Top 223 Quotes & Sayings by Lou Holtz - Page 2

I'm no genius.

Our cellar home had a kitchen and a combination bedroom and half bath, which meant we had a sink next to the bed. We had no refrigerator, no shower or tub, and no privacy. My parents shared the bedroom with my sister and me.

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

I'll assure you this: I will have nothing to do with politics.

At home I have a copy of the April 21, 1986, issue of 'Sports Illustrated.' I'm on the cover with the blurb, 'Can Lou Do It?' I'd just arrived at Notre Dame, and with spring football underway, I was the focal point of that week's coverage.

I was raised in a religious environment, and my wife is one of the more religious people that I have ever known.

I just have an enthusiasm for life.

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

I believe - we all pay taxes. I'm happy to pay it, but I hate to have it abused, money wasted, no accountability. That's going to bother you.

My wife doesn't even want to spend 2 hours with me.

I have no desire at all to become the winningest coach at Notre Dame. The record belongs to Knute Rockne or some other coach in the future.

I do think coaches need to get away from the game more, though. It's good for them.

All my life, I've been trying to make a hole-in-one. The closest I've come is a bogey.

A lifetime contract for a coach means if you're ahead in the third quarter and moving the ball, they can't fire you.

I feel that God wants me to coach; otherwise, he wouldn't have put the desire in me.

In football, it's the job of the player to play, the coach to coach, the official to officiate. Each guy is charged with upholding his end, nothing more. In golf, the player, coach and official are rolled into one, and they overlap completely. Golf really is the best microcosm of life - or at least the way life should be.

I look at athletes in all sports and try to picture what kind of football player they'd be, what position they'd play and so on.

When I die, and people realize that I will not be resurrected in three days, they will forget me. That is the way it should be.

I'm an old man, and all my life I've said that Notre Dame should remain independent because it's a national school.

After winning, most teams become individuals; most teams become complacent.

I think life is a matter of choices and that wherever we are, good or bad, is because of choices we make.

I believe in the crucifixion of Jesus Christ.

No matter what happens on the field, getting an education makes you a winner.

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

Had I been a great athlete, I'm not sure I would have even gone into coaching. I may have turned out feeling that my life ended when my athletic career ended, as happens so many times with various athletes.

My first assistant-coaching job in football was at William & Mary in 1961.

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

I think that we have opportunities all around us - sometimes we just don't recognize them.

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

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.

I give opinions, not advice.

When I left the University of Notre Dame, I honestly felt I would never coach again.

See, winners embrace hard work.

Whenever you give up something, you must replace it with something.

As a coach, one thing that used to frustrate me was one player would make a bad decision, and that's all you would read about in the papers all over the country. We have so many athletes do so many wonderful things for other people, and you never read about it.

I was raised a Catholic on both sides of the family. I went to a Catholic grade school and thought everybody in the country was Catholic, because that's all I ever was associated with.

To win a national championship, you've got to be a little lucky.

I've followed Notre Dame football since 1946, when I listened on the radio and Johnny Lujack tackled Doc Blanchard in the open field to preserve a 0-0 tie.

The key to winning is choosing to do God's will and loving others with all you've got.

An agent won't help you get drafted higher, won't make you win more games, and won't make you faster or stronger.

If you try to fight the course, it will beat you.

Football coaches don't have real problems.

Notre Dame is the one school that has a national recruiting base, from Florida to Texas to California.

If you made me the national commissioner of football, I'd tell you one thing that I would mandate. The second Saturday in September, we're going to have conference day. Everybody from the SEC plays a Big 12 team. Everybody from the Big Ten is going to play the ACC. Everybody from the Big East is going to play the Pac-10.

I have to admit, I sometimes wonder how much more successful I would have been as a coach had it not been for my spending summers on the golf course. I could have watched more film, that's for sure. One advantage Joe Paterno had over me was that he didn't play golf.

When I work a game as an analyst, all I do is look at the game like a coach.

One thing about me is I try to be honest.

I used to pray that God would make me a great athlete, and He never did.

I don't think there's been anything in the game of football in my lifetime that has changed college football more than redshirting.

I look like I have beriberi and scurvy.

The answers to these questions will determine your success or failure. 1) Can people trust me to do what's right? 2) Am I committed to doing my best? 3) Do I care about other people and show it? If the answers to these questions are yes, there is no way you can fail.

In life, be a participant, not a spectator.

Do what's right. Be on time, be polite, and be honest; remain free from drugs; and if you have any questions, get out your Bible. 2. Do your best. Mediocrity is unacceptable when you are capable of doing better. 3. Treat others as you want to be treated. Practice love and understanding.

Teamwork is the foundation of success. The three universal questions that an individual asks of his coach, player, employee, employer are: Can I trust you? Are you committed to excellence? And, do you care about me?

The price of LEADERSHIP is RESPONSIBILITY....and part of that responsibility is to STAY POSITIVE whether you feel like it or not.

Remember. Every day, some ordinary person does something extraordinary. Today, it's your turn.

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

Life is 10 percent what happens to you and 90 percent how you respond to it.

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

The greatest power God gave us is the power to choose. We have the opportunity to choose whether we're going to act or procrastinate, believe or doubt, pray or curse, help or heal. We also choose whether we're going to be happy or whether we're going to be sad.