Quotes by Tom Landry

Football is to Texas what religion is to a priest.

You don't have to drink or swear or hit people in the face when they're not looking, but you do have to be tough to win.

If you were to see me as a cheerleader, that would mean I was only watching instead of thinking.

I probably should have gotten out, but I really enjoyed the challenge of bringing a team to that game. In fact, I probably enjoy the challenge of it more than the actual game.

I try to block out everything that distracts me. Even a big play, I blank it out.

If you eliminate our way of life, the American way of life, what is the effect... what are the alternatives?

I've come to the conclusion that players want to be treated alike.

My hats did give me an identity. In fact, if I had a dollar for every time someone has seen me bareheaded and said, 'I almost didn't recognize you without a hat on', I could have bought the Cowboys myself.

Look at Bjorn Borg or Jack Nicklaus. Those guys really concentrate. With the world on their shoulders, they're so absorbed with what they're doing.

People striving, being knocked down and coming back... this is what builds character in a man.

A coach is someone who tells you what you don't want to hear, who has you see what you don't want to see, so you can be who you have always known you could be.

The job of a football coach is to make men do what they don't want to do, in order to achieve what they've always wanted to be.

As a Christian, I know my life is in God's hands. He has a plan for me. Therefore, I never worry about tomorrow or never worry about winning or losing football games. That knowledge gives me a lot of composure in tough situations.

To live a disciplined life, and to accept the result of that discipline as the will of God -- that is the mark of a man.

A champion is simply someone who did not give up when he wanted to.

I'd rather have a second-best decision diligently pursued than a first-best decision lackadaisically pursued.

Coaching is making men do what they don't want, so they can become what they want to be.

A vital team characteristic is the ability to overcome adversity. Any team acquires experience and endurance as it learns to fight back. This in turn builds the kind of character which seldom crumbles at a time of crisis or testing.

I like the South because it is so much warmer on the sidelines than it is up North.

Leadership is getting someone to do what they don't want to do but to achieve what they want to achieve.

First become a winner in life. Then it's easier to become a winner on the field.

Even after you've just won the Super Bowl -- especially after you've just won the Super Bowl -- there's always next year. If Winning isn't everything; it's the only thing, then the only thing is nothing -- emptiness, the nightmare of life without ultimate meaning.

The more successful you become, the longer the yardstick people use to measure you by.

If you show emotion in competition, temporarily, you'll be ineffective. If you're disciplined enough, you don't get down when you're behind, and you have a chance to create something positive.

There's a misconception about teamwork. Teamwork is the ability to have different thoughts about things; it's the ability to argue and stand up and say loud and strong what you feel. But in the end, it's also the ability to adjust to what is the best for the team.

If you don't win a Super Bowl, you're not considered successful in the National Football League. I can remember, when we finally won that first one, feeling so good for the players and fans.

A team that has character doesn't need stimulation.

The greatest thing is to win your first Super Bowl.

Once you learn to quit it becomes a habit.

The quality of a man's life is in direct proportion to his commitment to excellence.

Every coach has his own style of play, but when you spend your whole life as a Cowboy, you have to be influenced by what we did.

If you don't believe in winning, you don't believe in free enterprise, capitalism, our way of life.

I didn't believe in team motivation. I believe in getting a team prepared so it knows it will have the necessary confidence when it steps on the field and be prepared to play a good game.

There are coaches to whom winning or losing means something close to life or death. If they lose, then their life has somehow been diminished. I'm not that way, and it keeps me steady.

When a big play occurs for our team, I'm concentrating on how the defense is reacting to it. Most of the time, I don't see the great catch or the long run. What I'm looking at is how the other team defended it.

Achievement builds character.

Character is the ability of a person to see a positive end of things. This is the hope that a man of character has.

Right after the game, say as little as possible.

Football is an incredible game. Sometimes it's so incredible, it's unbelievable.

I wouldn't think I would coach again, because it would just be hard not being in the Cowboys' blue.

I don't believe in team motivation. I believe in getting a team prepared so it knows it will have the necessary confidence when it steps on a field and be prepared to play a good game.

I know that life is really finding the right relationship between yourself and God.

I've learned that something constructive comes from every defeat.

If I had to pick my greatest strength as a football coach, I say it would be innovation.

I just didn't want to leave the Cowboys when they were down. I at least wanted them to get into a respectable position before anyone else took over.

Generally, achieving goals... which in many cases means winning... is really the ultimate in this life we live in.

Setting a goal is not the main thing. It is deciding how you will go about achieving it and staying with that plan.

Take away winning, and you take away everything that is strong about America.

The secret to winning is constant, consistent management.

I learned early in sports that to be effective -- for a player to play the best he can play -- is a matter of concentration and being unaware of distractions, positive or negative.

Confidence comes from knowing what you're doing. If you are prepared for something, you usually do it. If not, you usually fall flat on your face.

If you are prepared, you will be confident, and will do the job.

A winner never stops trying.

When you want to win a game, you have to teach. When you lose a game, you have to learn.

Being the best at whatever talent you have, that's what stimulates life.

Leadership is getting someone to do what they don't want to do, to achieve what they want to achieve.

Leadership is a matter of having people look at you and gain confidence, seeing how you react. If you're in control, they're in control.

Really, coaching is simplicity. It's getting players to play better than they think that they can.