Steve Young Quotes

The principle is competing against yourself. It's about self-improvement, about being better than you were the day before.

Perception is reality. If you are perceived to be something, you might as well be it because that's the truth in people's minds.

My dad, like any coach, has always stressed the fundamentals. He taught me responsibility, accountability, and the importance of hard work.

I always felt like hanging around the pocket was trouble, but the truth is, the great players take the beatings in the pocket and expose themselves -- and that is the real risk.

A running quarterback, to me, is safer. Because, once I got out [of the pocket], I didn?t run where there were a lot of people. I ran where there was nobody.

The principle is competing against yourself.

When you're an elite athlete, it's a very special moment in time and you don't want it to end.

I may yet move [from Nashville], and where would I move if not Texas or New Mexico? I couldn't afford a home in California. I need to travel out of there occasionally.

I was made to go to church and I heard the gospel songs, and every now then somebody would come through with a guitar and that was a thrill!

The wins and losses are over for Rice, the football player, who leaves with 38 NFL records. He was the easiest guy in the world to throw the football to, ... You always knew where he was headed.

I will be a missionary in a remote village at some point.

I was born and grew up in the Deep South, and I must say it wasn't easy for me. I always marched to a drummer, I had different views about politics and religion and I had them relatively young.

No one can keep their word. Everyone's in hurry and jumping to the next opportunity. There's something missing.

I was known to spout off about [ politics and religion] sometimes, especially in my drinkin' days! It was pretty dangerous actually.

I did admire the comments and the music of Pete Seeger and Woody Guthrie. And that didn't fly too well in the Deep South. It was not quite redneck enough.

I like the idea of having an old Gibson [guitar], but I don't have one. The Gibson has a different quality, but it's almost like you need both.

My playing style is very eccentric and mostly self taught.

I heard black people sing and the emotion was overwhelming to me. The power of that with all the built in sorrow and joy was just overwhelming to me as a little kid. It was the real deal.

I really wanted a guitar. As A little boy I used to tell people I was going to be a musician. They would humor me, and I'd make up thirty minute songs and drive them nuts.

I grew up wanting a guitar, my family was very poor. When I was fourteen my mother bought me a Gibson ES 125 thin body. That was a bunch of money in those days - $125.00.

In medieval times, artists had patrons that supported them and this is a similar thing, ... We're basically saying, 'Wouldn't you like to be a part of this'

The end is here, and you don't want be here. You are the best in the world at something, and you know you are not going to be that great at anything else.

When you play quarterback in San Francisco, not much goes under the radar.

I give NFL quarterbacks a lot of leeway for a couple of years.

If I wasn't so lazy, or if I had a roadie, I'd have a line of guitars on stage. I'd have a lap steel and a nylon string up there, but who wants to keep up with all that?

I have somewhat [Taylor's or Gallagher's guitars], but I like the power of the Martins.

51 Martin [guitar] sounded pretty good as new guitar. Martin has several levels of guitars now, and this one is pretty good.

Gibson ES 125 was a real instrument, this was in 1956. I started learning; I had a vision of a sound.

I notice guys playing the piano playing a part up here and a part down there, and I wandered why couldn't I do that on the guitar?

The song [The White Trash Song] was not a put down of [ my country cousins ], but a celebration. I wrote that early on, as a teenager.

I was such a heavy drinker I was going to die at age 37. Not to mention the drugs. I'm glad to be sober, I haven't missed a thing. A lot of people never get the chance to come back.

I didn't have the self-promotion instinct, and I just didn't care about it. I sort of had a "beat" attitude.

My favorite record I've ever done is Rock Salt and Nails. It was recorded in '68-'69 and released in '69. There's something about that record I really like.

One of the things that benefited me that anyone can learn is classical technique. That shows the orchestra that exists within the instrument.

I'd rather work with guys that have time to live with you, and let it gel.

Music saved my life a few times because I could play the stuff rednecks loved. They thought I was great and they wondered why I didn't do that all the time.

The secret to teamwork is an outward mindset.