"Football represents and embodies everything that's great about this country, because the United States of America is built on winners, not losers or people who didn't bother to play."

"Winning is habit. Unfortunately, so is losing."

"I call them That School Up North because I hate them and the same goes for That School Over West of here."

"Paralyze resistance with persistence."

"There's nothing that cleanses your soul like getting the hell kicked out of you."

"The only meaningful statistic is number of games won."

"Without winners, there wouldn't even be civilization."

"A man is always better than he thinks."

"There's no luck in football. You win the game with preparation, and you do that before you step on the field."

"We hate to lose, but when we do, rest assured we'll be back, and someone will pay the price."

"Statistics always remind me of fellow who drowned in a river where the average depth was only three feet."

"I can accept failure, but I can't accept not trying."

"The time you give a man something he doesn't earn, you cheapen him. Our kids earn what they get, and that includes respect."

"Success - it's what you do with what you've got."

"Coaches who can outline plays on a black board are a dime a dozen. The ones who win get inside their players heads and motivate them."

"I don't motivate the players. I get them to motivate themselves. That's the only kind of motivation that's worth a damn."

"I'm not trying to win a popularity poll. I'm trying to win football games. I don't like nice people. I like tough, honest people."

"I don't apologize for anything. When I make a mistake, I take the blame and go on from there. I just despise to lose, and that has taken a man of mediocre ability and made a pretty good coach out of him."

"I love football. I think it is the most wonderful game in the world and I despise to lose. I've hated to lose ever since I was a kid and threw away the mallets when I lost at croquet."

"You don't get hurt running straight ahead...three-yards-and-a-cloud-of-dust offense. I will pound you and pound you until you quit."

"Woody on Bo Schembechler: 'We respected one another so damn much. Now that doesn't mean I didn't get so mad at him that I wanted to kick him in the, uh, groin.' "

"We make no apologies for winning or for aiming our entire program toward that goal."

"Perfect preparation prevents piss-poor performance."

"Because I couldn’t go for three."

"Hell no, I don't carry a Lucky Charm. You don't need luck when you have players like Jack Tatum, he's one of our captains, and he hits so hard our guys call him Captain Crunch."

"You know one player I like to remember was old Todd Bell, man could he hit. He would make your ears ring."

"Winning takes care of everything."

"Plenty of people criticize our style... call it 'three yards and a cloud of dust.' But the way our offensive line makes swiss cheese of our opponent's defenses is what lets us advance the ball on nearly every play."

"You know what I use to really enjoy. At spring practice I would get one of the trumpet players from the band to come in at 5 AM and blow reveille loud as hell. It scared the crap out of everybody. Damn that was funny."

"The will to win is not as important as the will to prepare to win."

"Not everybody can be first team, but you can always put the team first."

"There's nothing in this world that comes easy. There are a lot of people who aren't going to bother to win. We learn in football to get up and go once more."

"The height of human desire is what wins, whether it's on Normandy Beach or in Ohio Stadium."

"There are too many people who can too easily identify with defeat."

"The harder you work, the harder it is to surrender."

"You don't have to like me, just respect me."

"Just remember one thing. I can do your job, but you can't do mine. - to an OSU professor."

"I could beat Jesse Owens in a 100 yard dash if you gave me enough of a head start."

"You can never pay back, but you can always pay forward."

"I love football. I think it is most wonderful game in world and I despise to lose."

"Make sure you do the thinking with this head (pointing to his head), and not with this head (pointing beneath his belt). - Woody Hayes to his 1974 freshman class"

"Never quit. It is the easiest cop-out in the world. Set a goal and don't quit until you attain it. When you do attain it, set another goal, and don't quit until you reach it. Never quit."

"The best player who ever played for me, that's easy, Archie Griffin."

"You know, I don't know a damn thing about music, but when the band plays that Sloopy song, it really fires the guys up, and I don't even know what the hell it's about."

"Boys, talk is cheap, and now the talkin's over. So get out on the field, kick their butts, and then see what they have to say."

