Vince Lombardi

1913 - 1970

Vince Lombardi was an American football coach best known for his tenure with the Green Bay Packers in the 1960s. He is known for leading the Packers to multiple NFL championships, including victories in the first two Super Bowls. Lombardi is considered one of the greatest coaches in NFL history and his name is honored with the prestigious Vince Lombardi Trophy awarded to the Super Bowl champion each year.

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

On Leadership, p. 26, 2012

If you'll not settle for anything less than your best, you will be amazed at what you can accomplish in your lives.

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.

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

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

Winners never quit and quitters never win.

You can never quit. Winners never quit, and quitters never win.

Run to Daylight!" p. 185, 1963

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

Commitment to Excellence

The man on top of the mountain didn't fall there.

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

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 spirit, the will to win, and the will to excel are the things that endure. These qualities are so much more important than the events that occur.

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.

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

Practice does not make perfect. Only perfect practice makes perfect.

On Leadership, p. 88, 2012

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

Vince Lombardi on Leadership," p. 48, 1998

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.

It’s not whether you get knocked down, it’s whether you get up.

The harder you work, the harder it is to surrender.

Once you learn to quit, it becomes a habit.

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

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.

Commitment to Excellence" (speech), 1962

Fatigue makes cowards of us all.

Run to Win" p. 53, 1963

Winning isn't everything, it's the only thing.

Winning isn't everything, it's the only thing", Lombardi: Winning Is the Only Thing, p. 124, 2002