Selected teamwork quotes

1. As soon as you put men together, they somehow sink, corporatively, below the level of the worst of the individuals composing it. Collect scholars on a club committee, or men of science on a jury; all their virtues vanish, and their vices pop out, reinforced by the self-confidence which the power of numbers is bound to bestow.

2. Sometimes the best way to be useful is to get out of somebody's way.

3. Not even a great leader can get very far without great people to lead.

4. If we all work together, we can totally disrupt the system.

5. The way a team plays as a whole determines its success. You may have the greatest bunch of individual stars in the world, but if they don't play together, the club won't be worth a dime.

6. Why not be a top-notcher? A top-notcher is simply an individual who works for the institution of which he is a part, not against it.

7. Rather than believe that Watson and Crick made the DNA structure, I would rather stress that the structure made Watson and Crick.

8. Discipline is the soul of an army. It makes small numbers formidable; procures success to the weak, and esteem to all.

9. It is infinitely better to have a few good men than many indifferent ones.

10. My observation is that whenever one person is found adequate to the discharge of a duty... it is worse executed by two persons, and scarcely done at all if three or more are employed therein.

11. A community is like a ship; everyone ought to be prepared to take the helm.

12. No matter what side of an argument you're on, you always find some people on your side that wish you were on the other side.

13. We used to have a lot of fun. We never had any problems. We always ate. The fact that we didn't have steak? Who had steak?

14. Some people should just start ideas and other ones should carry them out.

15. I would rather earn 1% off a 100 people's efforts than 100% of my own efforts.

16. Many hands make light work.

17. The real accomplishment of modern science and technology consists in taking ordinary men, informing them narrowly and deeply and then, through appropriate organization, arranging to have their knowledge combined with that of other specialized but equally ordinary men. This dispenses with the need for genius. The resulting performance, though less inspiring, is far more predictable.

18. Yeah, that came out of a reading. It was great. It's such a fun crew to be with, and we all went out the night before and that really encouraged us to go out and get drunk.

19. You can have a team of unconventional thinkers, as well as conventional thinkers. If you don't have the support of others you cannot achieve anything altogether on your own. It's like a cry in the wilderness. In each instance there were others who could see the same thing, and there were others who could not. It's an obvious difference we see in those who you might say have a bird's eye view, and those who have a worm's eye view. I've come to realize that we all have a different mind set, we all see things differently, and that's what the human condition is really all about.

20. Let's win one for the Gipper.

21. No star playing, just football.

22. The secret is to work less as individuals and more as a team. As a coach, I play not my eleven best, but my best eleven.

23. Not that I have anything much against redundancy. But I said that already.

24. The NIH syndrome (Not Invented Here) is a disease.

25. Fixed formation is bad. Study this well.

26. Playing rugby at school I once fell on a loose ball and, through ignorance and fear, held on despite a fierce pummelling. After that it took me months to convince my team-mates I was a coward.

27. We allow no geniuses around our Studio.

28. Of all the things I have done, the most vital is coordinating the talents of those who work for us and pointing them towards a certain goal.

29. An army of sheep led by a lion is better than an army of lions led by a sheep.

30. I've always hated the danger part of climbing, and it's great to come down again because it's safe ... But there is something about building up a comradeship - that I still believe is the greatest of all feats - and sharing in the dangers with your company of peers. It's the intense effort, the giving of everything you've got. It's really a very pleasant sensation.

31. 'I never thought of myself as the leader. The most important person, perhaps.'

32. No one has even begun to understand comradeship who does not accept with it a certain hearty eagerness in eating, drinking, or smoking, an uproarious materialism which to many women appears only hoggish. You may call the thing an orgy or a sacrament; it is certainly an essential. It is at root a resistance to the superciliousness of the individual. Nay, its very swaggering and howling are humble. In the heart of its rowdiness there is a sort of mad modesty; a desire to melt the separate soul into the mass of unpretentious masculinity. It is a clamorous confession of the weakness of all flesh. No man must be superior to the things that are common to men. This sort of equality must be bodily and gross and comic. Not only are we all in the same boat, but we are all seasick.

33. A hidden connection is stronger than an obvious one.

34. Two heads are better than one.

35. To lead people walk behind them.

36. When a gifted team dedicates itself to unselfish trust and combines instinct with boldness and effort, it is ready to climb.

37. 'I've learned to be patient. When I was younger I rushed things a lot. I tried to attack the game. Now I get teammates more involved before I try to take over.'

38. 'I'm not out trying to prove anything. All I'm trying to do is go out there and help my team any way I can to win. I don't get caught up in the individual stats or the awards.'

39. Pitching always beats batting -- and vice-versa.

40. Unlike writers or painters, we don't sit down in front of a blank canvas and say, 'How do I start? Where do I start?' We're given the springboard of the text, a plane ticket, told to report to Alabama, and there's a group of people all ready to make a film and it's a marvelous life.

41. We all pulled together at the right time, unfortunately, we were down 3-0 to the Yankees when we decided to do it, but we did it. And we shocked the world.

42. The general holds back his cavalry to a pace that suits his infantry, for if its infantry is left behind, the cavalry will be surrounded by the enemy.

43. It's a tough case and the first time Reacher needs to recruit somebody to help him out. He uses a woman he knew in the army; she's a fascinating character.

44. Those officers and men who were immediately under my observation, evinced the greatest gallantry, and I have no doubt that all others conducted themselves as became American officers and seamen. Lieutenant Yarnall, first of the LAWRENCE, although several times wounded, refused to quit the deck. Midshipman Forrest (doing duty as lieutenant) and sailing master Taylor, were of great assistance to me.

45. Of captain Elliot, already so well known to the government, it would be almost superfluous to speak; in this action, he evinced his characteristic bravery and judgment; and, since the close of the action, has given me the most able and essential assistance.

46. Amid a multitude of projects, no plan is devised.

47. 'I believe if we all have faith in what we want to achieve, there's no doubt we will achieve it together as a community.'

48. Two such as you with such a master speed Cannot be parted nor be swept away From one another once you are agreed That life is only life forevermore Together wing to wing and oar to oar.

49. For the strength of the Pack is the Wolf, and the strength of the Wolf is the Pack.

50. Pair up in threes.

51. Let's rock this thing.

52. Let's go, Head Cheese!'