25 Inspirational Paul ‘Bear’ Bryant Quotes

Paul ‘Bear’ Bryant is best known as a legendary college football coach. He was a head coach at Maryland, Kentucky, Texas A&M, and Alabama.

During his 25-year tenure as Alabama’s head coach, he amassed six national championships and thirteen conference championships. When he retired in 1982, he held the record for most wins as head coach in collegiate football history with 323 wins.

In 1983, Paul ‘Bear’ Bryant was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Ronald Reagan.

As well as a legendary football coach, Paul ‘Bear’ Bryant was also known as a master motivator. Many of his powerful quotes continue to motivate and inspire people to this day.

I hope that the following collection of Paul ‘Bear’ Bryant quotes on success, attitude, leadership and winning, will inspire you.

1. Sacrifice. Work. Self-discipline. I teach these things, and my boys don’t forget them when they leave. – Paul ‘Bear’ Bryant

2. The first time you quit, it’s hard. The second time, it gets easier. The third time, you don’t even have to think about it. – Paul ‘Bear’ Bryant

3. My attitude has always been, if it’s worth playing, it’s worth paying the price to win.  – Paul ‘Bear’ Bryant

4. Little things make the difference. Everyone is well prepared in the big things, but only the winners perfect the little things. – Paul ‘Bear’ Bryant

5. I don’t hire anybody not brighter than I am. If they’re not smarter than me, I don’t need them.  – Paul ‘Bear’ Bryant

6. 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. – Paul ‘Bear’ Bryant

7. Show class, have pride and display character. If you do, winning takes care of itself. – Paul ‘Bear’ Bryant

8. Losing doesn’t make me want to quit. It makes me want to fight that much harder. – Paul ‘Bear’ Bryant

9. A good, quick, small team can beat a big, slow team any time. – Paul ‘Bear’ Bryant

10. You must learn how to hold a team together. You must lift some men up, calm others down until finally, they’ve got one heartbeat. Then you’ve got yourself a team. – Paul ‘Bear’ Bryant

11. You win games with your strengths, not your weaknesses. – Paul ‘Bear’ Bryant

12. Don’t give up at halftime. Concentrate on winning the second half. – Paul ‘Bear’ Bryant

13. Set goals, high goals for you and your organization. When your organization has a goal to shoot for, you create teamwork, people working for a common good. – Paul ‘Bear’ Bryant

14. It’s not the will to win that matters, everybody has that. It’s the will to prepare to win that matters. – Paul ‘Bear’ Bryant

15. A champion pays an extra price to be better than anyone else. – Paul ‘Bear’ Bryant

16. Have a plan. Follow the plan, and you’ll be surprised how successful you can be. – Paul ‘Bear’ Bryant

17. Most coaches study the films when they lose. I study them when we win – to see if I can figure out what I did right. – Paul ‘Bear’ Bryant

18. There’s a big difference to wanting to and willing to. – Paul ‘Bear’ Bryant

19. If you believe in yourself and have dedication and pride and never quit, you’ll be a winner. The price of victory is high but so are the rewards. – Paul ‘Bear’ Bryant

20. In life, you’ll have your back up against the wall many times. You might as well get used to it. – Paul ‘Bear’ Bryant

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

22. It’s awfully important to win with humility. It’s also important to lose. I hate to lose worse than anyone, but if you never lose you won’t know how to act. If you lose with humility, then you can come back. – Paul ‘Bear’ Bryant

23. Motivating people: The ingredient that separates winners from losers. – Paul ‘Bear’ Bryant

24. There’s a lot of blood, sweat, and guts between dreams and success.  – Paul ‘Bear’ Bryant

25. When you make a mistake, there are only three things you should ever do about it: 1. Admit it. 2. Learn from it, and 3. Don’t repeat it. – Paul ‘Bear’ Bryant