Motivational Quotes from Football Stars

Perseverance. Adversity. Triumph. Defeat. This time of year, we see it all left on the field, as Football World Cup is officially upon us.

As a major business, football generates billions of dollars of revenue worldwide. But as in business, major goals in football can only be achieved as part of a motivated team.

Despite their physical prowess, mental toughness, and myopic focus, every player on the field seeks motivation to get themselves ready for game day. From pregame pep talks, to post game speeches, the powerful language of Coaches and team leaders is a transformative tool to lead their cities, towns, and schools to victory.

Here’s a collection of my favorite motivational quotes from legendary football greats [American football :P].

Use these, as I do, to help elevate your own game in both professional and personal in life.

1. If what you did YESTERDAY seems big, you haven’t done anything TODAY.–Lou Holtz, Notre Dame
2. A CHAMPION is simply someone who did NOT give up when they wanted to.–Tom Landry, Dallas Cowboys
3. The man who complains about the way the ball BOUNCES is likely the one who DROPPED it. – Lou Holtz
4. Losing doesn’t make me want to quit, it makes me want to FIGHT that much HARDER–Bear Bryant, University of Alabama
5. If it doesn’t matter who WINS or loses, then why do they keep SCORE.–Vince Lombardi, Green Bay Packers
6. It’s not the SIZE of the dog in the fight, but the size of the FIGHT in the dog. – Archie Griffin, Cincinnati Bengals
7. When you’re GOOD at something, you’ll tell everyone. When you’re GREAT at something, they’ll tell you.–Walter Payton, Chicago Bears
8. WINNING is not everything–but making the EFFORT to win is–Vince Lombardi
9. It’s the name on the FRONT of the jersey that matters most, not the one on the BACK.–Joe Paterno, Penn State
10. Your TALENT determines what you can do. Your MOTIVATION determines how much you are willing to do. Your ATTITUDE determines how well you do it.–Lou Holtz
11. The harder you WORK, the harder it is to SURRENDER–Marv Levy, Buffalo Bills
12. If you want to WIN, do the ordinary things BETTER than anyone else does them day in and day out.–Chuck Noll, Pittsburgh Steelers
13. Life is TEN percent what happens to you, and NINETY percent how you respond to it. – Lou Holtz
14. You FAIL all of the time. But you aren’t a FAILURE until you start blaming someone else–Bum Phillips, Houston Texans
15. If you’re not IN the parade, you WATCH the parade. That’s life.–Mike Ditka, Chicago Bears
16. The ONLY discipline that lasts, is SELF discipline–Bum Phillips
17. Today I will do what other WON’T, so tomorrow I can accomplish what others CAN’T – Jerry Rice, San Francisco 49ers
18. How do you WIN? By getting average players to play good and good players to play great. That’s how you WIN.–Bum Phillips
19. Work isn’t WORK unless you would rather be DOING something else,–Don Shula, Miami Dolphins
20. The GREATEST mistake is to continue to PRACTICE a mistake–Bobby Bowden, Florida State
21. Coaching is not how much you KNOW. It’s how much you can get players to DO. – Bum Phillips
22. I don’t expect to WIN enough games to be put on NCAA probation. I just want to WIN enough to warrant an investigation.–Bob Devaney, University of Nebraska
23. Today, you’ve got a DECISION to make. You’re gonna get BETTER or you’re gonna get worse, but you’re not gonna stay the same. Which will it BE?–Joe Paterno
24. We’ll FIGHT ‘em until hell freezes over, then we’ll FIGHT ‘em on the ice.–Dutch Meyer, TCU
25. For EVERY pass I caught in a game, I caught a THOUSAND in practice.–Don Hutson, Green Bay Packers
26. Remember, TOMORROW is promised to no ONE.–Walter Payton
27. We would ACCOMPLISH many more things if we did not think of them as IMPOSSIBLE.–Vince Lombardi
28. It takes 20 YEARS to build a reputation and 5 MINUTES to ruin it.–Peyton Manning, Denver Broncos
29. There is NO substitute for WORK.–Vince Lombardi
30. Winning isn’t getting ahead of OTHERS. It’s getting ahead of YOURSELF.–Roger Staubach, Dallas Cowboys
31. Once you LEARN to quit, it becomes a HABIT.–Vince Lombardi
32. In order to WIN the game, you must first not LOSE it.–Chuck Noll
33. If you’re not gonna go ALL the way, why go at ALL?–Joe Namath, New York Jets
34. It’s not whether you get knocked DOWN, it’s whether you get UP.–Vince Lombardi