Quotes from Don Shula

Strive for perfection, but settle for excellence.

Success is not forever, and failure is never final.

Failure isn't fatal, and success isn't final.

Because, they're only thinking about one team when that game's over. Before the game, they're talking about two football teams. When the game's over, there's only one winner.

And then to end up with a total of 347 wins, averaging 10 regular season wins for 33 years and the best winning percentage, and I'm very proud of this, of any professional team from 1970 to 1996.

Peyton Manning is doing things that I think no other quarterback in the history of the league has done at the line of scrimmage... I just think they are a team right now that's got a real chance to run the table.

You can't play enough golf or do any of those other things that fill that kind of excitement that coaching gave me in the big games.

The 347 wins is the thing I'm most proud of. Nobody's even close to it.

The superior man blames himself. The inferior man blames others.

I'm fairly confident that if I died tomorrow, Don would find a way to preserve me until the season was over and he had time for a nice funeral.

He wants to be his own man and be recognized for what he's done. He's not asking for anything because of his name. That was a tough situation to go into at Alabama, but he probably wouldn't have been given the job if the situation would have been different.

Anybody that's a Dolphins fan feels they're headed in the right direction.

One thing I never want to be accused of is not working.

I can't control the criticism. It's something you certainly don't appreciate, but by the same token, everybody is entitled to their opinion.

I'm not going to worry about the critics until some of my peers start saying I'm a softie.

When you're 0-2 in the Super Bowl, they say unkind things about you. They say, 'He can't win the big one.' And that's the worst thing that can be said about you.

If you're going to take gambles, you must have one thing: self-confidence.

You know it's only 50 miles from Grand River to Canton, but it took me 67 years to travel that distance.

You try to shut the criticism out, but it's pretty hard to do. You see people on the street, friends, people that you know are in your corner, and they come and tell you how bad they feel, and that's not the kind of conversation you want. I don't want anyone to feel bad for me.

I think what coaching is all about, is taking players and analyzing there ability, put them in a position where they can excel within the framework of the team winning. And I hope that I've done that in my 33 years as a head coach.

The thing we found out was, when you get to a Super Bowl, both teams are treated the same, talked about in glowing terms. But when the game is over, only the team that won matters.

I never felt I knew it all. I always felt there's something new to learn, something new to do.

I coached against Dave the last couple of years, and I was very proud to be the first time a father ever coached against his son. He beat me for 30 minutes the first time and 59 and a half minutes the second time.

I can't remember missing a practice because of illness.