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The Greatest Power God Gave Us Is The Power To Choose. We Have The Opportunity To Choose Whether We're Going To Act Or Procrastinate, Believe Or Doubt, Pray Or Curse, Help Or Heal. We Also Choose Whether We're Going To Be Happy Or Whether We're Going To Be Sad.

-Lou Holtz

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The Greatest Power God

Lou Holtz

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The Greatest Power God Gave Us Is The Power To Choose. We Have The Opportunity To Choose Whether We're Going To Act Or Procrastinate, Believe Or Doubt, Pray Or Curse, Help Or Heal. We Also Choose Whether We're Going To Be Happy Or Whether We're Going To Be Sad.

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More From Lou Holtz

At Age Nine, I Got A Paper Route. Sixty-six Papers Had To Be Delivered To Sixty-six Families Every Day. I Also Had To Collect Thirty Cents A Week From Each Customer. I Owed The Paper Twenty Cents Per Customer Per Week, And Got To Keep The Rest. When I Didn't Collect, The Balance Came Out Of My Profit. My Average Income Was Six Dollars A Week.

Don't Tell Me How Rocky The Sea Is, Just Bring The Ship In.

Don't Ever Ask A Player To Do Something He Doesn't Have The Ability To Do. He'll Just Question Your Ability As A Coach, Not His As An Athlete.

First We Become The Best, Then We'll Become First.

It's The Extra Effort After You Have Done Your Best That Creates Victory.

One Thing About Me Is I Try To Be Honest.

If Tiger Woods Had Played Football, He Would Have Been A Quarterback.

I Do Think Coaches Need To Get Away From The Game More, Though. It's Good For Them.

After Landing His Invasion Forces On The Shores Of Some Country, The Sixteenth-century Spanish Conquistador Hernan Cortes Would Immediately Burn His Own Boats. He Was Sending His Army A Message: "we Can't Turn Back. Either We Succeed Here Or We Die Here." Excuses Were Not An Option.

An Agent Won't Help You Get Drafted Higher, Won't Make You Win More Games, And Won't Make You Faster Or Stronger. They All Say They Can, But The People Who Do The Drafting Don't Talk To Agents. They Talk To Coaches, They Watch Film, They Talk To The People Who've Worked With Players. They Don't Talk To Agents.

You Build A Successful Life A Day At A Time.

Self Improvement

When People Need Love And Understanding And Support The Most Is When They Deserve It The Least.

Ya Know, Hitler Was A Great Leader, Too.

When I Work A Game As An Analyst, All I Do Is Look At The Game Like A Coach. Why Was Something Successful? What Makes It Work? I Just Try To Use My Expertise And Whatever Insight I Have To The Game.

Build Your Empire On The Firm Foundation Of The Fundamentals.

You Aren't Going To Find Anybody That's Going To Be Successful Without Making A Sacrifice And Without Perseverance.

My Wife Doesn't Even Want To Spend 2 Hours With Me.

First And Foremost I Am A Teacher, I Care. Caring Is Helping The Players To Develop

Don't Be A Spectator, Don't Let Life Pass You By

A Team Wins With The Elimination Of Mistakes And With People Who Want To Win And Can't Stand Losing.

If You Burn Your Neighbors House Down, It Doesn't Make Your House Look Any Better.

I'm Not A Disciplinarian. I Simply Enforce Other People's Decisions.

Your Neighbors Will Make Judgments About You Based On How Your Lawn And House Look, And People Who See You Passing Will Judge You Based On How Clean You Keep Your Car. It's Not Always Fair, But It Has Always Been True. Appearances Matter, So Make Yours A Good One.

You Always Have To Prepare For The Obstacles That Are Going To Come. Consequently, When They Do Come, It Doesn't Affect You Mentally Near As Much As When You're Unprepared For Them.

Everyone Goes Through Adversity In Life, But What Matters Is How You Learn From It.

Adversity In Life

Ability Is What You're Capable Of Doing. Motivation Determines What You Do. Attitude Determines How Well You Do It.

Teamwork Is The Foundation Of Success. The Three Universal Questions That An Individual Asks Of His Coach, Player, Employee, Employer Are: Can I Trust You? Are You Committed To Excellence? And, Do You Care About Me?

God Looks After Children, Animals And Idiots.

