"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."
"Winning is not everything -- but making effort to win is."
"It's not whether you get knocked down, it's whether you get up."
"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."
"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."
"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."
"If you aren't fired with enthusiasm, you'll be fired with enthusiasm."
"Mental toughness is essential to success."
"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."
"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."
"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 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."
"Confidence is contagious and so is lack of confidence, and a customer will recognize both."
"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."
"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.
"It is essential to understand that battles are primarily won in the hearts of men."
"In great attempts, it is glorious even to fail."
"They may not love you at the time, but they will later."
" 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."
"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."
"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."
"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."
"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."
"If you'll not settle for anything less than your best, you will be amazed at what you can accomplish in your lives.
"It's not whether you get knocked down, it's whether you get up."
"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."
"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."
"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."
"Success demands singleness of purpose."
"Some of us will do our jobs well and some will not, but we will be judged by only one thing-the result."
"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."
"Winning is not everything--but making effort 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."
"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."
"Once you learn to quit, it becomes a habit."
"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."
"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."
"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?"
"If you'll not settle for anything less than your best, you will be amazed at what you can accomplish in your lives."
"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."
"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."
"Our greatest glory was not in never falling, but in rising when we fell."
"After the cheers have died down and the stadium is empty, after the headlines have been written and after you
are back in the quiet of your room and the championship ring has been placed on the dresser and all the pomp
and fanfare has faded, the enduring things that are left are: the dedication to excellence, the dedication to victory,
and the dedication to doing with our lives the very best we can to make the world a better place in which to live."
"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."
"The pride of success is hard work, dedication to the job at hand, and determination that whether we win or lose,
we have applied the best of ourselves to the task at hand."
LOMBARDI RULES FOR SUCCESS:
Develop mental toughness
Take the initiative
Stay in shape
Use time wisely
Make that second effort
“Leaders are made, they are not born; and they are made just like anything else has ever been made in this country-by hard effort. And that's the price that we all have to pay to achieve that goal, or any goal.
And despite of what we say about being born equal, none of us really are born equal, but rather unequal. And yet the talented are no more responsible for their birthright than the underprivileged. And the measure of each should be what each does in a specific situation.
It is becoming increasingly difficult to be tolerant of a society who has sympathy only for the misfits, only for the maladjusted, only for the criminal, only for the loser. Have sympathy for them, help them, but I think it's also a time for all of us to stand up for and to cheer for the doer, the achiever, one who recognizes a problem and does something about it one who looks at something extra to do for his country, the winner, the leader!”
WHAT IT TAKES TO BE NO. 1
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 a habit. Unfortunately, so is losing.
There is no room for second place. There is only one place in my game, and that's first place. 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.
Every time a football player goes to play 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 O.K. 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.
Running a football team is no different than running any other kind of organization-an army, a political party or a business. The principles are the same. The object is to win-to beat the other guy. Maybe that sounds hard or cruel. I don't think it is.
It is a reality of life that men are competitive and the most competitive games draw the most competitive men. That's why they are there-to compete. To know the rules and objectives when they get in the game. The object is to win fairly, squarely, by the rules-but to win.
And in truth, 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 in good men that really yearns for discipline and the harsh reality of head to head combat.
I don't say these things because I believe in the "brute" nature of man or that men must be brutalized to be combative. I believe in God, and I believe in human decency. But 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.
