Lou Holtz Quotes

You will never be indecisive if you know your purpose.

If you are killing time, it's not murder. It's suicide.

You can pay people to perform, but you can't pay people to excel.

In the successful organization, no detail is too small to escape close attention.

If you burn your neighbors house down, it doesn't make your house look any better.

People eyeing you as a potential leader tend to ask three questions: Are you committed? Do you care about me? Can I trust you?

All an agent is going to do is buy things for a player, damage his eligibility, and make the player dependent on them.

If you're bored with life - you don't get up every morning with a burning desire to do things - you don't have enough goals.

I just have an enthusiasm for life.

I'd say handling people is the most important thing you can do as a coach. I've found every time I've gotten into trouble with a player, it's because I wasn't talking to him enough.

First and foremost I am a teacher, I care. Caring is helping the players to develop

When I work a game as an analyst, all I do is look at the game like a coach. Why was something successful? What makes it work? I just try to use my expertise and whatever insight I have to the game.

How do you know what it's like to be stupid if you've never been smart?

Don't tell me how rocky the sea is, just bring the ship in.

My first assistant-coaching job in football was at William & Mary in 1961. The pay wasn't much, so to get $300 more per year, I agreed to coach the golf team. I didn't even know how to keep score, and really, my main job was not to wreck the van on the way to tournaments.

First we become the best, then we'll become first.

The team that's on defense first (in overtime) has the advantage because they know whether they need a touchdown a field goal or just a score.

When the bank asks me about my assets, I include my friendship with Regis Philbin.

When people need love and understanding and support the most is when they deserve it the least.

See, winners embrace hard work.

The freedom to do your own thing ends when you have obligations and responsibilities.

Behind every successful person, stands a very successful mother-in-law.

Don't ever promise more than you can deliver, but always deliver more than you promise.

You'll never get ahead of anyone as long as you try to get even with him.

Sacrifice, discipline and prayer are essential. We gain strength through God's word. We receive grace from the sacrament. And when we fumble due to sin - and it's gonna happen - confession puts us back on the field.

My philosophy in life is, Decide what you want to do. You have to have something to hope for.

Don't let failure get you down. Babe Ruth struck out over 1,300 times.

Build your empire on the firm foundation of the fundamentals.

The freedom to do your own thing ends when you have obligations and responsibilities. If you want to fail yourself - you can - but you cannot do your own thing if you have responsibilities to team members.

Everybody is looking for instant success, but it doesn't work that way. You build a successful life one day at a time.

It always amazes me that spectators want to coach, coaches want to officiate, and officials just want to watch the game

Everybody needs four things in life: Something to do, someone to love, someone to believe in and something to hope for.

You were not born a winner, and you were not born a loser. You are what you make yourself be.

Actually, all I ever wanted to be was the best in my field.

On this team, we're all united in a common goal: to keep my job.

Remember that adversity presents us with numerous possibilities for success, if we are just willing to see them.

At age nine, I got a paper route. Sixty-six papers had to be delivered to sixty-six families every day. I also had to collect thirty cents a week from each customer. I owed the paper twenty cents per customer per week, and got to keep the rest. When I didn't collect, the balance came out of my profit. My average income was six dollars a week.

It's the extra effort after you have done your best that creates victory.

You might not be able to outthink, outmarket or outspend your competition, but you can outwork them.

One reason I won't compromise is because I believe honesty helps you win over the long haul. You can win a game tomorrow and lose a team. You can lose a game tomorrow and win a football team.

A team wins with the elimination of mistakes and with people who want to win and can't stand losing.

They say a tie is like kissing your sister. I guess that is better than kissing your brother.

I never learn anything talking. I only learn things when I ask questions.

Do what's right! Do the best you can and treat others the way you want to be treated because they will ask three questions: (1) Can I trust you? (2) Are you committed? (3) Do you care about me as a person?

For victory in life, we've got to keep focused on the goal, and the goal is Heaven.

Only the unprepared are overcome by pressure

I think everyone should experience defeat at least once during their career. You learn a lot from it.

I follow three rules: Do the right thing, do the best you can, and always show people you care. You’ve got to make a sincere attempt to have the right goals to begin with, then go after them with appropriate effort, and remember that you can’t really achieve anything great without the help of others.