I Was Raised In A Religious Environment, And My Wife Is One Of The More Religious People That I Have Ever Known.

Actually, All I Ever Wanted To Be Was The Best In My Field.

If You Make A Fist And Hold It For Two Hours, You Won't Be Able To Pick Up A Glass Because You'll Be So Weak. Let's Stay Loose. Let's Have Fun.

In Golf, The Player, Coach And Official Are Rolled Into One, And They Overlap Completely. Golf Really Is The Best Microcosm Of Life - Or At Least The Way Life Should Be.

Those Who Know Notre Dame, No Explanation’s Necessary. Those Who Don’t, No Explanation Will Suffice.

As A Coach, One Thing That Used To Frustrate Me Was One Player Would Make A Bad Decision, And That's All You Would Read About In The Papers All Over The Country. We Have So Many Athletes Do So Many Wonderful Things For Other People, And You Never Read About It.

In The Nineties, Everybody Wants To Talk About Their Rights And Privileges. Twenty-five Years Ago, People Talked About Their Obligations And Responsibilities.

I've Never Known Anybody To Achieve Anything Without Overcoming Adversity.

My First Assistant-coaching Job In Football Was At William & Mary In 1961. The Pay Wasn't Much, So To Get $300 More Per Year, I Agreed To Coach The Golf Team. I Didn't Even Know How To Keep Score, And Really, My Main Job Was Not To Wreck The Van On The Way To Tournaments.

One Day You Are Drinking The Wine, And They Next Day You Are Picking The Grapes.

I Think That We Have Opportunities All Around Us - Sometimes We Just Don't Recognize Them.

All Winning Teams Are Goal-oriented. Teams Like These Win Consistently Because Everyone Connected With Them Concentrates On Specific Objectives. They Go About Their Business With Blinders On; Nothing Will Distract Them From Achieving Their Aims.

Do What's Right. Be On Time, Be Polite, And Be Honest; Remain Free From Drugs; And If You Have Any Questions, Get Out Your Bible. 2. Do Your Best. Mediocrity Is Unacceptable When You Are Capable Of Doing Better. 3. Treat Others As You Want To Be Treated. Practice Love And Understanding.

It's A Better View If You're Standing Up Than If You're Laying Down.

I Don't Drink Water, Haven't Drank Water In 40 Years.

Don't Tell Your Problems To People: Eighty Percent Don't Care; And The Other Twenty Percent Are Glad You Have Them.

If He's Got Golf Clubs In His Truck Or A Camper In His Driveway, I Don't Hire Him.

So What If Someone Wrote Your Obituary... That Doesn't Mean You Are Obligated To Die.

Coaching Is Nothing More Than Eliminating Mistakes Before You Get Fired.

The Only People Who Aren't Going To Be Criticized Are Those Who Do Absolutely Nothing

Absolutely Nothing

It Always Amazes Me That Spectators Want To Coach, Coaches Want To Officiate, And Officials Just Want To Watch The Game

It's Not My Job To Motivate Players. They Bring Extraordinary Motivation To Our Program. It's My Job Not To De-motivate Them.

I Never Learn Anything Talking. I Only Learn Things When I Ask Questions.

I Was Born January 6, 1937, Eight Years After Wall Street Crashed And Two Years Before John Steinbeck Published The Grapes Of Wrath, His Pulitzer Prize-winning Novel About The Plight Of A Family During The Great Depression.

A Player Has No Use For An Agent. None.

Everybody Needs Four Things In Life: Something To Do, Someone To Love, Someone To Believe In And Something To Hope For.

Do Right. Do Your Best. Treat Others As You Want To Be Treated.

I Look At Athletes In All Sports And Try To Picture What Kind Of Football Player They'd Be, What Position They'd Play And So On.

Everybody Is Looking For Instant Success, But It Doesn't Work That Way. You Build A Successful Life One Day At A Time.

Coaching Is About Helping Young People Have A Chance To Succeed. There Is No More Awesome Responsibility Than That. One Of The Greatest Honors A Person Can Have Is Being Called 'coach.'

I Bet You Went On One Date And Wanted To Get Married.

My Athletes Always Follow My Advice... Unless It Conflicts With What That They Want To Do.

All My Life, I've Been Trying To Make A Hole-in-one. The Closest I've Come Is A Bogey.

