100 Inspiring Quotes by Vince Lombardi

I firmly believe that any man's finest hour, the greatest fulfillment of all that he holds dear, is that moment when he has worked his heart out in a good cause and lies exhausted on the field of battle -- victorious.

If you aren't fired with enthusiasm, you will be fired with enthusiasm.

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

We would accomplish many more things if we did not think of them as impossible.

There is no room for second place. There is only one place in my game and that is first place. I have finished second twice in my time at Green Bay and I never want to finish second again.

Success demands singleness of purpose.

At many a moment on many a day, I am convinced that pro football must be a game for madmen, and I must be one of them.

The will to win is the only thing.

Fatigue makes cowards of us all.

The only place success comes before work is in the dictionary.

Some guys play with their heads. That's okay. You've got to be smart to be number one in any business. But more importantly, you've got to play with your heart, with every fiber of your body.

If you're lucky enough to find a guy with a lot of head and a lot of heart, he's never going to come off the field second.

Go back through football, and you will see that the team with the best defense wins.

The quality of a person's life is in direct proportion to their commitment to excellence, regardless of their chosen field of endeavor.

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

The measure of who we are is what we do with what we have.

If it doesn't matter who wins or loses, then why do they keep score?

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

A school without football is in danger of deteriorating into a medieval study hall.

The real glory is being knocked to your knees and then coming back. That's real glory. That's the essence of it.

Confidence is contagious. So is lack of confidence.

Teamwork is what the Green Bay Packers were all about. They didn't do it for individual glory. They did it because they loved one another.

The difference between a successful person and others is not a lack of strength, not a lack of knowledge, but rather a lack of will.

Character is just another word for having a perfectly disciplined and educated will. A person can make his own character by blending these elements with an intense desire to achieve excellence. Everyone is different in what I will call magnitude, but the capacity to achieve character is still the same.

A disciplined person is one who follows the will of the one who gives the orders.

The leader can never close the gap between himself and the group. If he does, he is no longer what he must be. He must walk a tightrope between the consent he must win and the control he must exert.

Winning isn't everything, but the will to win is everything.

The challenge of every team is to build a feeling of oneness, of dependence on one another because the question is usually not how well each person performs, but how well they work together.

Winning is a habit. Unfortunately, so is losing.

I think you can accomplish anything if you're willing to pay the price.

The price of success is hard work, dedication to the job at hand.

The difference between men is in energy, in the strong will, in the settled purpose and in the invincible determination.

It is time for us all to stand and cheer for the doer, the achiever -- the one who recognizes the challenges and does something about it.

Success rests not only on ability, but upon commitment, loyalty, and pride.

Football is like life -- it requires perserverance, self-denial, hard work, sacrifice, dedication and respect for authority.

The dictionary is the only place that success comes before work.

One comes to believe whatever one repeats to oneself sufficiently often, whether the statement be true of false. It comes to be the dominating thought in one's mind.

If you can't get emotional about what you believe in your heart, you're in the wrong business.

Morally, the life of the organization must be of exemplary nature. This is one phase where the organization must not have criticism.

Inches make a champion.

Gentlemen, we will chase perfection, and we will chase it relentlessly, knowing all the while we can never attain it. But along the way, we shall catch excellence.

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

Having the capacity to lead is not enough. The leader must be willing to use it.

Leadership is based on a spiritual quality; the power to inspire, the power to inspire others to follow.

Once a man has made a commitment to a way of life, he puts the greatest strength in the world behind him. It's something we call heart power. Once a man has made this commitment, nothing will stop him short of success.

Most people fail, not because of lack of desire, but, because of lack of commitment.

If winning isn't everything, why do they keep score?

Regardless of what you do put in, every game boils down to doing the things you do best and doing them over and over again.

The pursuit of perfection may be impossible, but if we chase perfection, we just might catch excellence.

If you are five minutes early, you are already ten minutes late.

Mental toughness is essential to success.

Hard work is the price we must pay for success.

Football isn't a contact sport; it's a collision sport. Dancing is a contact sport.