"Our players are on a strict diet and it all starts with breakfast, that's your most important meal."

"Be a pragmatist. First, find out what works. Then, keep doing it."

"Being cold, like being determined to win, is just a state of mind."

"When picking an assistant coach, the first thing I was interested in was the man’s character."

"Discipline is 90 percent anticipation."

"Men this is war. I don't care anything about the national championship or the Big Ten championship., but if we win this game today and afterward, if the good Lord says, Woody it's your time, I'll say, Lord I'm ready."

"It is never an upset if the so-called underdog has all along considered itself the better team."

"I’m not coming here looking for security, I came here for the opportunity."

"We control by attitudes – positive mental attitudes – not by rules."

"Being cold, like being determined to win, is just a state of mind."

"Push yourself again and again. Don't give an inch until the final gun sounds."

"You have to play hard for four quarters, getting to third base is nothing, you have to touch home plate."

"You can't let praise or criticism get to you. It's a weakness to get caught up in either one."

"Life is ten percent what happens to you and ninety percent how you respond to it."

"Failure is not fatal, but failure to change might be."

"Battles are sometimes won by generals; wars are nearly always won by sergeants and privates. Football is no different, the guys down in the trenches win the games, not the coach."

"Things turn out best for people who make the best out of the way things turn out."

"I've got a theory that if you give 100% all of the time, somehow things will work out in the end."

"That was about as bad an opener as we have ever played. When you get into the passing game, you can expect that sort of thing to happen."

"If money meant anything to me, I could get more of it. The only thing that means a lot to me is winning."

"Blame is safer than praise. This niceness from people complimenting you can be what kills you."

"How do we win so much? Well by George it's simple, we're better and we work harder."

"We all can be beaten, but we are never defeated until we give up, that's when the war is lost."

"A winner is someone who recognizes his God-given talents, works his tail off to develop them into skills, and uses these skills to accomplish his goals."

"Success--it's what you do with what you've got."

"Even the best team, without a sound plan, can't score."

"If you are going to win, you have to do one thing. You have to make the mind run the body. Never let the body tell the mind what to do... the body is never tired if the mind is not tired."

"The only way we'd get beaten was if we got a little fat-headed, if we didn't train right, if we had dissension on the squad."

"I've had smarter people around me all my life, but I haven't run into one yet that can outwork me. And if they can't outwork you, then smarts aren't going to do them much good. That's just way it is."

"Speed is not your fastest, but your slowest man. No back can run faster than his interference."

"Pride is a great asset. No real football player should be without it. And when I hear Carmen Ohio being sung by our students and alums, I know they feel that pride, too."

"Once you learn to quit, it becomes a habit."

"Accept the challenges so that you can feel the exhilaration of victory."

"Perfection is not attainable, but if we chase perfection we can catch excellence."

"Football is, after all, a wonderful way to get rid of your aggressions without going to jail for it."

"Success - it's what you do with what you've got. -Woody Hayes"

"The time you give a man something he doesn't earn, you cheapen him. Our kids earn what they get, and that includes respect."

"Some people get on the field and get so afraid of losing, that they start playing safe. We don't go that route here. If we go down, we down swinging."

"Not everybody can be first team, but you can always put the team first."

"So when you get knocked on you butt, get up, get over it, and then next time, kick their ass."

"The minute I think I'm getting mellow, I'm retiring. Who ever heard of a mellow winner? "

"Be more concerned with your character than your reputation, because your character is what you really are, while your reputation is merely what others think you are."

"You're overofficiating the offense and letting the defense get away with murder. The Bible says turn the other cheek, but I'll be damned if I'll tell my kids to do that when they'll just get it fractured! Woody Hayes to a Big Ten referee who made a call he did not like."

"When I look in the mirror in the morning, I want to take a swing at me."

"I recruited a Czech kicker, and during the eye exam, when asked to read the bottom line, the kicker replied, Read it? I know him."