Vincent Lombardi

Most of you -- most everyone in this room, I dare say, have the qualities -- or possess the qualities -- to be successful. But, unfortunately, gentlemen, it rests not upon ability, not upon capacity, but upon our willingness to use those qualities. It also must be based upon truth and upon character, because there must be truth in its purpose and will power in its character.

Success rests not upon ability but upon commitment, upon loyalty, and upon pride. Not all educated men are successful. Going to college helps. But a man really can receive his inspiration from any place -- he can receive his inspiration from the Fulton Fish Market if he so desires. And if a man studies his past, and if he studies his country, and if he studies his ancestors, and if he studies the lessons of history, he is educated.

None of us is born equal, in spite of everything they say about it -- we are born only in certain inalienable rights. But we are born rather unequal. However, I want to say that the talented are no more responsible for their birthright than the underprivileged are and the measurement of each man should be what each does and I want to say that it is becoming increasingly difficult to be tolerant of a society who has sympathy only for the misfit, only for the maladjusted, only for the criminal, and only for the loser..

But the most important element in the character make-up of a man who is successful is that of mental toughness, and I might say the most difficult one to explain. Because mental toughness is so many things. For example, it is humility. Simplicity is a form of humility and simplicity is the sign of true greatness. Meekness is a sign of humility, and meekness is a sign of true strength.

Mental toughness is spartanism with its qualities of sacrifice and self-denial, also the qualities of dedication and fearlessness and love. Not the love that you have for your wife or your wife may have for you. The love I am speaking of is loyalty, which is the greatest of loves. Teamwork, which is a form of love, and the love that one man has for another is respecting the dignity of another man. The love I speak of is not detraction. You show me a man who speaks ill of another and I'll show you a man who is only temporarily successful. Or one who is not charitable. Or one who is not loyal.

Mental toughness is also the perfectly disciplined will and the will, gentleman, is the character in action. The great hope of society has to be the character in action and we are never going to create a good society, much less a great one, until we once more recognize and respect individual excellence. Because if we would create something, we must be something, because character is the direct result of mental attitude and you cannot copy someone else's particular character qualifications but must develop your own according to your own particular personality.

The difference between a successful man and others is not a lack of strength, not a lack of knowledge, but rather in lack of will because the character rather than the education is man's greatest need and man's greatest safeguard because the character is higher than the intellect. The difference between men is in energy, in the strong will, in a singleness of purpose and an invincible determination.

But the great difference is in sacrifice, in self-denial, in love and loyalty, in fearlessness and in humility, in the pursuit of excellence and in the perfectly disciplined will, because this is not only the difference between men, this is the difference between great men and little men.