Herb Brooks Quotes

You can't be common, the common man goes nowhere; you have to be uncommon

Let me start with issuing you a challenge: Be better than you are. Set a goal that seems unattainable, and when you reach that goal, set another one even higher.

Success is won by those who believe in winning & then prepare for that moment. Many want to win, but how many prepare? That is the big difference. A sound value system held water then, holds water today, and will hold water in the future.

When you pull on that jersey, you represent yourself and your teammates, and the name on the front is a hell of a lot more important than the one on the back. Get that through your head!

You were born to be a player. You were meant to be here. This moment is yours.

Great moments are born from great opportunities.

The name on the front is a hell of a lot more important than the one on the back.

Write your own book instead of reading someone else's book about success

You win with people, not with talent. So the quality of the people is very important in building your team. I always looked for people with a solid value system. Then I recruited kids from a cross-section of different personalities, talents and styles of play.

This is your time. Their time is done. It's over. I'm sick and tired of hearing about what a great hockey team the Soviets have. Screw 'em. This is your time. Now go out there and take it!

What is courage? Let me tell you what I think it is. An indefinable quality that makes a man put out that extra something, when it seems there is nothing else to give. I dare you to be better than you are. I dare you to be a thoroughbred.

You must have goals in your life, or otherwise be prepared to be used by those who do have them.

Win, lose, or tie, you're gonna play like champions!

Risk something or forever sit with your dreams.

You don't have enough talent to win on talent alone.

My recruiting key - I looked for PEOPLE first, athletes second. I wanted people with a sound value system as you cannot buy values. You're only as good as your values. I learned early on that you do not put greatness into people...but somehow try to pull it out.

Success is won by those who believe in winning and then prepare for that moment.

We should be dreaming. We grew up as kids having dreams, but now we're too sophisticated as adults, as a nation. We stopped dreaming. We should always have dreams.

You're looking for players whose name on the front of the sweater is more important than the one on the back. I look for these players to play hard, to play smart and to represent their country.

If I'd have went on the ice when this thing happened, someone would have speared me or something. It's a great feeling of accomplishment and pride. They had to do it; it was their moment.

You know, Willie Wonka said it best: we are the makers of dreams, the dreamers of dreams.

You're playing worse and worse every day and right now you're playing like it's next month.

If you give 99 percent, you will make my job very easy.

Everything goes in cycles, to a degree.

This is your moment. You're meant to be here.

The legs feed the wolf, gentlemen.

We need to look at what Europe is doing to get better and try to get better ourselves. We need to make some changes and that can only be good for the game. Tolstoy once said, 'Everybody wants to change the world, but they don't want to change themselves.' So we all have to change our thinking and focus on getting our kids better.

And maybe I'm a little smarter now than I was before for all the stupid things I've done.

You're only as good as your values.

Maybe I'm sort of like the players - there's still a lot of little boy in me.