Winning Quotes

One of the most famous winning quotes ever spoken comes from Hall of Fame football coach Vince Lombardi, who famously said “Winning isn’t everything, it’s the only thing.”

The NFL legend understood that to be a winner, you must give 100% effort to achieve that goal.

But what else makes up the mindset of a champion? To answer that question, we’ve collected the best winning quotes from famous athletes, business people, writers, and politicians. Read on!

Top 10 best winning quotes

Let’s begin with ten of our favorite winning quotes. These sayings capture the essence of what it means to consistently come out on top, no matter if it’s in sports or life.

1.) Winning isn’t everything, it’s the only thing.
Vince Lombardi

2.) A champion is someone who gets up when he can’t.
Jack Dempsey

3.) A winner is a dreamer who never gives up.
Nelson Mandela

4.) Yesterday’s home runs don’t win today’s games.
Babe Ruth

5.) Losing feels worse than winning feels good.
Vin Scully

6.) Our greatest glory is not in falling, but in rising every time we fall.
Confucius

7.) It’s not whether you get knocked down, it’s whether you get up.
Vince Lombardi

8.) Winning takes precedence over all. There’s no gray area. No almosts.
Kobe Bryant

9.) Whoever said, “It’s not whether you win or lose that counts,” probably lost.
Martina Navratilova

10.) Winning is the best deodorant.
Jason Kidd

winning quotes

1. Funny sayings about winning

Looking for a laugh? Here’s a lighter look at what it means to be a winner.

Winning is the most important thing in my life, after breathing. Breathing first, winning next.
George Steinbrenner

Winning isn’t everything, but it beats anything that comes in second.
Paul Bryant

One should always play fairly when one has the winning cards.
Oscar Wilde

The biggest thrill wasn’t in winning on Sunday but in meeting the payroll on Monday.
Art Rooney

I never did say that you can’t be a nice guy and win. I said that if I was playing third base and my mother rounded third with the winning run, I’d trip her up.
Leo Durocher

If you think the price of winning is too high, wait till you get the bill from regret.
Tim S. Grover

If winning isn’t everything, why do they keep score?
Vince Lombardi

No matter how much you’ve won, no matter how many games, no matter how many championships, no matter how many Super Bowls, you’re not winning now, so you stink.
Bill Parcells

2. Short winning quotes

These short and succinct quotes cut to the chase and deliver a clear message about winning.

History is written by winners.
Napoleon Bonaparte

You will win if you don’t quit.
Les Brown

Winning solves everything.
Tiger Woods

All I ever wanted to do was finish first.
Jackie Robinson

You were born to win.
Zig Ziglar

We run to win, not just to be in the race.
Vince Lombardi

The person that works the hardest wins.
Will Smith

The only thing I’m addicted to right now is winning.
Charlie Sheen

3. Winning quotes for sports

In this section, you’ll find quotes about what it means to be a champion — spoken by those who have won at the highest levels of sports.

Winning isn’t everything, but wanting it is.
Arnold Palmer

All I cared about in tennis was winning.
Pete Sampras

It was never about winning medals or being famous.
Nancy Kerrigan

The person that said winning isn’t everything, never won anything.
Mia Hamm

I love the winning, I can take the losing, but most of all I Love to play.
Boris Becker

I’m never tired of winning, and I’m never tired of skiing.
Lindsey Vonn

There are always new, grander challenges to confront, and a true winner will embrace each one.
Mia Hamm

Never change a winning game; always change a losing one.
Bill Tilden

Babe Ruth quote about winning games

About teams and teamwork

Talent wins games, but teamwork and intelligence win championships.
Michael Jordan

Individual commitment to a group effort — that is what makes a team work, a company work, a society work, a civilization work.
Vince Lombardi

The secret to winning is constant, consistent management.
Tom Landry

You can’t win if you don’t play as a unit.
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

At a young age winning is not the most important thing… the important thing is to develop creative and skilled players with good confidence.
Arsene Wenger

Competing at the highest level is not about winning. It’s about preparation, courage, understanding and nurturing your people, and heart. Winning is the result.
Joe Torre

Baseball quotes

No matter how good you are, you’re going to lose one-third of your games. No matter how bad you are you’re going to win one-third of your games. It’s the other third that makes the difference.
Tommy Lasorda

If you’re going to play at all, you’re out to win. Baseball, board games, playing Jeopardy, I hate to lose.
Derek Jeter

Basketball quotes

A champion needs a motivation above and beyond winning.
Pat Riley

I play to win, whether during practice or a real game.
Michael Jordan

Nothing is black-and-white, except for winning and losing, and maybe that’s why people gravitate to that so much.
Steve Nash

You can’t win unless you learn how to lose.
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

Don’t let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do.
John R. Wooden

Imagination has a great deal to do with winning.
Mike Krzyzewski

Excellence is the gradual result of always striving to do better.
Pat Riley

I’m a mad dog whose only concern is winning.
Charles Barkley

Football quotes

Winning isn’t everything — but wanting to win is.
Vince Lombardi

Show me a gracious loser and I’ll show you a failure.
Knute Rockne

I’m a pretty good winner. I’m a terrible loser. And I rub it in pretty good when I win.
Tom Brady

The critics are always right. The only way you shut them up is by winning.
Chuck Noll

Winning is something that builds physically and mentally every day that you train and every night that you dream.
Emmitt Smith

I just think winners win. And guys who won all the way through high school and college, the best player at every level, they have a way of making things happen and winning games.
Tony Dungy

4. Winning quotes for work

What does it mean to win in the work environment? Let’s look at what the experts say about developing a winning attitude at the office and achieving greatness in your career.