The darkest moments of our lives are not to be buried and forgotten, rather they are a memory to be called upon for inspiration to remind us of the unrelenting human spirit and our capacity to overcome the intolerable.

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.

Mental toughness is many things. It is humility because it behooves all of us to remember that simplicity is the sign of greatness and meekness is the sign of true strength. Mental toughness is spartanism with qualities of sacrifice, self-denial, dedication. It is fearlessness, and it is love.

Life's battles don't always go to the stronger or faster man. But sooner or later, the man who wins is the man who thinks he can.

There is something good in men that really yearn for discipline.

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.

The only true satisfaction a player receives is the satisfaction that comes from being part of a successful team, regardless of his personal accomplishments.

I'll put the Packers' best players on defense. It's best for a team and good for its morale.

To be successful, a man must exert an effective influence upon his brothers and upon his associates, and the degree in which he accomplishes this depends on the personality of the man. The incandescence of which he is capable. The flame of fire that burns inside of him. The magnetism which draws the heart of other men to him.

As soon as error is corrected, it is important that the error be forgotten and only the successful attempts be remembered. Errors, mistakes, and humiliations are all necessary steps in the learning process. Once they have served their purpose, they should be forgotten. If we constantly dwell upon the errors, then the error or failure becomes the goal.

Some need a whip and others a pat on the back and others are better off when they are ignored.

The coaches who win are the ones who can motivate their players. Winning isn't everything, but the will to win is everything.

The will to win... the will to achieve... goes dry and arid without continuous renewal.

There's no such thing as Perfection. But, in striving for perfection, we can achieve excellence.

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.

If you really want something , you can have it if you're willing to pay the price. And the price means you have to work better and harder than the next guy.

I think you've got to pay the price for anything that's worthwhile, and success is paying the price. You've got to pay the price to win, you've got to pay the price to stay on top, and you 've got to pay the price to get there.

Success is like anything worthwhile. It has a price. You have to pay the price to get to the point where success is possible.

I think good physical conditioning is essential to any occupation. A man who is physically fit performs better at any job. Fatigue makes cowards of us all.

The joy is in creating, not maintaining.

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

You carry on no matter what are the obstacles. You simply refuse to give up -- and, when the going gets tough, you get tougher. And, you win.

Winning is not everything -- but making the effort to win was... If you can't accept losing, you can't win.

The best game plan in the world never blocked or tackled anybody.

To play this game (football) you must have fire in you, and there is nothing that strokes fire like hate.

Faithfulness and truth are the most sacred excellences and endowments of the human mind.

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.

Second place is meaningless. You can't always be first, but you have to believe that you should have been -- that you were never beaten -- that time just ran out on you.

We live in an age fit for heroes. No time has ever offered such perils or prizes... The test of this century will be whether man confuses the growth of wealth and power with the growth of spirit and character.

A leader must identify himself with the group, must back up the group, even at the risk of displeasing superiors. He must believe that the group wants from him a sense of approval. If this feeling prevails, production, discipline, morale will be high, and in return, you can demand the cooperation to promote the goals of the community.

I've been accused of lacking compassion. But that just shows I'm not without compassion.

Every time a football player goes to ply his trade, he's got to play from the ground up -- from the soles of his feet right up to his head. Every inch of him has to play.

Illness and fatigue can be career ending. It mean the fans are sick and tired of you.

Battles are won in the hearts of men.

A good executive goes around with a worried look on his assistants.

Success is not a sometimes thing. In other words, you don't do what is right once in awhile, but all the time. Success is a habit. Winning is a habit.

Perfection is not attainable. But if we chase perfection, we can catch excellence.

If you don't think you're a winner, you don't belong here.

I'm not afraid to die -- it's just that I had so much left to do in this world.

Why did I choose Washington among offers from other cities? Because it is the capital of the world.

Nobody wants to give up good players.

I've never been with a losing team in my life, and I don't think I'll start now.

Individual commitment to a group effort -- that is what makes a team work, a company work, a society work.

If you can't accept losing, you can't win.

T's not whether you get knocked down, it's whether you get up.

Winning means you're willing to go longer, work harder, and give more than anyone else.