Joe Paterno Quotes

Quotes about:

Character Coaches Excellence Football Leadership Losing Running

Today, you've got a decision to make. You're gonna get better or you're gonna get worse, but you're not gonna stay the same. Which will it be?

Joe Paterno

Nfl, Decision, Get Better

145 Copy quote
Believe deep down in your heart that you're destined to do great things.

Joe Paterno

Life, Uplifting, Running

"We were..." by Wright Thompson, www.espn.com. November 24, 2011.

152 Copy quote
Success and excellence are not the same. Excellence grows within a person, is largely within that person's control, and its meaning lasts. Success is measured externally, by comparison to others, is often outside our control, and is perishable.

Joe Paterno

Sports, Excellence, Lasts

91 Copy quote
Its the name on the front of the jersey that matters most, not the one on the back.

Joe Paterno

Names, Nfl, Matter

89 Copy quote
The will to win is important, but the will to prepare is vital.

Joe Paterno

Inspirational, Life, Motivational

73 Copy quote
Besides pride, loyalty, discipline, heart, and mind, confidence is the key to all the locks.

Joe Paterno

Sports, Loyalty, Running

93 Copy quote
Keep hustling, something good will happen.

Joe Paterno

Hustle, Happens, Good Will

76 Copy quote
Losing a game is heartbreaking. Losing your sense of excellence or worth is a tragedy.

Joe Paterno

Softball, Sports, Running

86 Copy quote
A hard-fought, well-fought, hairline-close game is as classical in sports as tragedy is in the theater. Victory is contained within defeat, and defeat is contained within victory. That's the way it is in the best of games. What counts in sports is not the victory, but the magnificence of the struggle.

Joe Paterno

Sports, Struggle, Games

76 Copy quote
Success without honor is an unseasoned dish; it will satisfy your hunger, but it won't taste good.

Joe Paterno

Success, Business, Congratulations

67 Copy quote
They ask me what I'd like written about me when I'm gone. I hope they write I made Penn State a better place, not just that I was a good football coach.

Joe Paterno

Football, Writing, Gone

Gene Collier, Joe Paterno (1997). “The Paterno Legacy”

79 Copy quote
When a team outgrows individual performance and learns team confidence, excellence becomes a reality.

Joe Paterno

Teamwork, Confidence, Reality

70 Copy quote
Failure is not getting beat. Failure is when you don't do a good job preparing.

Joe Paterno

Jobs, Good Job, Beats

43 Copy quote
We need people who influence their peers and who cannot be detoured from their convictions by peers who do not have the courage to have any convictions.

Joe Paterno

Leadership, Sports, People

52 Copy quote
What counts in sports is not the victory, but the magnificence of the struggle.

Joe Paterno

Sports, Struggle, Hockey

52 Copy quote
The minute you think you've got it made, disaster is just around the corner.

Joe Paterno

Thinking, Challenges, Disaster

25 Copy quote
You have to perform at a consistently higher level than others. That's the mark of a true professional.

Joe Paterno

Sports, Football, Determination

49 Copy quote
Don't just stand back and play the way you're coached. A great player must rise to the occasion and turn the game around on his own.

Joe Paterno

Leadership, Sports, Player

49 Copy quote
My name, I have spent my whole life trying to make that name mean something. And now it's gone.

Joe Paterno

Mean, Names, Trying

"Joe Paterno Cried Uncontrollably After He Was Fired, And Other Details From His Controversial New Biography" by Tony Manfred, www.businessinsider.com. August 15, 2012.

55 Copy quote
What is a coach? We are teachers. Educators. We have the same obligations as all teachers, except we probably have more influence than anybody but their families. And, in a lot of cases, more than their families.

Joe Paterno

Teacher, Nfl, Educator

Speech to high school coaches, Hershey, Pennsylvania, www.today.com. February 5, 1993.

33 Copy quote
If I had to do it over again, I'd probably play the game the same way.

Joe Paterno

Games, Play, Way

35 Copy quote
We play with enthusiasm and recklessness. We aren't afraid to lose. If we win, great; but win or lose, it is the competition that gives us pleasure.

Joe Paterno

Leadership, Sports, Winning

25 Copy quote
Success is best measured by the achiever.

Joe Paterno

Achiever

16 Copy quote
To teach an academic subject is certainly not easy, but compared to coaching, it is. We can say two plus two is four to every kid and be sure that we are right. But in coaching, we have to literally get to the soul of the people we are dealing with.

Joe Paterno

Kids, Two, People

Joe Paterno's speech to high school coaches in Hershey, Pennsylvania (February 5, 1993), as quoted in "A candid look at the life of Penn State coach Joe Paterno" by Joe Posnanski, www.today.com. August 21, 2012.

11 Copy quote
You can't have a great university without a great library.

Joe Paterno

Library, University

"At Penn State, a Bitter Reckoning" by Michael Bérubé, www.nytimes.com. November 17, 2011.

21 Copy quote

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Joe Paterno

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Born: December 21, 1926
Died: January 22, 2012
Occupation: Football coach
Cite this Page: Citation

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