Don Shula Quotes

Strive for perfection, but settle for excellence.

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.

It's the start that stops most people.

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.

Learn from everyone, copy no one.

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.

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

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

Success is not forever, and failure is never final.

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

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 know any other way to lead but by example.

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

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

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.

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

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.

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.

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

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

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.

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