Vince Lombardi Quotes

“Teams do not go physically flat, they go mentally stale.”

“If you cheat yourself in practice, you'll cheat yourself in a game; and if you cheat in a game, you'll cheat yourself for the rest of your life.”

“Character is the direct result of mental attitude. I believe that character is higher than the intellect. I believe that leadership is in sacrifice, in self-denial, in humility and in the perfectly disciplined will. This is the distinction between great and little men.”

“Gentlemen, this is the football.”

“Unless you try to do something beyond what you have already mastered, you will never grow. Every job is a self portrait of the person who did it ... Autograph your work with excellence.”

“Winners never quit and quitters never win.”

“To the winner, there is 100-percent elation, 100-percent fun, 100-percent laughter; and yet the only thing left to the loser is resolution and determination.”

“In a game like football, where you have very little time to decide what you are going to do, you have to react almost instinctively, naturally.”

“All right mister, let me tell you that winning means you're willing to go longer, work harder, give more than anyone else.”

“The harder you work, the harder it is to surrender.”

“Coaches who can outline plays on a black board are a dime a dozen. The ones who win get inside their player and motivate.”

“Leadership rests not only upon ability, not only upon capacity; having the capacity to lead is not enough. The leader must be willing to use it. His leadership is then based on truth and character. There must be truth in the purpose and will power in the character.”

“The true measure of a man is how he treats someone who can do him absolutely no good. Ann Landers It's not whether you get knocked down; it's whether you get back up.”

“We didn't lose the game; we just ran out of time.”

“They do not truly love who do not show their love.”

“[Football is] a game that requires the constant conjuring of animosity.”

“Choose to achieve perfection. We won't achieve it because perfection is impossible. But by pursuing perfection, we will achieve excellence.”

“They may not love you at the time, but they will later.”

“It does not matter how many times you get knocked down, but how many times you get up.”

“When you travel with the team and you eat with the team - you eat what the team eats.”

“Show me a good loser, and I'll show you a loser.”

“To me, the big thing in being a successful team is repetition of what you're doing, either by word of mouth, blackboard, or specifically by work on the field. You repeat, repeat, repeat as a unit.”

“When you're tired, you rationalize. You make excuses in your mind. You say, "I'm too tired; I'm bushed; I can't do this; I'll loaf." Then you're a coward.”

“I don't necessarily have to like my players and associates but as their leader I must love them. Love is loyalty, love is teamwork, love respects the dignity of the individual. This is the strength of any organization.”

“The achievements of an organization are the results of the combined effort of each individual.”