The Answers To These Questions Will Determine Your Success Or Failure. 1) Can People Trust Me To Do What's Right? 2) Am I Committed To Doing My Best? 3) Do I Care About Other People And Show It? If The Answers To These Questions Are Yes, There Is No Way You Can Fail.

Show Me Someone Who Has Done Something Worthwhile, And I'll Show You Someone Who Has Overcome Adversity.

You Live Up - Or Down - To Your Expectations.

When The Bank Asks Me About My Assets, I Include My Friendship With Regis Philbin.

People Eyeing You As A Potential Leader Tend To Ask Three Questions: Are You Committed? Do You Care About Me? Can I Trust You?

You Might Not Be Able To Outthink, Outmarket Or Outspend Your Competition, But You Can Outwork Them.

An Agent Won't Help You Get Drafted Higher, Won't Make You Win More Games, And Won't Make You Faster Or Stronger.

All An Agent Is Going To Do Is Buy Things For A Player, Damage His Eligibility, And Make The Player Dependent On Them.

Espn Is A Great Organization To Work For.

Great Organizations

Winners And Losers Aren't Born, They Are The Products Of How They Think

Football Coaches Don't Have Real Problems.

See, Winners Embrace Hard Work.

I Asked You To Pack Your Headgear And Shoulder Pads, But More Importantly Your Defense And Your Kicking Game, Because That's What Wins Game Like This.

My Philosophy In Life Is, Decide What You Want To Do. You Have To Have Something To Hope For.

Give Me A Blackboard. I Can Stop Anything On A Blackboard.

We Aren't Where We Want To Be; We Aren't Where We Ought To Be; But Thank Goodness We Aren't Where We Used To Be.

My First Assistant-coaching Job In Football Was At William & Mary In 1961.

On This Team, We're All United In A Common Goal: To Keep My Job.

I Follow Three Rules: Do The Right Thing, Do The Best You Can, And Always Show People You Care. You’ve Got To Make A Sincere Attempt To Have The Right Goals To Begin With, Then Go After Them With Appropriate Effort, And Remember That You Can’t Really Achieve Anything Great Without The Help Of Others.

I Don't Play Well Enough To Be Allowed To Throw My Clubs.

We Will Use Some Kind Of Option And We Will Throw The Football. I Hope It Will Be At Our People.

Momentum Is Whatever Your Attitude Determines It To Be.

The Problem With Having A Sense Of Humor Is Often That People You Use It On Aren't In A Very Good Mood.

I Don't Think We Can Win Every Game. Just The Next One.

We Are Always Faced With Different Challenges, And Circumstances Necessitate Bringing Out The Greatness God Puts In All Of Us.

If You Want To Get A Deal, Negotiate With The Teams Yourself. Say, "i Want This Much, And No Less, But I'll Show Up To Camp On Time." It Doesn't Seem That Hard To Me.

After Winning, Most Teams Become Individuals; Most Teams Become Complacent.

What's Important Now? - To Evaluate The Past, Focus On The Future, And Tell You What You Have To Do In The Present

When All Is Said And Done, More Is Said Than Done.

For Victory In Life, We've Got To Keep Focused On The Goal, And The Goal Is Heaven.

Remember This. Bear Bryant Retired At Age 69, And He Died 28 Days After He Stopped Coaching. If You Don't Have Something, And A Purpose In Your Life, You're Gonna Die.

Underconfidence Breeds Underachievement.

In This World You're Either Growing Or You're Dying So Get In Motion And Grow.

You Were Not Born A Winner, And You Were Not Born A Loser. You Are What You Make Yourself Be.

If You've Been There, No Explanation Is Necessary. If You Haven't, None Is Adequate.

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.

You Can't Motivate A Group Of People Or A Team. You Have To Motivate People Individually, And That Motivation Has To Be In An Environment In Which That Person Has A Goal - Something They Want To Accomplish In Their Lives.

Don't Let Failure Get You Down. Babe Ruth Struck Out Over 1,300 Times.

Sacrifice, Discipline And Prayer Are Essential. We Gain Strength Through God's Word. We Receive Grace From The Sacrament. And When We Fumble Due To Sin - And It's Gonna Happen - Confession Puts Us Back On The Field.

Nothing Is As Good As It Seems And Nothing Is As Bad, But Somewhere Between Reality Falls.

The Freedom To Do Your Own Thing Ends When You Have Obligations And Responsibilities.