Winning is a state of mind that embraces everything you do.
Bryce Courtenay

Victory is sweetest when you’ve known defeat.
Malcolm Forbes

If you don’t see yourself as a winner, then you cannot perform as a winner.
Zig Ziglar

Optimism leads to success; pessimism leads to defeat.
Dalai Lama

For business

Winning is not everything, but the effort to win is.
Zig Ziglar

Success in business requires training, discipline and hard work.
Unknown

Failures do what is tension relieving, while winners do what is goal achieving.
Denis Waitley

The most distinguishing feature of winners is their intensity of purpose.
Alymer Letterman

About competition

Competition is good but winning is better.
Unknown

Victory comes from finding opportunities in problems.
Sun Tzu

The only way to win is to fight on the side of your adversaries.
Francis Picabia

Don’t let the fear of losing be greater than the excitement of winning.
Robert T. Kiyosaki

About culture

The determination to win is the better part of winning.
Daisaku Ikeda

Winning doesn’t always mean being first. Winning means you’re doing better than you’ve ever done before.
Bonnie Blair

Winning is not a sometime thing; it’s an all time thing. You don’t win once in a while, you don’t do things right once in a while, you do them right all the time. Winning is habit. Unfortunately, so is losing.
Vince Lombardi

About leadership

You learn more from losing than winning. You learn how to keep going.
Morgan Wootten

While most are dreaming of success, winners wake up and work hard to achieve it.
Unknown

For entrepreneurs

Not all dreamers are winners, but all winners are dreamers. Your dream is the key to your future.
Mark Gorman

You can’t win unless you first begin. So start now.
Robin S. Sharma

It is very easy to defeat someone, but it is very hard to win someone.
Abdul Kalam

Vince Lombardi get up quote

5. Winning quotes for students

Parents and teachers will find inspiring words here to encourage young students and help them achieve their dreams.

I tell the kids, somebody’s gotta win, somebody’s gotta lose. Just don’t fight about it. Just try to get better.
Yogi Berra

Aim to be the best you can be. When you have done it — you’ll be a winner, always.
Unknown

Winning is only half of it. Having fun is the other half.
Bum Phillips

Winning once or twice is encouraging, but winning continuously is empowering.
Rosabeth Moss Kanter

Check out these graduation advice messages for students.

6. Winning quotes about attitude

What does it take to be a winner? Let’s look at what the experts say about effort, attitude, and the mindset of success.

Expect the unexpected, believe in the unbelievable, achieve the unachievable.
Unknown

You’ve got to be sure of yourself before
You can ever win a prize.
Napoleon Hill

You were not born a winner, and you were not born a loser. You are what you make yourself to be.
Lou Holtz

Winning isn’t getting ahead of others. It’s getting ahead of yourself.
Roger Staubach

The difference in winning and losing is most often… not quitting.
Walt Disney

I am not designed to come second or third. I am designed to win.
Ayrton Senna

About effort

The extra energy required to make another effort is the secret of winning.
Denis Waitley

Persistence is the quality of winners. Successful people never never give up.
Lynda Field

Strength and growth come only through continuous effort and struggle.
Napoleon Hill

I hated every minute of training, but I said, ‘Don’t quit. Suffer now and live the rest of your life as a champion.’
Muhammad Ali

Winners are willing to go longer, work harder, and give more than anyone else.
Vince Lombardi

About preparation

It’s not the will to win that matters — everyone has that. It’s the will to prepare to win that matters.
Paul Bryant

Everyone has a will to win but very few have the will to prepare to win.
Vince Lombardi

The key is not the will to win… everybody has that. It is the will to prepare to win that is important.
Bobby Knight

About the winning edge

You’re not obligated to win. You’re obligated to keep trying. To the best you can do everyday.
Jason Mraz

If you want to be a winner, hang around with winners.
Christopher D. Furman

I’ll do whatever it takes to win games, whether it’s sitting on a bench waving a towel, handing a cup of water to a teammate, or hitting the game-winning shot.
Kobe Bryant

About mindset

Winning means you’re willing to go longer, work harder, and give more than anyone else.
Vince Lombardi

Courage is the discovery that you may not win, and trying when you know you can lose.
Tom Krause

Winners have simply formed the habit of doing things losers don’t like to do.
Albert Gray

Your mind is a powerful thing. When you fill it with positive thoughts your life will start to change.
Unknown

Always imitate the behavior of the winners when you lose.
George Meredith

First, accept sadness. Realize that without losing, winning isn’t so great.
Alyssa Milano

