Lou Holtz

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.

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.

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.

See, winners embrace hard work.

At home I have a copy of the April 21, 1986, issue of 'Sports Illustrated.' I'm on the cover with the blurb, 'Can Lou Do It?' I'd just arrived at Notre Dame, and with spring football underway, I was the focal point of that week's coverage.

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.

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

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

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

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

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.

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

My philosophy in life is, Decide what you want to do. You have to have something to hope for.

I think that everybody needs four things in life. Everybody needs something to do regardless of age. Everybody needs someone to love. Everybody needs something to hope for, and, of course, everybody needs someone to believe in.

Virtually nothing is impossible in this world if you just put your mind to it and maintain a positive attitude.

If you don't make a total commitment to whatever you're doing then you start looking to bail out the first time the boat starts leaking. It's tough enough getting that boat to shore with everybody rowing let alone when a guy stands up and starts putting his life jacket on.

Adversity is another way to measure the greatness of individuals. I never had a crisis that didn't make me stronger.

Without self-discipline, success is impossible, period.