127 Quotes by Joe Paterno

The minute you think you’ve got it made, disaster is just around the corner.

You need to play with supreme confidence, or else you’ll lose again, and then losing becomes a habit.

You can’t have a great university without a great library.

I still haven’t gotten that little something out of my system that I’m still not a kid going to a football game. I’m excited.

Success and excellence are not the same. Excellence grows within a person, is largely within that person’s control, and its meaning lasts. Success is measured externally, by comparison to others, is often outside our control, and is perishable.

My name, I have spent my whole life trying to make that name mean something. And now it’s gone.

They ask me what I’d like written about me when I’m gone. I hope they write I made Penn State a better place, not just that I was a good football coach.

Publicity is like poison; it doesn’t hurt unless you swallow it.

Don’t just stand back and play the way you’re coached. A great player must rise to the occasion and turn the game around on his own.