Marv Levy Quotes

Adversity is an opportunity for heroism.

Every profession has changed. Journalism has changed. Medicine has changed. Technology has changed and it evolves. The same is true of football. Free agency has now allowed teams to be a dynasty as they have been before. It is not a great thing for the fans, but it is a good thing for the players.

I never have suspected or sensed a whiff of cheating in any of our Super Bowls.

I did a lot of studying of great writers. I read that Hemingway rewrote 'The Sun Also Rises' 39 times.

People sometimes ask me to name the greatest coach in NFL history. George Halas may have set the standard, but Don Shula has won more games than anyone, and he has done it in the most competitive era. He had an incomparable ability to evaluate players, to motivate them, and to teach them the game of football.

Teaching is very important. The nature of your personality isn't that important. Lombardi was very extraverted, very bombastic. Landry very quiet, reserved. Both were great teachers and great coaches.

What you do should speak so loudly that no one will hear what you say.

This is not a must-win; World War II was a must-win (Referring to the Super Bowl)

For a long time, I was an assistant in the NFL to George Allen, and George was paranoid that other teams were cheating on him ... that they were offering bounties, that they were wiring our locker room, that they were putting food poisoning into the pregame meal of the other team's stars, stuff like that.

I don't know if there ever has been anyone in the NFL who plays his position as well as Steve Tasker.

Security comes from earning it-not seeking it.

Systems don't win, players do.

Actually, I'm working on a book of poetry.

As coaches, we learn to accept criticism for our decisions. If a writer says you shouldn't have gone for it on fourth-and-one, we understand that's part of the job. We expect it.

You adhere to a philosophy, but part of the philosophy I have is that I don't want to be too doggone inflexible that I miss a good player.

A good education prepares you well for anything.

I just want people to finish the book and say, 'I was entertained.' When I set out to do it, I had no deal in place. I knew it would be tough. I read somewhere that John Steinbeck was turned down 22 times on his first novel. But I was just going to do it.

I exercise, walk a lot, and break into the occasional trot. I also lift weights three days a week, and I like to read about what makes a good diet. Overall, I do follow a healthy lifestyle.

My father was an athlete, a great athlete, fought in the Marines in World War I. He was all sports and activity. My mother was all academics. I still have the complete works of Shakespeare that she had.

Whenever I think of baseball, the first name that comes to mind is Babe Ruth. What the Babe was to baseball, Shula is to football coaching. There are certain figures in sports who are larger than the games they play or coach, and Don Shula is one of those.

Where else would you rather be than right here, right now?

My father Sam, by his lifelong example, displayed for me the virtues of an honest day's work and of great personal courage.

I'm about 75 pages into a book on poetry. I don't know if anybody wants to read it. It's on any broad variety of subjects. I walk down the street and think of a topic and jot it down and say, 'Okay, that's another one.' They go from the humorous to the serious to every topic imaginable.

I was enamored with Charles Dickens as a kid, and his names blew me away.

I am going to miss Don Shula. I like him, and I admire him. I'm going to miss looking those 53 yards across the field and thinking, 'There is a coaching legend.'

I went off to Harvard Law School for six weeks, and then I said, 'Doggone this, it's not what I want to do.' I remember when I told my dad I was leaving law school, and I wanted to go into football. He said, 'Be a good coach.'

When it's too hard for them, it's just right for us.

When I was twelve, I went hunting with my father and we shot a bird. He was laying there and something struck me. Why do we call this fun to kill this creature who was as happy as I was when I woke up this morning.

Bill Polian and I agreed when we first came together with the Buffalo Bills that we'd bring players only of high character to the team.

World War II was a must win.

If you have everything prepared, the rest will take care of itself.

If you believe you are doing a good job in which you enjoy and like, then don't resign regardless of the pressures.

Sure education is valuable in any respect regardless of what field you are in.

If you don't change with the times, the times are going to change you.

A failure becomes just one time at bat if you refuse to let it defeat you.

Age is inevitable. Aging isn't.

There's three parts to football: offense, defense, and special teams. You'd no more ignore special teams than you would offense or defense.

I don't know exactly what are you supposed to do when you retire. Lie on the couch and do nothing? I didn't want to do that.

If I had coached in high school for 60 years, I would have loved it. Getting to the top was not a goal. I welcomed the opportunities, but I just believed do the best doggone job you can, and good things will happen.

Chronological age is only an approximation of your functional age.

I have stayed active. I do keep moving. But I should start swimming more. Great exercise.

Absolutely everything undergoes evolvement - whether it's technology, journalism, the NFL, medicine.

Three, maybe four times a week, I run for 30 minutes. If I don't run, I'm out for a brisk walk at least an hour every day.