Quotations inspire – they show the way – they are distilled wisdom. Here is a collection of 100 quotations on Team work (arranged in no particular order), all collected from different sources in the internet. Wherever the right person to whom the quote is attributed is known to me, I have mentioned the same. The rest, a testament to my ignorance, I have mentioned as Unknown. In case you know whom it is from, do share it, so that I may update this accordingly.
1. “ Coming together is beginning. Keeping together is progress. Working together is success.” – Henry Ford
2. “Teamwork is the ability to work as a group toward a common vision, even if that vision becomes extremely blurry.” – As seen on a poster
3. “Talent wins games, but teamwork and intelligence wins championships.“ – Michael Jordan
4. “TEAM – T- Together | E- Everyone | A – Achieves | M- More |” – Unknown
5. “When you score a goal, or hit a three, or get a touchdown, you dont do it for yourself, you do it for the team cause the name in the front of the shirt is more important than the one on the back.” – Unknown
6. “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“ – Babe Ruth
7. “Every team needs a hero, every hero needs a team.“ – Unknown
8. “Finding each other is the beginning, staying together is the process, Working together is the success.” – Maeagn Gunderson
9. “Individually, we are one drop. Together, we are an ocean.” – Emma
10. “The vision of the leader is the hope of the pack.“ – Unknown
12. “None of us is as smart as all of us.” – Ken Blanchard
13. “A group becomes a team when each member is sure enough of himself and his contribution to praise the skills of the others.” – Norman Shidle
14. “We’re a team. One person struggles, we all struggle. One person triumphs, we all triumph.” – Unknown
15. “No one can whistle a symphony. It takes a whole orchestra to play it.“ – H. E. Luccock
16. “There is no such thing as a self-made man. You will reach your goals only with the help of others.” – Unknown
17. “Teamwork divides the task and doubles the success.” – Unknown
18. “Teamwork is the ability to work together toward a common vision. The ability to direct individual accomplishment toward organizational objectives. It is the fuel that allows common people to attain uncommon results.” – Andrew Carnegie
19. “Contrary to popular belief, there most certainly IS an “I” in TEAM. It is the same “I” that appears 3 times in RESPONSIBILITY.“ – Amber Harding
20. “There is no such thing as “one-man show” in a winning team.” – Jose B. Cabajar
22. “On the field we are only as strong as we are together.” – Coach Kool
23. “It is a fact that in the right formation, the lifting power of many wings can achieve twice the distance of any bird flying alone.” – Unknown
24. “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed people can change the world, indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.” – Unknown
25. “You aren’t a teammate unless you know you can trust each other with your lives.” – Trevor Blackwell
26. “The strength of the team is each individual member. The strength of each member is the team.” – Phil Jackson
27. “People who work together will win, whether it be against complex football defenses, or the problems of modern society.” – Vince Lombardi
28. “Michael, if you can’t pass, you can’t play.” – Coach Dean Smith to Michael Jordan in his freshman year at UNC.
