Nick Saban Quotes

I didn't take the reins of my career until I was about 21, and I've been in charge since then.

A leader's most important decisions are about people. Who do you put in which jobs? How long do you leave them in a job?

Any decision that's made about my career is ultimately my decision, and it's helped me not to plan too much. I've never been the guy thinking, 'I want to do a play this year, I want to do this kind of movie or this kind of character.' I don't have that sort of control.

You control what you do offensively, defensively. You're controlling who you play, how you want to play.

When we get to the future, I'll determine the future.

Everything happens for a reason. I'm used to it, I prepare for it. Like I say, at the end of the day, those in charge of their own destiny are going to do what's right for them and their family.

Life is like a game of cards. The hand you are dealt is determinism; the way you play it is free will.

I have been in control of what I've been doing, of the career I've put together.

The saddest thing in life is wasted talent and the choices you make will shape your life forever.

Circumstances are beyond the control of man; but his conduct is in his own power.

The question of many college quarterbacks is can they operate in the pro game, in the pro system. Can they not only function under the early, especially with our game, but can they do it efficiently?

It wasn't conscious, but I'm glad I've had a slow and steady career path. I wanted to develop my style, and I wanted to be the one making the decisions. Sometimes, when you become a success quickly, those decisions are out of your control.

We all control our careers. Those choices that you make are so critical.

I don't think I've necessarily been able to pick and choose in my career; I don't know how many people do. But I'll tell you what I've been able to do: I've been able to say no. It is the only thing you can hold on to sometimes, is that ability to say 'no.' And I think that in that way, you can create some kind of career.

There is a lot of stuff we can't control, but it is completely in our power to decide what the definition of what a good job is. That's up to us.

In college, I was a running QB. We were a sprint out offense, so I had a big transition going into pro ball.

If I was to become a manager, I would not want someone else to be signing the players for the team that my job depended on.

It's not easy to decide what is best for you in the future.

For so many years, I wished it could have been different. I wished I could have gotten the opportunity sooner. I would have loved to see what had happened had I got to the NFL right out of college and all of those different things.

Being a manager is kneading people.

You never know: there is a lot of movement in football. You can never predict where you're going to play.

You're in pro football, it's kind of interesting, because when you win, you draft last. In college football, you recruit. You gotta go after guys.

Choice is destiny's soul mate.

Control your destiny or somebody will.

Allow me to inquire how man can control his own affairs when he is not only incapable of compiling a plan for some laughably short term such as, say, a thousand years, but cannot even predict what will happen to him tomorrow?