Lou Holtz's Quotes

In the successful organization, no detail is too small to escape close attention.

My first assistant-coaching job in football was at William & Mary in 1961.

When I work a game as an analyst, all I do is look at the game like a coach.

A bird doesn't sing because it has an answer, it sings because it has a song.

Ability is what you're capable of doing. Motivation determines what you do. Attitude determines how well you do it.

Don't tell your problems to people: eighty percent don't care; and the other twenty percent are glad you have them.

If you're bored with life - you don't get up every morning with a burning desire to do things - you don't have enough goals.

Life is ten percent what happens to you and ninety percent how you respond to it.

Do right. Do your best. Treat others as you want to be treated.

Motivation is simple. You eliminate those who are not motivated.

If you burn your neighbors house down, it doesn't make your house look any better.

The problem with having a sense of humor is often that people you use it on aren't in a very good mood.

I can't believe that God put us on this earth to be ordinary.

It's not the load that breaks you down, it's the way you carry it.

How you respond to the challenge in the second half will determine what you become after the game, whether you are a winner or a loser.

If what you did yesterday seems big, you haven't done anything today.

Show me someone who has done something worthwhile, and I'll show you someone who has overcome adversity.

I never learn anything talking. I only learn things when I ask questions.

No one has ever drowned in sweat.

You're never as good as everyone tells you when you win, and you're never as bad as they say when you lose.

I think everyone should experience defeat at least once during their career. You learn a lot from it.

You aren't going to find anybody that's going to be successful without making a sacrifice and without perseverance.

When all is said and done, more is said than done.

How do you know what it's like to be stupid if you've never been smart?

Don't be a spectator, don't let life pass you by.

You'll never get ahead of anyone as long as you try to get even with him.

The man who complains about the way the ball bounces is likely the one who dropped it.

I think that we have opportunities all around us - sometimes we just don't recognize them.

How vain, without the merit, is the name.

Two urns on Jove's high throne have ever stood, the source of evil one, and one of good; from thence the cup of mortal man he fills, blessings to these, to those distributes ills; to most he mingles both.

There is nothing nobler or more admirable than when two people who see eye to eye keep house as man and wife, confounding their enemies and delighting their friends.

Hateful to me as are the gates of hell, Is he who, hiding one thing in his heart, Utters another.

Yet, taught by time, my heart has learned to glow for other's good, and melt at other's woe.

Be still my heart; thou hast known worse than this.

The difficulty is not so great to die for a friend, as to find a friend worth dying for.

And what he greatly thought, he nobly dared.

Hateful to me as the gates of Hades is that man who hides one thing in his heart and speaks another.

There is a time for many words, and there is also a time for sleep.

Words empty as the wind are best left unsaid.

True friends appear less moved than counterfeit.

The charity that is a trifle to us can be precious to others.

In youth and beauty, wisdom is but rare!

A decent boldness ever meets with friends.

Wise to resolve, and patient to perform.

A sympathetic friend can be quite as dear as a brother.

For rarely are sons similar to their fathers: most are worse, and a few are better than their fathers.

Two friends, two bodies with one soul inspired.

It is not good to have a rule of many.

Light is the task where many share the toil.

Without a sign, his sword the brave man draws, and asks no omen, but his country's cause.

Nothing shall I, while sane, compare with a friend.

To have a great man for an intimate friend seems pleasant to those who have never tried it; those who have, fear it.

But curb thou the high spirit in thy breast, for gentle ways are best, and keep aloof from sharp contentions.

Even were sleep is concerned, too much is a bad thing.

Hunger is insolent, and will be fed.

Begin, be bold and venture to be wise.

A word once uttered can never be recalled.

Money is a handmaiden, if thou knowest how to use it; a mistress, if thou knowest not.

Whatever advice you give, be short.

A word, once sent abroad, flies irrevocably.

The greatest lesson in life is to know that even fools are right sometimes.

Good sense is both the first principal and the parent source of good writing.

The envious man grows lean at the success of his neighbor.

A good and faithful judge ever prefers the honorable to the expedient.

Always keep your composure. You can't score from the penalty box; and to win, you have to score.

It is your business when the wall next door catches fire.

Refrain from asking what going to happen tomorrow, and everyday that fortune grants you, count as gain.

Suffering is but another name for the teaching of experience, which is the parent of instruction and the schoolmaster of life.

The pen is the tongue of the mind.

This is a fault common to all singers, that among their friends they will never sing when they are asked; unasked, they will never desist.

Fortune makes a fool of those she favors too much.

I hate the irreverent rabble and keep them far from me.

While fools shun one set of faults they run into the opposite one.

Your own safety is at stake when your neighbor's wall is ablaze.

Adversity reveals genius, prosperity conceals it.

If a man's fortune does not fit him, it is like the shoe in the story; if too large it trips him up, if too small it pinches him.

It is your concern when your neighbor's wall is on fire.

Knowledge without education is but armed injustice.

A host is like a general: calamities often reveal his genius.

A shoe that is too large is apt to trip one, and when too small, to pinch the feet. So it is with those whose fortune does not suit them.

Fidelity is the sister of justice.

He who postpones the hour of living is like the rustic who waits for the river to run out before he crosses.

In adversity remember to keep an even mind.