I Give Opinions, Not Advice.

Never Settle For Second When First Is Available

The Way You Motivate A Football Team Is To Eliminate The Unmotivated Ones.

I'd Say Handling People Is The Most Important Thing You Can Do As A Coach. I've Found Every Time I've Gotten Into Trouble With A Player, It's Because I Wasn't Talking To Him Enough.

Had I Been A Great Athlete, I'm Not Sure I Would Have Even Gone Into Coaching. I May Have Turned Out Feeling That My Life Ended When My Athletic Career Ended, As Happens So Many Times With Various Athletes.

I Feel That God Wants Me To Coach; Otherwise, He Wouldn't Have Put The Desire In Me.

Give Your Players Something They Can Physically Do - Don't Ask Them To Do Something They Can't Do.

You're Never As Good As Everyone Tells You When You Win, And You're Never As Bad As They Say When You Lose.

God Answers Prayers, But He Doesn't Always Answer It Your Way.

The Key To Winning Is Choosing To Do God's Will And Loving Others With All You've Got.

All You Need Is Something To Say, And A Burning Desire To Say It... It Doesn't Matter Where Your Hands Are.

Absolutely. There Are A 1000 Better Coaches In The Cities, But I'm The Best In The Country.

The Freedom To Do Your Own Thing Ends When You Have Obligations And Responsibilities. If You Want To Fail Yourself - You Can - But You Cannot Do Your Own Thing If You Have Responsibilities To Team Members.

I Have No Desire At All To Become The Winningest Coach At Notre Dame. The Record Belongs To Knute Rockne Or Some Other Coach In The Future.

Only The Unprepared Are Overcome By Pressure

The Price Of Leadership Is Responsibility....and Part Of That Responsibility Is To Stay Positive Whether You Feel Like It Or Not.

A Lifetime Contract For A Coach Means If You're Ahead In The Third Quarter And Moving The Ball, They Can't Fire You.

Winners Embrace Hard Work. They Love The Discipline Of It, The Trade-off They're Making To Win. Losers, On The Other Hand, See It As Punishment. And That's The Difference.

Adversity Is Another Way To Measure The Greatness Of Individuals. I Never Had A Crisis That Didn't Make Me Stronger.

You Can Pay People To Perform, But You Can't Pay People To Excel.

The Answer Is Surprisingly Simple. Just Do Right. Live An Honorable Life.

All I've Seen Agents Do Is Talk Players Into Having Bad Senior Seasons Because They're Trying To Keep Themselves From Getting Injured.

Don't Ever Promise More Than You Can Deliver, But Always Deliver More Than You Promise.

American Football

Behind Every Successful Person, Stands A Very Successful Mother-in-law.

Attitude Determines How Well You Do It.

Motivational Sports

The Best Way To Save Face Is Not To Use The Lower Half.

I Can't Explain Why A Bride Buys Her Wedding Dress, Whereas A Groom Rents His Tux.

Remember. Every Day, Some Ordinary Person Does Something Extraordinary. Today, It's Your Turn.

The Greatest Power God Gave Us Is The Power To Choose. We Have The Opportunity To Choose Whether We're Going To Act Or Procrastinate, Believe Or Doubt, Pray Or Curse, Help Or Heal. We Also Choose Whether We're Going To Be Happy Or Whether We're Going To Be Sad.

I Believe Your Attitude Is The Most Important Choice You Can Make.

Important Choices

Everything Ends Badly, Otherwise It Would Not End.

How Do You Know What It's Like To Be Stupid If You've Never Been Smart?

No Matter What Happens On The Field, Getting An Education Makes You A Winner.

You Must Have Dreams And Goals If You Are Ever Going To Achieve Anything In This World.

I Do Know This: God Does Answer Your Prayers, But It's Not Always In The Way You Expect. God Knows What's Best For Us, Though, So There's No Need To Worry When Things Don't Go How We Originally Wanted Them To Go.

If You Are Killing Time, It's Not Murder. It's Suicide.

Broadcasting Is Easy; You Just Talk Until You Think Of Something To Say.

Without Self-discipline, Success Is Impossible, Period.

I Won't Accept Anything Less Than The Best A Player's Capable Of Doing... And He Has The Right To Expect The Best That I Can Do For Him And The Team!

