes.

Best Phil Jackson Quotes

Here's a list of best Phil Jackson quotes that include Phil Jackson quotes on basketball, Phil Jackson quotes about teams, and quotes on success. Check out Phil Jackson quotes below.

1. "Wisdom is always an overmatch for strength."

- Phil Jackson.

2. "Derek Fisher—was a natural leader with exceptional emotional intelligence and finely tuned management skills."

- Phil Jackson.

3. "You have to be able to psychologically help your players, support-wise, be in touch with them, so I think managing people is very important."

- Phil Jackson.

4. "Leadership is not about forcing your will on others. It's about mastering the art of letting go."

- Phil Jackson.

5. "What concerned me most were some of the younger players eager to make a name for themselves with the ESPN SportsCenter crowd."

- Phil Jackson.

6. "You're only a success for the moment that you complete a successful act."

- Phil Jackson.

7. "What I liked about basketball was how interconnected everything was."

- Phil Jackson.

8. "The old Knicks were used to taking responsibility for our own laundry... and strange as it may sound, washing our own uniforms had a unifying effect on the team."

- Phil Jackson.

9. "My brother Joe often talks about faith being one of the two things that can help you cope with fear. The other is love."

- Phil Jackson.

10. "The most we can hope for is to create the best possible conditions for success, then let go of the outcome."

- Phil Jackson.

11. "Winning was fine—in fact, my mother was one of the most fiercely competitive people I’ve ever met—but reveling in your own success was considered an insult to God."

- Phil Jackson.

12. "Maybe I should have ended it there, with the crowd roaring and confetti raining down. But life is never quite so well scripted."

- Phil Jackson.

Phil Jackson Motivational Quotes

These Phil Jackson quotes will encourage you to put in your maximum effort and strength to achieve your goal. Check out these Phil Jackson quotes 'best highs and lows'.

13. "No matter how gaudy or cumbersome a championship ring maybe, the dream of winning one is what motivates players to put themselves through the trials of a long NBA season."

- Phil Jackson.

14. "What I discovered after years of meditation practice is that... you start developing a much deeper awareness of what’s going on, right here, right now."

- Phil Jackson.

15. "But if a team doesn’t have the most essential ingredient—love—none of those other factors matter."

- Phil Jackson.

16. "I’ve always been impressed by Kobe’s resilience and ironclad self-confidence... If someone set the bar at ten feet, he’d jump eleven."

- Phil Jackson.

17. "From that point on, I felt confident enough to throw my whole mind, body, and soul into what I loved—and that, as much as anything, has been the secret of my success in sports."

- Phil Jackson.

18. "Good teams become great ones when the members trust each other enough to surrender the me for the we."

- Phil Jackson.

19. "As an adult, I’ve tried to break free from that early conditioning and develop a more open-minded, personally meaningful way of being in the world."

- Phil Jackson.

20. "I mean that deep feeling of camaraderie that arises when a group of players makes a commitment to stand up for one another to achieve something greater than themselves."

- Phil Jackson.

21. "The bigger your head, the easier to fill your shoes."

- Phil Jackson.

22. "Hearing the unheard. That’s a skill everyone in the group needs, not just the leader."

- Phil Jackson.

23. "If we can accept whatever hand we've been dealt - no matter how unwelcome - the way to proceed eventually becomes clear."

- Phil Jackson.

Phil Jackson Zen Quotes

Here are some Phil Jackson quotes from his Zen belief practices that he believes brought him success.

24. "I experimented with a wide range of ideas and practices, from Christian mysticism to Zen meditation and Native American rituals."

- Phil Jackson.

25. "Zen encourages practitioners to question everything."

- Phil Jackson.

26. "What appealed to me about Zen practice was its inherent simplicity."

- Phil Jackson.

27. "When I joined the Bulls in 1987 as an assistant coach, my colleague Tex Winter taught me a system, known as the triangle offense, that aligned perfectly with the values of selflessness and mindful awareness I’d been studying in Zen Buddhism."

- Phil Jackson.

28. "Practicing Zen not only helped me become more acutely aware of what was happening in the present moment but also slowed down my experience of time because it diminished my tendency to rush into the future or get lost in the past."

- Phil Jackson.

29. "Three aspects of Zen have been critical to me as a leader: Giving up control, trusting the moment, and living with compassion."

- Phil Jackson.

30. "There’s a Zen saying I often cite that goes, 'Before enlightenment, chop wood, carry water. After enlightenment, chop wood, carry water'."

- Phil Jackson.

31. "The first thing I did with the Bulls was to teach the players an abbreviated version of mindfulness meditation based on the Zen practice I’d been doing for years."

- Phil Jackson.

32. "Zen is pragmatic, down to earth, and open to exploration. It doesn’t require you to subscribe to a certain set of principles or take anything on faith."

- Phil Jackson.

33. "My struggle to come to terms with my anger reminds me of an old Zen story."

- Phil Jackson.

Phil Jackson Quotes About Basketball

Check out these basketball motivation quotes and motivational basketball quotes from the excellent basketball personality Phil Jackson that will win anyone's heart.

34. "The best analogy I can think of is the intense emotional connection that great warriors experience in the heat of battle."

- Phil Jackson.

35. "Basketball takes place at such a lightning pace that it’s easy to make mistakes and get obsessed with what just happened or what might happen next."

- Phil Jackson.

