Football Quotes: Who Really Said the Famous Ones (Plus Game-Day Sayings)

Some famous football quotes check out, but a surprising number are credited to the wrong person. Below are the football game quotes we could trace to a source, the ones we could not, and short game-day sayings written by our team that fit on a rally towel, a foam finger or a shirt.

The Most Famous Football Quotes, Fact-Checked

Here are five lines people repeat all the time, with the earliest source we could find for each.

Winning Isn't Everything: Sanders and Lombardi

The 1948 newspaper wording is a little different from the version on posters. Per Quote Investigator, it reads: "I think with the fans winning isn't everything," he said. "It's the only thing."

Lombardi's own recorded line is gentler. A November 1962 Esquire piece by Robert Riger quotes him this way, per Quote Investigator: "Winning isn't everything," Lombardi will tell you, "but wanting to win is!" Among Vince Lombardi quotes, the harder-edged one is the line he did not coin.

Win One for the Gipper

Every Knute Rockne quote list starts with this one. The Notre Dame Archives says Rockne told the Gipp story at halftime of the 1928 Army game, and that Notre Dame won. It also says historians believe it is doubtful that Rockne's version of Gipp's last words was true. The archive gives the words as dialogue from the 1940 film, spoken by an actor playing Rockne: "tell them to go out there with all they got and win just one for the Gipper." So the wording on record is a movie line, and the slogan is a shorter form of it, not a speech transcript.

Often Attributed, Unverified

Often attributed, unverified. These four lines are everywhere, and we found only quote-collection sites behind them, with no primary source.

• "Football is a game of inches."
• "Fatigue makes cowards of us all."
• "Perfection is not attainable, but if we chase perfection we can catch excellence."
• "Football isn't a contact sport, it's a collision sport."

Many other lines credited to famous coaches circulate online without a primary source, too. Print any of these without a name, or skip them.

Inspirational Football Quotes With a Real Source

Every line below has a printed source we could point to. Some sources are secondary and appeared long after the coach died, and each note says so. Coaches can use them as game day inspirational quotes on a locker room whiteboard or in a team group chat.

1. "Build up your weaknesses until they become your strong points." Knute Rockne. Quoted in Harry Stuhldreher's book Knute Rockne: Man Builder (1940), p. 53, per Wikiquote. Stuhldreher played for Rockne.
2. "Win or lose, do it fairly." Knute Rockne. Quoted in Swimming World and Junior Swimmer (1979), p. 57, per Wikiquote. A secondhand source, printed decades after his death in 1931.
3. "Football is a game played with arms, legs and shoulders but mostly from the neck up." Knute Rockne. Cited to Peggy Anderson's Great Quotes from Great Sports Heroes (1997), p. 35, per Wikiquote. We found no source from his own lifetime.
4. "As a coach, I play not my eleven best, but my best eleven." Knute Rockne. Cited to Jess Gibson's Coaching Champions (1994), p. 160, per Wikiquote. A late, secondhand source, printed 63 years after his death. The line before it in that source is "The secret is to work less as individuals and more as a team." It is one of the best football quotes about team play.
5. "It is all right to talk about this 'will to win,' but I tell you it is not of much worth unless you have the will to prepare." Fielding H. Yost, Michigan coach, in a February 13, 1930 speech printed in The Barnwell Addresses. Quote Investigator calls him the leading candidate for creator, per Quote Investigator.
6. "A good loser is no good." Robert Zuppke, Illinois coach, in the Santa Ana Register on November 6, 1924, per Quote Investigator. It is a fragment of a longer statement by him.
7. "If you aren't fired with enthusiasm, you will be fired with enthusiasm." Vince Lombardi. Reported in Lee Green's Sportswit (1984), p. 169, per Wikiquote. That is a sports-humor collection published 14 years after Lombardi died, so read it as "attributed to," not "documented."
8. "It's the size of the fight in the dog that counts more than the size of the dog in the fight." Bear Bryant. A Shreveport newspaper reported in 1965 that Bryant believed in this adage, so the wording is the reporter's, and Quote Investigator names Arthur G. Lewis in 1911 as the likely originator of the idea. Source: Quote Investigator.

Short Football Sayings for Game Day

Short football sayings work best when they are three words or fewer and read from the top row. The lines in this section and the next are original. Our team wrote them, they are not quotes from any coach or player, and they are free to use. That also means no name has to go under them.

Here is how the sayings match up with what fans hold, wear or hang.