You've Got To Have Great Athletes To Win, I Don't Care Who The Coach Is. You Can't Win Without Good Athletes But You Can Lose With Them. This Is Where Coaching Makes The Difference.

The Standards You Establish For Others Must Reflect The Standards You Set For Yourself. No One Will Follow A Hypocrite.

To My Wife 'i Told You I Was Sick'.

Don't Run If You Can Walk. Don't Walk If You Can Stand. Don't Stand If You Can Sit. Don't Sit If You Can Lie Down.

I Believe That Having A Spiritual Life Is So Important In Everybody's Life.

I'll Assure You This: I Will Have Nothing To Do With Politics.

You'll Never Get Ahead Of Anyone As Long As You Try To Get Even With Him.

I Believe - We All Pay Taxes. I'm Happy To Pay It, But I Hate To Have It Abused, Money Wasted, No Accountability. That's Going To Bother You.

You Will Never Be Indecisive If You Know Your Purpose.

If You Don't Demand That Your People Maintain. High Performances To Remain On Your Team, Why Should They Be Proud Of The Association?

I Can't Believe That God Put Us On This Earth To Be Ordinary.

I Just Have An Enthusiasm For Life.

Enthusiasm For Life

So Many Times People Are Afraid Of Competition, When It Should Bring Out The Best In Us. We All Have Talents And Abilities, So Why Be Intimidated By Other People's Skills?

In Life, Be A Participant, Not A Spectator.

It Was A Great Game If You Don't Care Who Won. I Cared.

The Team That's On Defense First (in Overtime) Has The Advantage Because They Know Whether They Need A Touchdown A Field Goal Or Just A Score.

In The Successful Organization, No Detail Is Too Small To Escape Close Attention.

It's Good To Be Successful But It's Great To Be Significant

Being Successful

The Man Who Complains About The Way The Ball Bounces Is Likely The One Who Dropped It.

They Say A Tie Is Like Kissing Your Sister. I Guess That Is Better Than Kissing Your Brother.

I've Never Seen The Yellow Light, Umm The Yellow Line Be Wrong.

Motivation Is Simple. You Eliminate Those Who Are Not Motivated.

Life Is 10 Percent What Happens To You And 90 Percent How You Respond To It.

I Think Everyone Should Experience Defeat At Least Once During Their Career. You Learn A Lot From It.

Virtually Nothing Is Impossible In This World If You Just Put Your Mind To It And Maintain A Positive Attitude.

What You Are Capable Of Achieving Is Determined By Your Talent And Ability. What You Attempt To Do Is Determined By Your Motivation. How Well You Do Something Is Determined By Your Attitude.

When I Work A Game As An Analyst, All I Do Is Look At The Game Like A Coach.

In Adversity, There Is Opportunity. Show Me Someone Who Has Done Something Worthwhile, And I'll Show You Someone Who Has Overcome Adversity. I've Never Known Anybody To Achieve Anything Without Overcoming Adversity. Adversity Is Another Way To Measure The Greatness Of Individuals. I Never Had A Crisis That Didn't Make Me Stronger.

You Don't Go To Notre Dame To Learn Something, You Go To Notre Dame To Be Somebody.

I Used To Pray That God Would Make Me A Great Athlete, And He Never Did.

It's Not The Load That Breaks You Down, It's The Way You Carry It.

No One Has Ever Drowned In Sweat.

One Reason I Won't Compromise Is Because I Believe Honesty Helps You Win Over The Long Haul. You Can Win A Game Tomorrow And Lose A Team. You Can Lose A Game Tomorrow And Win A Football Team.

It's Always Better To Face The Truth, No Matter How Uncomfortable, Than To Continue Coddling A Lie.

We Are Not Going To Win Because You Have A New Head Coach, Any More Than You Are Going To Fix A Flat Tire By Changing The Driver. We Will Win The Minute All Of Us Get Rid Of Excuses As To Why We Can't Win And Stop Wallowing In Self-pity.

Whenever You Give Up Something, You Must Replace It With Something.

No, But You Can See It From Here.

Everyone Wants To Win On Saturday Afternoon When The Game Is Played. It’s What You Do The Other Six Days That Decides The Outcome

I Follow Three Rules: Do The Right Thing, Do The Best You Can, And Always Show People You Care.

To Win A National Championship, You've Got To Be A Little Lucky.

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