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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.

Joe Paterno

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Joe Paterno
Age: 85 †
Born: 1926
Born: December 21
Died: 2012
Died: January 22
American Football Coach
American Football Player
Basketball Player
Football Coach
Writer
Brooklyn
New York
Joseph Vincent Paterno
Joseph Paterno
JoePa
Within
Largely
Lasts
Comparison
Success
Excellence
Often
Meaning
Others
Outside
Persons
Control
Perishable
Person
Sports
Externally
Grows
Measured

More quotes by Joe Paterno

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Right now I'm trying to figure out what I'm gonna do, 'cause I don't want to sit around on my backside all day. If I'm gonna do that I'll be a newspaper reporter.
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When a kid plays football before he attends a class, something is wrong.
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You have to perform at a consistently higher level than others. That's the mark of a true professional.
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Some things I thought were important for a young man to know.
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Losing a game is heartbreaking. Losing your sense of excellence or worth is a tragedy.
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We play with enthusiasm and recklessness. We aren't afraid to lose. If we win, great but win or lose, it is the competition that gives us pleasure.
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Success is best measured by the achiever.
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All coaches are thinking men, or else they wouldn't survive.
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You can't have a great university without a great library.
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I stayed on the track I wanted to stay on. I don’t think I deviated from what I’m all about and what I thought was important. Whether you want to call that a legacy, or whatever you want to call it.
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There's never been a greater game than football.
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Success without honor is an unseasoned dish it will satisfy your hunger, but it won't taste good.
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My father said about money: 'You have to have some. But you don't have to have all of it. Just be honest with yourself.'
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A hard-fought, well-fought, hairline-close game is as classical in sports as tragedy is in the theater. Victory is contained within defeat, and defeat is contained within victory. That's the way it is in the best of games. What counts in sports is not the victory, but the magnificence of the struggle.
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My name, I have spent my whole life trying to make that name mean something. And now it's gone.
Joe Paterno
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The minute you think you've got it made, disaster is just around the corner.
Joe Paterno
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When a team outgrows individual performance and learns team confidence, excellence becomes a reality.
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Its the name on the front of the jersey that matters most, not the one on the back.
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We need people who influence their peers and who cannot be detoured from their convictions by peers who do not have the courage to have any convictions.
Joe Paterno
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Keep hustling, something good will happen.
Joe Paterno