Game Day Quotes and Sayings by Item

Game day quotes for merchandise should be sized to the item. A cheer of three words or fewer suits a foam finger, and a longer line belongs on a shirt or a banner. Each list below is original writing from the PPI team, not a quotation.

Football Motivational Sayings for the Locker Room

Football motivational sayings can be a little longer, since they live on a whiteboard or a locker tag instead of a towel.

• Prepare Loud
• Trust the Work
• Next Play
• Finish the Drive

For Rally Towels (One to Three Words)

A towel gets waved, not studied, so it needs something even shorter than most short inspirational football quotes. These slogans are our own, and each one is easy to shout.

• Defense Wins
• Hold the Line
• Loud House
• Towels Up
• Fourth Quarter Ours

Custom rally towels carry a real football tradition.

For Foam Fingers (Three Words or Fewer)

A finger is narrow, so keep it to a cheer that fits on one line. Custom foam fingers also take a mascot name or a player number.

• We're Number One
• Go (Your Mascot)
• Our House
• Believe

For Stadium Cups and Can Coolers

Cups and coolers get held close, so a wink works. See our stadium cups and can coolers for the tailgate, or browse can cooler ideas.

• Tailgate Approved
• Fill Up, Stand Up
• Friday Night Refill

Football Sayings for Shirts

A shirt has more room than a towel, so a full line can work. If you are building a team or family order, our T-shirt size chart helps with the size mix, and these t-shirt design ideas help with layout. Browse custom team shirts when you are ready.

• Friday Nights Are for Football
• Built in the Offseason
• One Team. One Town.
• Every Down Counts

Football Quotes for Posters and Signs

Choose football quotes for posters that a person can read from ten feet away, and hold football quotes for signs on a locker room door or a field fence to the same test. These originals are built for it. Our custom pennant ideas follow the same rule.

• Leave It on the Field
• Earn Every Yard
• Pride on the Line

Lines about team spirit tend to use "we" or "our" and avoid naming one player.

For Football Moms and Families

Whatever football mom quote you pick, it should be easy to read from the bleachers and easy to personalize with a number. These are ours, and they pair well with a schedule magnet for the fridge.

• Loudest Mom in the Stands
• Proud Football Mom
• Number 7's Biggest Fan

Booster Club and Pep Rally Handouts

Booster clubs and pep rallies need a small item for a big crowd. Our giveaways people keep list has ideas.

How to Pick a Game-Day Saying That Reads From the Stands

Pick a saying by keeping it short, printing it in high contrast, testing it at arm's length and adding your mascot or year.

1. Use short words. Three words or fewer is our rule of thumb for towels and foam fingers.
2. Aim for high contrast. Dark ink on a light towel reads from farther away than two similar shades.
3. Test it at arm's length. If you cannot read it on a phone screen held out at arm's length, it will not read across a field.
4. Add the mascot or the year. That makes it your team's line.

Once you have picked a saying, put it where the crowd can see it: a short line on a rally towel or foam finger reads from the top row, and a longer one belongs on a shirt or poster. Playing on the hardwood too? See our basketball team names.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the most famous football quote?

"Winning isn't everything; it's the only thing" is the most repeated line in football. It is usually credited to Vince Lombardi, but Quote Investigator traces its earliest known use to coach Red Sanders in 1948.

Did Vince Lombardi say winning isn't everything?

Yes, Lombardi said a version of it, but the earliest known "only thing" wording is not his. A November 1962 Esquire piece quotes him saying, "Winning isn't everything, but wanting to win is!" The Birmingham News reported the harder-edged line from Red Sanders in 1948, per Quote Investigator.

What are some short football sayings for game day?

Short football quotes that work on game day include "Hold the Line," "Defense Wins," "Leave It on the Field" and "Earn Every Yard." These are original sayings, not quotations, so they need no credit.

Where does "Win one for the Gipper" come from?

It comes from the story of Notre Dame coach Knute Rockne's halftime talk at the 1928 Army game. The Notre Dame Archives gives the wording as dialogue from the 1940 film Knute Rockne, All American, and says historians doubt that Rockne's version of Gipp's last words was true. See the Notre Dame Archives.

Is there a verified Tom Brady quote for a shirt?

No, we could not verify any line circulating under Tom Brady's name, so we do not print one. For a shirt, use a checked line from this page instead, such as Knute Rockne's "Build up your weaknesses until they become your strong points," or one of our original sayings, such as "Every Down Counts." If you plan to print a player quote, check it against an interview or a press transcript first.