Vince Lombardi Quotes

Vince Lombardi was the head coach of the Green Bay Packers of the National Football League from 1959-67, winning five league championships during 10 years coaching professional football. His coaching record for the regular season record was 96 wins, 34 losses, 6 ties, .728 winning percentage; post season: 9 wins, 1 loss (in his first post-season game), .900 winning percentage. He's considered one of the NFL's greatest coaches and he's known for his coaching philosophy and motivational skills.

Quotes About Vince Lombardi

He made you a believer. He told you what the other team was going to do, and he told you what you had to do to beat them, and invariably he was right. Willie Davis
He made us realize that if the mind was willing, the body can go. Forrest Gregg
He made us all better than we thought we could be. Jerry Kramer
All he wanted from you was perfection. Jim Taylor
His enthusiasm, his spirit, was infectious. Frank Gifford
He prepared us so well, and he motivated us so well, I felt he was a part of me on the field. Fuzzy Thurston
He pushed you to the end of your endurance and then beyond it. And if there was reserve there, well he found that too. Henry Jordan
Coach Lombardi showed me that by working hard and using my mind, I could overcome my weakness to the point where I could be one of the best. Bart Starr
Respect wasn't a one way street with him. He demanded it of others, but he also gave it. Pete Rozelle
The fear in my mind was not him, but that for some reason I would not be a part of this team and be with this man. Forrest Gregg
It was a helluva performance to listen to when he'd go out there and get his troops around him. Quotes About He laughed. He cried. He motivated. I think he could motivate almost anybody to do almost anything. He communicated with human emotions. Chuck Lan
You might reduce Lombardi's coaching philosophy to a single sentence: In any game, you do the things you do best and you do them over and over and over. George Halas
When Lombardi said 'sit down,' we didn't look for a chair. Forrest
It's true a lot of kids have been born long after Lombardi's been gone, but after his death he became part of American mythology. To that extent, he will live on, at least for baby boomers and maybe longer. He's part of the culture now."
David Maraniss, author of "When Pride Still Mattered: A Life of Vince Lombardi
I don't think his legacy will ever shrink... Lombardi's on a high pedestal and deserves to be. Green Bay Packers president Bob Harlan

Belief

If you believe in yourself and have the courage, the determination, the dedication, the competitive drive and if you are willing to sacrifice the little things in life and pay the price for the things that are worthwhile, it can be done.
Unless a man believes in himself and makes a total commitment to his career and puts everything he has into it-his mind, his body and his heart-what is life worth to him? If I were a salesman, I would make this commitment to my company, to the product and most of all, to myself.
Confidence is contagious and so is lack of confidence, and a customer will recognize both.

Character

It is essential to understand that battles are primarily won in the hearts of men.
They may not love you at the time, but they will later.
In great attempts, it is glorious even to fail.

Commitment

The quality of a person's life is in direct proportion to their commitment to excellence, regardless of their chosen field of endeavor.
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.
Unless a man believes in himself and makes a total commitment to his career and puts everything he has into it-his mind, his body, his heart-what's life worth to him?

Desire

The difference between a successful person and others is not a lack of strength, not a lack of knowledge, but rather in a lack of will.
The spirit, the will to win and the will to excel-these are the things that endure and these are the qualities that are so much more important than any of the events that occasion them.
If you'll not settle for anything less than your best, you will be amazed at what you can accomplish in your lives.
A man can be as great as he wants to be. If you believe in yourself and have the courage, the determination, the dedication, the competitive drive and if you are willing to sacrifice the little things in life and pay the price for the things that are worthwhile, it can be done.
It's not whether you get knocked down, it's whether you get up.
It is essential to understand that battles are primarily won in the hearts of men. Men respond to leadership in a most remarkable way and once you have won his heart, he will follow you anywhere.

Discipline

The good Lord gave you a body that can stand most anything. It's your mind you have to convince.
Mental toughness is many things and rather difficult to explain. Its qualities are sacrifice and self-denial. Also, most importantly, it is combined with a perfectly disciplined will that refuses to give in. It's a state of mind-you could call it character in action.
Once you learn to quit, it becomes a habit.
Perfection is not attainable. But if we chase perfection, we can catch excellence.
I've never known a man worth his salt who in the long run, deep down in his heart, didn't appreciate the grind, the discipline. There is something good in men that really yearns for discipline.

Intensity

There's only one way to succeed in anything, and that is to give it everything. I do, and I demand that my players do.
You never win a game unless you beat the guy in front of you. The score on the board doesn't mean a thing. That's for the fans. You've got to win the war with the man in front of you. You've got to get your man.
Mental toughness is essential to success.
If you aren't fired with enthusiasm, you'll be fired with enthusiasm.

Leadership

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.
Leadership is based on a spiritual quality; the power to inspire, the power to inspire others to follow.
Having the capacity to lead is not enough. The leader must be willing to use it.
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 company.
Leaders are made, they are not born. They are made by hard effort, which is the price which all of us must pay to achieve any goal that is worthwhile.

Preparation

They call it coaching, but it is teaching. You do not just tell them...you show them the reasons.
"The harder you work, the harder it is to surrender.

Sacrifice

To achieve success, whatever the job we have, we must pay a price.
Success is like anything worthwhile. It has a price. You have to pay the price to win and you have to pay the price to get to the point where success is possible. Most important, you must pay the price to stay there.
Football is a great deal like life in that it teaches that work, sacrifice, perseverance, competitive drive, selflessness and respect for authority is the price that each and every one of us must pay to achieve any goal that is worthwhile.
Once you agree upon the price you and your family must pay for success, it enables you to ignore the minor hurts, the opponent's pressure, and the temporary failures.

Teamwork

Individual commitment to a group effort-that is what makes a team work, a company work, a society work, a civilization work.
Teams do not go physically flat, they go mentally stale.
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.
People who work together will win, whether it be against complex football defenses, or the problems of modern society.
The achievements of an organization are the results of the combined effort of each individual.

Winning

Success demands singleness of purpose.
You never win a game unless you beat the guy in front of you. The score on the board doesn't mean a thing. That's for the fans. You've got to win the war with the man in front of you. You've got to get your man.
If it doesn't matter who wins or loses, then why do they keep score?
Winning is not a sometime thing: it's an all the time thing. You don't win once in a while; you don't do the right thing once in a while; you do them right all the time. Winning is a habit. Unfortunately, so is losing.
Some of us will do our jobs well and some will not, but we will be judged by only one thing-the result.
Winning isn't everything - but wanting to win is.
It's easy to have faith in yourself and have discipline when you're a winner, when you're number one. What you've got to have is faith and discipline when you're not yet a winner.
I firmly believe that any man's finest hour, the greatest fulfillment of all that he holds dear, is the moment when he has worked his heart out in a good cause and lies exhausted on the field of battle-victorious.
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. Some guys play with their heads. That's OK 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.

Vince Lombardi on Wikipedia
Vince Lombardi's Web Site

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Bible Study on Leadership