Qualities: VINCE LOMBARDI

Football is one of America's great metaphors for learning the hard lessons of life and the qualities of success. On Superbowl Sunday, we must remember Vince Lombardi, great coach of the Green Bay Packers. He was revered as a strong leader who expressed his ideas on character and achievement in football so that they also applied to the world beyond. These quotations are from a favorite book of mine: Leadership: Quotations from the World's Greatest Motivators, compiled by Roberts A. Fitton. Boulder, CO: Westview Press (Perseus), 1997, 338 pp.

I firmly believe that any man's finest hour, his greatest fulfillment to all he holds dear, is the moment when he has worked his heart out in a good cause and lies exhausted on the field of battle victorious.

If you aren't fired with enthusiasm, you'll be fired with enthusiasm.

The greatest achievement is not in never falling, but in rising again after you fall.

The strength of the group is in the strength of the leader.

The harder you work, the harder it is to surrender.

Demand a commitment to excellence and to victory.

From other sources:

The difference between a successful person and others is not a lack of strength, not a lack of knowledge, but rather a lack of will.

Winning isn't everything, but making the effort is. (Also attributed: Winning isn't everything, it's the only thing.)