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View Full Version : Vince Lombardi on . . . His Famous Quotes



woodbuck27
06-29-2006, 05:46 PM
Vince Lombardi On...

Intensity - Sacrifice - Belief - Commitment - Character
Leadership - Preparatio - Desire - Discipline - Teamwork - Winning


Quotes: 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."

"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."


Quotes: 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."


Quotes: Belief

"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."


Quotes: 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?"


Quotes: Character

"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."


Quotes: 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."


Quotes: 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."


Quotes: 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."

"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."


Quotes: Discipline

"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."

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


Quotes: 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."


Quotes: Winning

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

"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 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."


There is alot to meditate on there. woodbuck27

woodbuck27
06-29-2006, 05:49 PM
Did You Know?

Over 3,500 people attended Lombardi's funeral, including teary-eyed football players and fans who drove across the country to be there.

Lombardi was responsible for turning the losing Packers (they only won one game the season before Lombardi became coach) into a championship team in just three years.

Under Lombardi's direction, the Packers collected six division titles, five NFL championships, two Super Bowls (I and II) and acquired a record of 98-30-4.

Fosco33
06-29-2006, 05:51 PM
Damn Woody - I was just reading all of these on Vince's website - crazy timing!

NOW is the time to believe in rebounding from past failures and put in the hard work to be successful this year.

woodbuck27
06-29-2006, 05:52 PM
Career Highlights

Before he began his coaching career, Lombardi taught Latin and chemistry at a New Jersey high school.

Lombardi was one of Fordham University's famous "Seven Blocks of Granite" in the mid-1930s.

He began his head coaching career at the age of 46 with the Green Bay Packers.

He turned the Packers around in just one year from a 1-10-1 record in 1958 to a 7-5 record in his first season in 1959.

Over the next eight years, his Packers dominated the league, winning six divisional and five NFL championships, as well as Super Bowls I and II.

After his retirement from coaching in 1968, he stayed on as the general manager of the Packers. He soon became bored with the inactivity, and took a head coaching job in Washington. Vince led the team to a 7-5-2 record in his first season as coach.

He was posthumously inducted into the Professional Football Hall of Fame in 1971.

woodbuck27
06-29-2006, 05:55 PM
http://www.profootballhof.com/hof/member.jsp?player_id=132

Above is the LINK to Vince Lombardi's HOF page.

woodbuck27
06-29-2006, 05:57 PM
No.1 Speech, by Vince Lombardi

"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 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 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."

woodbuck27
06-30-2006, 10:47 AM
Damn Woody - I was just reading all of these on Vince's website - crazy timing!

NOW is the time to believe in rebounding from past failures and put in the hard work to be successful this year.

Fosco33. It's like - let's get back in OUR heads OUR minds the basics again.

The Packers have to become a team again. A TEAM that forces the opponent to respect them. Not just at Lambeau but wherever they play.It's not all about, winning all games - it's about playing like HELL to make the opponent hurt when they play us.

Getting RESPECT back !