About the winning spirit

You were born to win, but to be a winner, you must plan to win, prepare to win, and expect to win.
Zig Ziglar

Obstacles are challenges for winners and excuses for losers.
M. E. Kerr

The will to win, the desire to succeed, the urge to reach your full potential… these are the keys that will unlock the door to personal excellence.
Confucius

Winning is great, sure, but if you are really going to do something in life, the secret is learning how to lose. Nobody goes undefeated all the time. If you can pick up after a crushing defeat, and go on to win again, you are going to be a champion someday.
Wilma Rudolph

Winners vs losers

The act of taking the first step is what separates the winners from the losers.
Brian Tracy

A champion is afraid of losing. Everyone else is afraid of winning.
Billie Jean King

When you win, say nothing. When you lose, say less.
Paul Brown

I believe there’s an inner power that makes winners or losers. And the winners are the ones who really listen to the truth of their hearts.
Sylvester Stallone

It’s not whether you win or lose — but whether I win or lose.
Sandy Lyle

Winners and losers aren’t born, they are the products of how they think.
Lou Holtz

The winners are those who learn to take full responsibility for their actions. The losers are those who blame others for their failures.
Unknown

There are more important things in life than winning or losing a game.
Lionel Messi

There’s no success without failure and no winning without losing.
Pitbull

Everything is good when you’re winning. But true colors come out when you lose.
Jamal Murray

7. Inspirational winning quotes

These sayings will give you the encouragement and motivation to keep moving forward in your pursuit to win.

A winner never stops trying.
Tom Landry

If you can dream it. You can do it.
Walt Disney

I’ve grown most not from victories, but setbacks. If winning is God’s reward, then losing is how he teaches us.
Serena Williams

About encouragement

If you can dream it, you can do it.
Walt Disney

Sometimes in life you don’t always feel like a winner, but that doesn’t mean you’re not a winner.
Lady Gaga

Men of action are favored by the goddess of good luck.
George S. Clason

About motivation

When you lose your ego, you win. It really is that simple.
Shannon L. Alder

I used to think that losing made you more hungry and determined but after my success at the Olympics and the U.S. Open I realize that winning is the biggest motivation.
Andy Murray

Never give up quotes

The real glory is being knocked to your knees and then coming back. That’s real glory. That’s the essence of it.
Vince Lombardi

Trust me I never lose. Either I win or learn from it.
Tupac Shakur

You can never quit. Winners never quit, and quitters never win.
Ted Turner

It is a rough road that leads to the heights of greatness.
Seneca

You may have to fight a battle more than once to win it.
Margaret Thatcher

Positive

Winners make a habit of manufacturing their own positive expectations in advance of the event.
Brian Tracy

Happiness

The more difficult the victory, the greater the happiness in winning!
Pelé

The greatest pleasure in life is doing what people say you cannot do.
Unknown

8. Famous winning quotes

Perhaps you’ll recognize some of these famous quotes about winning. They have been recited over and over throughout the years to inspire and motivate.

It’s not whether you win or lose, it’s how you play the game.
Grantland Rice

A quitter never wins and a winner never quits.
Napoleon Hill

To winners, nothing seems unpleasant.
William Shakespeare

Always bear in mind that your own resolution to success is more important than any other one thing.
Abraham Lincoln

You rarely win, but sometimes you do.
Harper Lee

It is deeply satisfying to win a prize in front of a lot of people.
E.B. White

Far better it is to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure.
Theodore Roosevelt

Winning quotes from movies

It ain’t about how hard you hit. It’s about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward. How much you can take and keep moving forward. That’s how winning is done!
Rocky Balboa

The only winning move is not to play.
Movie WarGames

9. Winning quotes for Instagram captions

Add a caption to your next winning social media post. Let everyone know you ‘Play to win!’

  • Winners train, losers complain.
  • I’m never tired of winning.
  • Today’s forecast: 100% chance of winning.
  • In it to win it.
  • Winners don’t wait for chances, they take them.
  • Win! No one remembers the losers.
  • A winning smile makes winners of us all.
  • It’s not over until you win.
  • If you can accept losing, you can’t win.
  • Defeat your enemies with success.
  • If you can’t win an argument, correct their grammar instead.
  • Winning starts with beginning.
  • I will win. Not immediately, but definitely.
  • If you believe in yourself, everything is possible!
  • Winners are not people who never fail, but people who never quit.
  • Mindset is what separates the best from the rest.
  • Failure defeats losers but inspires winners.
  • Winners focus on winning. Losers focus on winners.
  • Winners are those that convert problems into opportunities.
  • Attitude, the difference between winners and losers.
  • Winners are ordinary people with extraordinary heart.
  • Gonna call in sick to work tomorrow. Came down with a case of winning.
  • Happiness is winning after a competitive round a Monopoly.
  • Win like a man and lose like a man.
  • Boom, crush. Night, losers. Winning, duh.
  • Go all in for what you want and you will win.

We hope you feel inspired and empowered by these winning quotes and sayings. Be sure to check out these other quote lists:

Success Quotes

Failure Quotes

Dream Quotes

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