Vince Lombardi was a professional American football player and coach who became famous for leading the Green Bay Packers to victory in five championships in the 1960s. He had humble origins and was from an Italian immigrant family of five children. He was the oldest son and started his career as a football player. Although Lombardi had little success as a professional football player, he is best known for his prowess as a football coach.
He was head coach of the Green Bay Packers and has been recognized by many for his extraordinary leadership and guidance. When Lombardi was the team’s coach, they never had a losing season in the NFL. He had a strong determination to win and was known for being a workaholic since he was so dedicated to his goals. He focused on execution and simplicity as he coached and did not give up easily.
To help you learn from Vince Lombardi’s values and build determination like him, we have listed some of the top Vince Lombardi quotes you can read for inspiration.
Here Are Some of the Best Vince Lombardi Quotes
1. “It’s not whether you get knocked down, it’s whether you get up.” – Vince Lombardi
2. “Some of us will do our jobs well and some will not, but we will be judged by only one thing-the result.” – Vince Lombardi
3. “The real glory is being knocked to your knees and then coming back. That’s real glory. That’s the essence of it.” – Vince Lombardi
4. “We would accomplish many more things if we did not think of them as impossible.” – Vince Lombardi
5. “Confidence is contagious. So is lack of confidence.” – Vince Lombardi
6. “Winners never quit, and quitters never win.” – Vince Lombardi
7. “The greatest accomplishment is not in never falling, but in rising again after you fall.” – Vince Lombardi
8. “Practice does not make perfect. Only perfect practice makes perfect.” – Vince Lombardi
9. “Perfection is not attainable. But if we chase perfection, we can catch excellence.” – Vince Lombardi
10. “Once you learn to quit, it becomes a habit.” – Vince Lombardi
11. “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.” – Vince Lombardi
12. “Individual commitment to a group effort – that is what makes a team work, a company work, a society work, a civilization work.” – Vince Lombardi
13. “Winning is not a sometime thing; it is an all-the-time thing. You don’t do things right once in a while – you do them right all the time.” – Vince Lombardi
14. “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.” – Vince Lombardi
15. “The quality of a person’s life is in direct proportion to their commitment to excellence, regardless of their chosen field of endeavor.” – Vince Lombardi
16. “If you’ll not settle for anything less than your best, you will be amazed at what you can accomplish in your lives.” – Vince Lombardi
17. “Winning is a habit. Unfortunately, so is losing.” – Vince Lombardi
18. “The only place success comes before work is in the dictionary.” – Vince Lombardi
19. “If you don’t think you’re a winner, you don’t belong here.” – Vince Lombardi
20. “Winning is not everything, but wanting to win is.” – Vince Lombardi
21. “The harder you work, the harder it is to surrender.” – Vince Lombardi
22. “The measure of who we are is what we do with what we have.” – Vince Lombardi
23. “If you aren’t fired with enthusiasm, you’ll be fired with enthusiasm.” – Vince Lombardi
24. “At many moments in a day, I am convinced that pro football must be a game for madmen, and I must be one of them.” – Vince Lombardi
25. “Winning is a habit. Watch your thoughts; they become your beliefs. Watch your beliefs; they become your words. Watch your words; they become your actions. Watch your actions; they become your habits. Watch your habits; they become your character.” – Vince Lombardi
26. “Everyone has the will to win, but very few have the will to prepare to win.” – Vince Lombardi
27. “I don’t have any black players; I don’t have any white players, I only have green players.” – Vince Lombardi
28. “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.” – Vince Lombardi
29. “Leaders aren’t born; they are made. And they are made just like anything else, through hard work.” – Vince Lombardi
30. “If it doesn’t matter who wins or loses, then why do they keep score?” – Vince Lombardi
31. “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.” – Vince Lombardi
32. “The successful man is himself. To be successful, you’ve got to be honest with yourself.” – Vince Lombardi
33. “Mental toughness is essential to success.” – Vince Lombardi
34. “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 his commitment, nothing will stop him short of success.” – Vince Lombardi
35. “The good Lord gave you a body that can stand most anything. It’s your mind you have to convince.” – Vince Lombardi
36. “Excellence must be pursued, it must be wooed with all of one’s might and every bit of effort that we have each day there’s a new encounter, each week is a new challenge.” – Vince Lombardi
37. “People who work together will win, whether it be against complex football defenses, or the problems of modern society.” – Vince Lombardi
38. “Don’t succumb to excuses. Go back to the job of making the corrections and forming the habits that will make your goal possible.” – Vince Lombardi
39. “If you’re not making mistakes, you’re not trying hard enough.” – Vince Lombardi
40. “When you’ve got the momentum in a football game, that is a time to keep going and get it into the end zone.” – Vince Lombardi
41. “You can’t always be first, but you have to believe that you should have been—that you were never beaten that time just ran out on you.” – Vince Lombardi
42. “God, family, and the Green Bay Packers— in that order.” – Vince Lombardi
43. “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.” – Vince Lombardi
44. “Teams do not go physically flat; they go mentally stale.” – Vince Lombardi
45. “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.’” – Vince Lombardi
46. “Mental toughness is Spartanism, with all its qualities of self-denial, sacrifice, dedication, fearlessness, and love.” – Vince Lombardi
47. “….I firmly believe that any man’s finest hours – his greatest fulfillment of all that he holds dear – is that moment when he has worked his heart out in good cause and lies exhausted on the field of battle – victorious.” – Vince Lombardi
48. “Brains without competitive hearts are rudderless.” – Vince Lombardi
49. “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 willpower in the character.” – Vince Lombardi
50. “Once you have established the goals you want and the price you’re willing to pay, you can ignore the minor hurts, the opponent’s pressure, and the temporary failures.” – Vince Lombardi
51. “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.” – Vince Lombardi
Vince Lombardi: The Coach Who Put Green Bay on the Map | A Football Life
Watch Vince Lombardi’s legendary rise from his Brooklyn youth to the sidelines of Lambeau Field. This story details his final years of life, from his three-peat with the Green Bay Packers to his brief tenure as head coach in Washington and sudden, tragic death from cancer.
Summary
Vince Lombardi was an iconic football player and coach famous among the public for his headstrong determination and willpower. He was born in Brooklyn, New York City, to an Italian immigrant family and was the oldest of five siblings. Lombardi played football professionally at first, but his career as a football player wasn’t that impressive. Meanwhile, his career as a coach was phenomenal and allowed his team to win 5 championships.
It was his leadership expertise and dedication that helped him become one of the best American football coaches in history. Unfortunately, the revered leader and football coach died due to colon cancer in 1970. Nevertheless, Lombardi is still a beloved symbolic figure, recognized and appreciated by many sports fans.
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