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

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

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

I believe that having a spiritual life is so important in everybody's life.

I was raised in a religious environment, and my wife is one of the more religious people that I have ever known.

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

See, winners embrace hard work.

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.

If Tiger Woods had played football, he would have been a quarterback.

I give opinions, not advice.

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

I do think coaches need to get away from the game more, though. It's good for them.

All an agent is going to do is buy things for a player, damage his eligibility, and make the player dependent on them.

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

I don't drink water, haven't drank water in 40 years.

I don't exercise.

I just have an enthusiasm for life.

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

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

In the nineties, everybody wants to talk about their rights and privileges. Twenty-five years ago, people talked about their obligations and responsibilities.

If you look at the history of Notre Dame, if you hire a coach who's been successful at another college program, they're going to be ultra successful at Notre Dame because the talent will always be there.

Notre Dame is the one school that has a national recruiting base, from Florida to Texas to California.

To win a national championship, you've got to be a little lucky.

God looks after children, animals and idiots.

You don't go to Notre Dame to learn something; you go to Notre Dame to be somebody.

For victory in life, we've got to keep focused on the goal, and the goal is Heaven.

The key to winning is choosing to do God's will and loving others with all you've got.

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.

I'm proud to be part of the Dr. Pepper Scholarship Giveaway. It's a great program that gives me the chance to brighten the day for some lucky college students with free tuition.

No matter what happens on the field, getting an education makes you a winner.

I've followed Notre Dame football since 1946, when I listened on the radio and Johnny Lujack tackled Doc Blanchard in the open field to preserve a 0-0 tie.

I'm no genius.

I truly believe the things Notre Dame stands for.

I don't think there's been anything in the game of football in my lifetime that has changed college football more than redshirting.

The University of Notre Dame does not redshirt, and I endorse that policy completely. I am very much in favor of redshirting, but not at Notre Dame. But there's no doubt about it. It puts us at a huge disadvantage.

When the bank asks me about my assets, I include my friendship with Regis Philbin.

All my life, I've been trying to make a hole-in-one. The closest I've come is a bogey.

We were at a beach one summer, and I had a bathing suit on. My wife looked at me and said: 'Boy, you are skinny, aren't you?' I said: 'Honey, I'd like to remind you that it was minor defects like this that kept me from getting a better wife.'

Football coaches don't have real problems.

My wife doesn't even want to spend 2 hours with me.

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

I'll assure you this: I will have nothing to do with politics.

I'm an old man, and all my life I've said that Notre Dame should remain independent because it's a national school.

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.

When I left the University of Notre Dame, I honestly felt I would never coach again.

I feel that God wants me to coach; otherwise, he wouldn't have put the desire in me.

Whenever you give up something, you must replace it with something.

One thing about me is I try to be honest.

I was raised a Catholic on both sides of the family. I went to a Catholic grade school and thought everybody in the country was Catholic, because that's all I ever was associated with.

God answers prayers, but he doesn't always answer it your way.