Copyright Men's Journal
We’re well into football season, and at this point, it feels like it could be anyone’s year. Each week brings a new hero and heartbreak, reminding us why this sport remains America’s favorite. And while the plays and highlights get most of the attention, some of the best parts of football come from what’s said in the locker room or at the post-game podium. Players and coaches know pressure, sacrifice, and pain better than most, and they speak from experience when they talk about what the game demands. Some of the best football quotes of all time come from opposite ends of the spectrum: moments of triumph and moments of defeat. Football has always been a sport built on emotion, and you can hear it in the way the players and coaches talk about it. When they speak on what it means to lead, win, fight back, or give everything for your team, those words hit—whether you play football or not. They carry the humor, honesty, and heart that define the sport. Read on for some of the best football quotes that capture the spirit of the game and what it can teach us in life. 1. “Great football coaches have the vision to see, the faith to believe, the courage to do—and 25 great players.” —Marv Levy 2. “Leadership is a matter of having people look at you and gain confidence. If you’re in control, they’re in control.” –Tom Landry 3. “If you aim for beauty in football, then you will not get it. If you aim instead to win, then that is when you might create beauty.” —Stephen Mumford 4. “You have to perform at a consistently higher level than others. That’s the mark of a true professional.” –Joe Paterno 5. “Football is the game played when the people of the world come together. It is the common language that unites everyone no matter their race, nationality, culture and religious background.” —Craig Foster 6. “Football is the ballet of the masses.” —Dmitri Shostakovich 7. “When you lose, talk little. When you win, talk less.” —Tom Brady 8. “To play this game, you must have fire in you, and there is nothing that strokes fire like hate.” —Vince Lombardi 9. “Make sure when anyone tackles you, he remembers how much it hurts.” —Jim Brown 10. “Do you know my favorite part about the game is? The opportunity to play.” –Mike Singletary 11. “Football possesses its own community of followers, but the sport also imposes itself of broader communities, upon which it has various impacts.” —Brendon Batson 12. “Football is the essence of America, but not because of championships or titles. The drive to compete, the guts to play, the will to come from behind, the grace to walk off the field a loser, that’s the essence of football.” –Archie Manning 13. “But, ultimately, we are all slaves to our culture, our understanding, our genetic code, and this is what makes the game of football not just the world’s favorite pastime, but an endlessly fascinating study of human endeavor.” —Craig Foster 14. “Teams that win ugly, playing football the wrong way, will find that they do not endure in the fans’ hearts. Football is capable of far more than that.” —Stephen Mumford 15. “The thing about football—the important thing about football—is that it is not just about football.” —Terry Pratchett 16. “As long as I have my legs and commitment to the team, then I’ll keep playing.” –Aaron Rodgers 17. “Football is mesmerizing, because it’s a figurative war. You go in one direction till you get there, but you get there as a team, not as an individual.” —Oliver Stone 18. “You can’t win together if you don’t work together.” –Nick Saban 19. “The best thing you can say about any coach is his players play hard for him.” —Terry Bradshaw 20. “The most valuable player is the one who makes the most players valuable.” –Peyton Manning 21. “It’s one thing to be a part of an organization. It’s another thing to be a part of the community.” —Travis Kelce 22. “Success isn’t owned, it’s leased. And rent is due every day.” –J.J. Watt 23. “Every day is an opportunity disguised as a challenge.” —Tiki Barber 24. “When people told me I wasn’t going to make it, I listened to the one person who told me I was: me.” —Shannon Sharpe 25. “Today I will do what others won’t, so tomorrow I will accomplish what others can’t.” —Jerry Rice 26. “When you’re good at something, you’ll tell everyone. When you’re great at something, they’ll tell you.” —Walter Payton 27. “Winners, I am convinced, imagine their dreams first. They want it with all their heart and expect it to come true. There is, I believe, no other way to live.” –Joe Montana 28. “Nobody who ever gave his best regretted it.” –George S. Halas 29. “If you’re not gonna go all the way, why go at all?” —Joe Namath 30. “The man on top of the mountain didn’t fall there.” –Vince Lombardi 31. “For every pass I caught in a game, I caught a thousand in practice.” —Don Hutson 32. “Success isn’t measured by money or power or social rank. Success is measured by your discipline and inner peace.” –Mike Ditka 33. “Football is an honest game. It’s true to life. It’s a game about sharing. Football is a team game. So is life.” —Joe Namath 34. “Winning isn’t getting ahead of others. It’s getting ahead of yourself.” —Roger Staubach 35. “In life, as in a football game, the principle to follow is: Hit the line hard.” —Theodore Roosevelt 36. “Football doesn’t build character. It reveals character.” —Marv Levy 37. “When you don’t give up, you cannot fail.” –Adrian Peterson 38. “If you want to win, do the ordinary things better than anyone else does them day in and day out.” —Chuck Noll 39. “Football is like life. It requires perseverance, self-denial, hard work, sacrifice, dedication, and respect for authority.” –Vince Lombardi 40. “You get hit the hardest when trying to run or hide from a problem. Like the defense on a football field, putting all focus on evading only one defender is asking to be blindsided.” —Criss Jami 41. “It’s not the size of the dog in the fight, but the size of the fight in the dog.” —Archie Griffin 42. “To the young: work, work, work, and then work some more.” —Ed Reed 43. “You got to be a champion on the inside.” —Dabo Swinney 44. “I like football. I find it’s an exciting strategic game. It’s a great way to avoid conversation with your family at Thanksgiving.” —Craig Ferguson 45. “But a college needs something else besides education. And what this college needs is a good football team, and you can’t have a good football team unless you have good football players.” —Bert Kalmar 46. “Football: A sport that bears the same relation to education that bullfighting does to agriculture.” —Elbert Hubbard 47. “It’s ridiculous for a country to get all worked up about a game—except the Super Bowl, of course. Now that’s important.” —Andy Rooney 48. “The most important thing to remember is: to protect your quarterback—ME!” —Paul Crewe 49. “Just remember, football is 80 percent mental and 40 percent physical.” —Steve Emtman 50. “American football makes rugby look like a Tupperware party.” —Sue Lawley 51. “You have to play this game like somebody just hit your mother with a two-by-four.” —Dan Birdwell 52. “Sure, luck means a lot in football. Not having a good quarterback is bad luck.” —Don Shula 53. “Most football players are temperamental. That’s 90 percent temper and 10 percent mental.” —Doug Plank 54. “Football is, after all, a wonderful way to get rid of your aggressions without going to jail for it.” —Woody Hayes 55. “Football isn’t a contact sport; it’s a collision sport. Dancing is a contact sport.” —Vince Lombardi
