Don Shula Quotes

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

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

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.

It's the start that stops most people.

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

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

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

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

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

The start is what stops most people.

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.

Losing a Super Bowl destroys all the good things that happened to get you there.

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.

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.

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.

Strive for perfection, but settle for excellence.

I never felt I knew it all. I always felt there's something new to learn, something new to do.

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

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.

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

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

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.

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

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.

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

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

When you're 0-2 in the Super Bowl, they say unkind things about you. They say, 'He can't win the big one.' And that's the worst thing that can be said about you.

Leadership implies movement toward something and convictions provide that direction.

The 347 wins is the thing I'm most proud of. Nobody's even close to it.

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.

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.

I don't want a player that's content with not playing ... But we wanted to play the guys that got us here.

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.

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

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.

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.

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

You try to shut the criticism out, but it's pretty hard to do. You see people on the street, friends, people that you know are in your corner, and they come and tell you how bad they feel, and that's not the kind of conversation you want. I don't want anyone to feel bad for me.

Success is not forever and failure isn't fatal.