Attributed quotes
“Winning isn't everything; it's the only thing”
Vince Lombardi (1913–1970) American football player, coach, and executive
Actually spoken by 1950s UCLA football coach Henry Russell "Red" Sanders. Lombardi always denied he had said this although it is close to something he did say: "Winning isn't a sometime thing; it's an all the time thing."
Misattributed
“In a fight like this, unless you’re willing to lose everything to win, you lose it all by losing.”
Daniel Abraham (1969) speculative fiction writer from the United States
Source: The Expanse, Tiamat's Wrath (2019), Chapter 3 (p. 41)
John C. Maxwell (1947) American author, speaker and pastor
Book Sometimes you win Sometimes you Learn
“Winning may not be everything, but losing has little to recommend it.”
Dianne Feinstein (1933) American politician
Source: Nine and Counting: The Women of the Senate
“Life isn't hard to manage when you've nothing to lose.”
Ernest Hemingway book A Farewell to Arms
Source: A Farewell to Arms (1929), Ch. 21
“Self-esteem isn't everything; it's just that there's nothing without it.”
Gloria Steinem (1934) American feminist and journalist
Ray Bradbury book Dandelion Wine
Variant: “You remember winning, don’t you? A battle won, somewhere?”
“No,” said the old man, deep under. “I don’t remember anyone winning anywhere any time. War’s never a winning thing, Charlie. You just lose all the time, and the one who loses last asks for terms. All I remember is a lot of losing and sadness and nothing good but the end of it. The end of it, Charles, that was a winning all to itself, having nothing to do with guns.
Source: Dandelion Wine (1957), p. 85
