“Don't let yesterday take up too much of today.”

—  John Wooden

Source: Wooden: A Lifetime of Observations and Reflections On and Off the Court

Last update June 3, 2021. History

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John Wooden photo
John Wooden 64
American basketball coach 1910–2010

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“Don't let yesterday use up too much of today.”

Will Rogers (1879–1935) American humorist and entertainer

Misattributed

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“Yesterday's home runs don't win today's games”

Babe Ruth (1895–1948) American baseball player

The earliest quotes similar to this are presented as unattributed folk wisdom, such as this example from 1959:
As Brother Allen of Newsweek indicated, it has been fun, but don't try to rest on your laurels. Always remember, “YESTERDAY’S HOME-RUN DOESN’T COUNT IN TODAY’S GAME,” and today’s game is well under way.
The quote does not begin to be attributed to Babe Ruth until the 1980s, nearly 30 years after its first appearance.
Disputed
Source: F. N. Abbott, "On Your Marks", in [The Palm, vol lxxix, no. 1 (February 1959), Harry L., Bird (ed.), 1959, Champaign, IL, Alpha Tau Omega, 17, http://hdl.handle.net/2027/uiuc.1744313v0079?urlappend=%3Bseq=19]
Source: https://books.google.com/books?id=cQsKAQAAMAAJ&dq=%22Yesterday%27s+home+runs%22&focus=searchwithinvolume&q=Ruth

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“If you fell down yesterday, stand up today.”

H. G. Wells (1866–1946) English writer

The Anatomy of Frustration (1936)

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“Judicial judgment must take deep account…of the day before yesterday in order that yesterday may not paralyze today.”

Felix Frankfurter (1882–1965) American judge

Quoted in National Observer (Silver Spring, Maryland, March 1, 1965).
Other writings

“Do not let your TODAY be stolen by the ghost of yesterday or the "To-Do" list of tomorrow!”

Source: Life, the Truth, and Being Free (2010), p. 36

“Today you feel uplifted. Do not let yesterday and tomorrow bring you down.”

Nachman of Breslov (1772–1810) Ukrainian rabbi

היום אתה חש מרומם. אל תתן לימות האתמול והמחר להשפיל את רוחך
Hayom ata hash m'romam. Al titen l'ymot ha'etmol v'hamahar lehashpil at ruhekha.
Attributed

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“Yesterday's songs
Don't stay around long,
Not much anymore.
Yesterday's words
Don't make themselves heard
Like they did before.”

Neil Diamond (1941) American singer-songwriter

Yesterday's Songs
Song lyrics, On the Way to the Sky (1981)

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