36. "In basketball - as in life - true joy comes from being fully present in each and every moment, not just when things are going your way."

- Phil Jackson.

37. "Basketball players don’t risk their lives every day like soldiers in Afghanistan, but in many ways the same principle applies."

- Phil Jackson.

38. "In basketball, you need to go inside first before you can go to your shooters and cutters for easy baskets."

- Phil Jackson.

39. "Basketball is a simple game... and there are three ways to do that. Pass, dribble and offensive rebound."

- Phil Jackson.

40. "We were playing the game the way the 'basketball gods' had ordained: reading defenses on the move and reacting in unison like a finely tuned jazz combo."

- Phil Jackson.

41. "The very thing that attracts most people to basketball in the first place: the inherent beauty of the game."

- Phil Jackson.

42. "In basketball, statisticians count when players make assists, or passes that lead to scores."

- Phil Jackson.

43. "The key was getting a critical mass of players to buy into a more selfless approach to the game."

- Phil Jackson.

44. "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."

- Phil Jackson.

45. "Although basketball teams are not officially tribes, they share many of the same characteristics and develop along much the same lines."

- Phil Jackson.

Phil Jackson Book Quotes

Phil Jackson won each and everyone's heart as an efficient basketball player as well as coach. His book 'Eleven Rings' contains many agendas about basketball so here are some of Phil Jackson 'Eleven Rings' quotes.

46. "Success can be measured in many different ways. . . . Either way, I would find the challenge invigorating."

- Phil Jackson.

47. "What fascinates most people about sports is not the endless chatter about strategy that fills the airwaves. It’s what I like to call the spiritual nature of the game."

- Phil Jackson.

48. "I thought it might be useful for the players to have a refresher course on selfless basketball, but this time from a different perspective—that of the Buddha."

- Phil Jackson.

49. "But after more than forty years involved in the game at the highest level, both as a player and as a coach, I can’t think of a truer phrase to describe the mysterious alchemy that joins players together and unites them in pursuit of the impossible."

- Phil Jackson.

50. "Truth be told... I’m phobic about large crowds."

- Phil Jackson.

51. "I’ve always wondered where that power came from and whether I could learn how to tap into it on my own, not just on the basketball court but in the rest of my life as well."

- Phil Jackson.

52. "Even though the game itself is a five-person sport, the culture surrounding it celebrates egoistic behavior and stresses individual achievement over team bonding."

- Phil Jackson.

53. "To be successful at basketball, as author John McPhee once pointed out, you need to have a finely tuned sense of where you are and what’s happening around you at any given moment."

- Phil Jackson.

54. "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."

- Phil Jackson.

55. "As a young player, you tend to focus most of your attention... But now I began to see basketball as a dynamic game of chess in which all the pieces were in motion."

- Phil Jackson.

Phil Jackson Quotes About Coaching

Phil Jackson gave all his efforts to his team as a coach and surprised us with innumerable victories in basketball. Here are some Phil Jackson quotes on coaching and Phil Jackson quotes on teamwork that shows how he built up the strength of his team by reaching each and everyone's heart. Check out Phil Jackson quotes below on basketball.

56. "I was disappointed with our fourth-quarter beginning. We put ourselves in good position, then didn't score for three minutes. We gave it away."

- Phil Jackson.

57. "When I was head coach of the Bulls, the players had to deal with the Michael Jordan media caravan."

- Phil Jackson.

58. "Most coaches I know spend a lot of time focusing on X’s and O’s. I must admit that at times I’ve fallen in that trap myself."

- Phil Jackson.

59. "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."

- Phil Jackson.

60. "I had just spent the past five years as head coach of the Albany Patroons and had experimented with all kinds of ideas about how to make the game more equitable and collaborative."

- Phil Jackson.

61. "What I love about Monk’s list is his basic message about the importance of awareness, collaboration, and having clearly defined roles, which apply as much to basketball as they do to jazz."

- Phil Jackson.

62. "The two teams were both tired, but we were able to ride a little energy in the second half. We were able to build a lead that was tough to overcome."

- Phil Jackson.

63. "I’d ask them to commit to being coached that season, saying, God has ordained me to coach you young men, and I embrace the role I’ve been given."

- Phil Jackson.

64. "Kobe respected Derek’s mental discipline and dependability under pressure, and Derek knew how to get through to Kobe in a way that nobody else could."

- Phil Jackson.

65. "The key is to train each player to read the defense and react appropriately. This allows the team to move together in a coordinated manner."

- Phil Jackson.

66. "We won the league championship during my first season as coach, and I discovered that I had a gift for making adjustments during games and getting the most out of the talent on the roster."

- Phil Jackson.

67. "As I see it, my job as a coach was to make something meaningful out of one of the most mundane activities on the planet: playing pro basketball."

- Phil Jackson.

68. "Ever since I started coaching in the CBA, I’d been looking for a system of offense that approximated the selfless ball movement we’d used with the championship Knicks."

- Phil Jackson.

69. "Coaching the Lakers was like having a wild, tempestuous fling with a beautiful woman. And now it was time to move on and try something new."

- Phil Jackson.

70. "We're exploring life without Shaq,... and enjoying it, too."

- Phil Jackson.

Here at Kidadl, we have carefully created lots of interesting family-friendly quotes for everyone to enjoy! If you liked our suggestions for Phil Jackson quotes then why not take a look at Pat Summit quotes, or basketball quotes.