Don Shula Quotes

The superior man blames himself. The inferior man blames others.

You set a goal to be the best and then you work hard every hour of every day, striving to reach that goal. If you allow yourself to settle for anything less than number one, you are cheating yourself.

Sure, luck means a lot in football. Not having a good quarterback is bad luck.

To be successful, all you have to do is work half-days; you can work the first twelve hours or the second twelve hours.

Strive for perfection, but settle for excellence.

My responsibility is leadership, and the minute I get negative, that is going to have an influence on my team.

There's nothing wrong with setting goals, but it doesn't mean a thing if you don't pay attention to the day-to-day details.

The problem with most leaders today is they don't stand for anything. Leadership implies movement toward something, and convictions provide that direction. If you don't stand for something, you'll fall for anything

I have no magic formula. The only way I know to win is through hard work.

It's the start that stops most people.

And my rookie contract, my first rookie contract was for $5,000.

As a coach, your high standards of performance, attention to detail and - above all - how hard you work set the stage for how your players perform.

Success is not forever, and failure is never final.

The ultimate goal is victory. And if you refuse to work as hard as you possibly can toward that aim, or if you do anything that keeps you from achieving that goal, then you are just cheating yourself.

The start is what stops most people.

Some clubs want to win so much they'll do anything to get it. Our approach has been just the opposite. We've tried to do things the right way. And the right way is [abiding by] the rules and regulations ... I may not like all of them, but once they are [official], we play by them.

The whole idea is to get an edge. Sometimes it takes just a little extra something to get that edge, but you have to have it.

One thing I never want to be accused of is not working.

Lots of leaders want to be popular. I never cared about that. I want to be respected.

I think what coaching is all about, is taking players and analyzing there ability, put them in a position where they can excel within the framework of the team winning. And I hope that I've done that in my 33 years as a head coach.

Success is the peace of mind that comes when you know you have given everything you have to give to the opportunities that life has presented you.

And this year is going to be the 25th anniversary of the 17-0 team, the only undefeated season.

Failure isn't fatal, and success isn't final.

I don't know any other way to lead but by example.

The one thing that I know is that you win with good people.

Leadership implies movement toward something and convictions provide that direction.

And I coached against Mike when he was an assistant with the Bears and they won that football game.

The one man team is a complete and total myth.

You know it's only 50 miles from Grand River to Canton, but it took me 67 years to travel that distance.

Anybody that's a Dolphins fan feels they're headed in the right direction.

Learn from everyone, copy no one.

If you're going to take gambles, you must have one thing: self-confidence.

Peyton Manning is doing things that I think no other quarterback in the history of the league has done at the line of scrimmage... I just think they are a team right now that's got a real chance to run the table.

My coaching philosophy? Determine your players talents and give them every weapon to get the most from those talents.

I'm just a guy who rolls up his sleeves and goes to work!

I don't know how to lead but by example.

When you're there, it's not good enough to be there.

I'm fairly confident that if I died tomorrow, Don would find a way to preserve me until the season was over and he had time for a nice funeral.

What I learned from that loss, and also another loss that I'm going to talk about later, was that when you're there, it's not good enough to be there, when you're there, you better walk away with that ring.

And then to end up with a total of 347 wins, averaging 10 regular season wins for 33 years and the best winning percentage, and I'm very proud of this, of any professional team from 1970 to 1996.

He wants to be his own man and be recognized for what he's done. He's not asking for anything because of his name. That was a tough situation to go into at Alabama, but he probably wouldn't have been given the job if the situation would have been different.

You know it's only 50 miles but I've relished every moment of the longer route to get here. Thanks for letting me reflect on those great moments. Thank you.

Everything that I have done has always been predicated on doing the best that I can with the ability that God has given me, trying to reach as far as I possibly can. And if I fall a little bit short, then I'm still farther ahead than if I hadn't reached at all.

Because, they're only thinking about one team when that game's over. Before the game, they're talking about two football teams. When the game's over, there's only one winner.

I always want to do the best that I can with the opportunities that God has given me. The only way that you can possibly do that is to give yourself a chance to go as high as you possibly can. If you don't have the confidence in yourself and you don't have the desire to compete and move ahead, than you start to get stagnant....If I fall a little bit short, then I'm still farther than if I hadn't reached at all.

I coached against Dave the last couple of years, and I was very proud to be the first time a father ever coached against his son. He beat me for 30 minutes the first time and 59 and a half minutes the second time.