Who is Vince Lombardi
Vince Lombardi was born on the 11th June 1913 and is widely considered to be the greatest coach ever in American Football, and further being recognised as one of the greatest coaches in all of the American sports. Lombardi is most famous for being the head coach at the Green Bay Packers football team in the 1960s, but started out in the NFL as an assistant coach with the New York Giants and ending his coaching career at the Washington Redskins.
Vince Lombardi Quotes
Under his leadership at the Green Bay Packers, they won three consecutive championships and five in a seven-year period, as well as winning the first-ever two Super Bowls in 1966 and 1967. His coaching was defined by his stern demeanour and discipline which sometimes distracts for his passion and commitment to his team, leading the way for supporting gay players and black players suffering from discrimination at the time.
Lombardi passed away in 1970 from cancer and a year later, was entered into the Pro Football Hall of Fame, as well as having the Super Bowl trophy named after him, which continues to this day.
His quotes provide an insight into the kind of man he was, his commitment to winning and to supporting his players.
1. Perfection is not attainable, but if we chase perfection we can catch excellence
2. The measure of who we are is what we do with what we have
3. The price of success is hard work, dedication to the job at hand, and the determination that whether we win or lose, we have applied the best of ourselves to the task at hand
4. Practice does not make perfect. Only perfect practice makes perfect
5. Winners never quit and quitters never win
6. The only place success comes before work is in the dictionary
7. 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
8. Individual commitment to a group effort – that is what makes a team work, a company work, a society work, a civilization work
9. It’s not whether you get knocked down, it’s whether you get up
10. 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
11. The greatest accomplishment is not in never falling, but in rising again after you fall
12. Show me a good loser, and I’ll show you a loser
13. 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
14. Fatigue makes cowards of us all
15. If it doesn’t matter who wins or loses, then why do they keep score?
16. People who work together will win, whether it be against complex football defenses, or the problems of modern society
17. Winning isn’t everything, it’s the only thing
18. The quality of a person’s life is in direct proportion to their commitment to excellence, regardless of their chosen field of endeavor
19. Football is like life – it requires perseverance, self-denial, hard work, sacrifice, dedication and respect for authority
20. We would accomplish many more things if we did not think of them as impossible
21. Mental toughness is spartanism with qualities of sacrifice, self-denial, dedication. It is fearlessness, and it is love
22. We didn’t lose the game; we just ran out of time
23. The achievements of an organization are the results of the combined effort of each individual
24. Once you learn to quit, it becomes a habit
25. 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 things right once in a while… you do them right all the time. Winning is habit
26. If you aren’t fired with enthusiasm, you will be fired with enthusiasm
27. It’s easy to have faith in yourself and have discipline when you’re a winner, when you’re number one. What you got to have is faith and discipline when you’re not a winner
28. You don’t do things right once in a while. You do things right all the time
29. The harder you work, the harder it is to surrender
30. Confidence is contagious. So is lack of confidence
31. The real glory is being knocked to your knees and then coming back. That’s real glory. That’s the essence of it
32. Winning is habit. Unfortunately, so is losing
33. Some people try to find things in this game that don’t exist but football is only two things – blocking and tackling
34. Success demands singleness of purpose
35. A school without football is in danger of deteriorating into a medieval study hall
36. 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
37. 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
38. Battles are won in the hearts of men
39. 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
40. The difference between men is in energy, in the strong will, in the settled purpose and in the invincible determination
41. 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
42. 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
43. If you can accept losing, you can’t win
44. Some of us will do our jobs well and some will not, but we will be judged by only one thing-the result
45. I don’t think there’s a punch-line scheduled, is there?
46. 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
47. There is something good in men that really yearn for discipline
48. If you can shrug off a loss, you can’t be a winner
49. I have finished second twice in my time at Green Bay, and I don’t ever want to finish second again. There is a second place bowl game, but it is a game for losers played by losers. It is and always has been an American zeal to be first in anything we do, and to win, and to win, and to win
50. Coaches who can outline plays on a black board are a dime a dozen. The ones who win get inside their player and motivate
51. 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
52. We run to win, not just to be in the race
53. 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?
54. 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
55. 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
56. They’d better be physically tough when they start pulling on their football pants
57. 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
58. A disciplined person is one who follows the will of the one who gives the orders
59. I’ve never been with a losing team in my life, and I don’t think I’ll start now
60. I’m not afraid to die – it’s just that I had so much left to do in this world