29. “The ratio of We’s to I’s is the best indicator of the development of a team.“ – Lewis B. Ergen
31. “A divided house neither knows the comfort of peace nor the warmth of love.“ – Unknown
32. “Sometimes you gotta take one for the team“ – Unknown
33. “It doesn’t take strength to win, it takes the true heart of the team to win.” – Emily Voyles
34. “If all I wanted to do was win, I’d find something I can play on my own. The real prize comes from the experience you get, and the time you spend learning to work well together with new friends. That is far more valuable than any gold medal or trophy I have ever seen.“ – Panthean
35. “Teamwork doesn’t tolerate the inconvenience of distance.“ – Unknown
36. “Conflict is inevitable in a team. In fact, to achieve synergistic solutions, a variety of ideas and approaches are needed. These are the ingredients for conflict.“ – Susan Gerke, IBM, Leadership Development
37. “Without forgiveness, there can be no real freedom to act within a group.” – Max Dee Pree
38. “Teamwork is well-blended peculiarities.” – Jose B. Cabajar
39. “There is no “I” in team, but if you rearrange the letters there is mate.” – Unknown
41. “One star on the field makes only for a spot light. All stars on the field makes only for competition between all players. A group of people knowing and supporting both each other’s strengths and weaknesses on the field makes only for a team.” – Unknown
42. “What sets us apart from everyone else is our ability to recognize that we are nothing without everyone else.” – Linda Poindexter
43. “You can call yourself a team not when you succeed, but when you think of each other before yourself, have fun and enjoy each others company – that is where you will find success.” – Stephanie U
44. “Man has never achieved anything, but mankind has discovered the world.“ – Unknown
45. “A demanding performance challenge tends to create a team.” – Katzenbach & Smith
46. “I can do it when it’s not hard, but when it’s hard I need teamwork as strong as a board.” – Unknown
47. “A house divided cannot stand for long. That goes for politicians and the rest of us.“ – Willie D
48. “The path to greatness is along with others.“ – Baltasar Gracion, Spanish Priest
49. “Only by binding together as a single force will we remain strong and unconquerable.“ Chris Bradford (The Way of the Dragon)
51. “Trust is knowing that when a team member does push you, they’re doing it because they care about the team.” – Patrick Lencioni
52. “Remember teamwork begins by building trust. And the only way to do that is to overcome our need for invulnerability.” – Patrick Lencioni
53. “It’s as simple as this. When people don’t unload their opinions and feel like they’ve been listened to, they won’t really get on board.” – Patrick Lencioni
54. “Great teams do not hold back with one another. They are unafraid to air their dirty laundry. They admit their mistakes, their weaknesses, and their concerns without fear of reprisal.” – Patrick Lencioni
55. “The greater the loyalty of a group toward the group, the greater is the motivation among the members to achieve the goals of the group, and the greater the probability that the group will achieve its goals.“ – Rensis Likert
56. “Team effort goes vain when individual effort is in the wrong direction.” – Ram Mohan
57. “It takes two flints to make a fire.” – Louisa May Alcott
58. “Collaboration allows teachers to capture each other’s fund of collective intelligence.“ – Mike Schmoker ( Results)
59. “Collaboration, it turns out, is not a gift from the gods but a skill that requires effort and practice.“
– Douglas B. Reeves
61. “Strategy is not really a solo sport – even if you’re the CEO.”
– Max McKeown (The Strategy Book)
62. “When we are debating an issue, loyalty means giving me your honest opinion, whether you think I’ll like it or not. Disagreement, at this stage, stimulates me. But once a decision has been made, the debate ends. From that point on, loyalty means executing the decision as if it were your own.” – Colin Powell
63. “If you can laugh together, you can work together.” – Robert Orben
64. “Great teamwork is the only way we create the breakthroughs that define our careers.“ – Pat Riley
65. “I am a member of a team, and I rely on the team, I defer to it and sacrifice for it, because the team, not the individual, is the ultimate champion.” – Mia Hamm
66. “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.” – Knute Rockne
67. “One piece of log creates a small fire, adequate to warm you up, Add just a few more pieces to blast an immense bonfire, large enough to warm up your entire circle of friends; needless to say that individuality counts but team work dynamites.“ – Master Jin Kwon
68. “I never did anything alone. Whatever was accomplished in this country was accomplished collectively.” – Golda Meir
69. “Strength lies in differences, not in similarities.“ – Stephen Covey
71. “The best executive is the one who has sense enough to pick good men to do what he wants done, and self-restraint enough to keep from meddling with them while they do it.” – Theodore Roosevelt
72. “A dwarf on a giant’s shoulders sees the further of the two.” – George Herbert
73. “A job worth doing is worth doing together.” – Anonymous
74. “A well-run restaurant is like a winning baseball team. It makes the most of every crew member’s talent and takes advantage of every split-second opportunity to speed up service.” – David Ogilvy
75. “Being a part of success is more important than being personally indispensable.” – Pat Riley
76. “Build for your team a feeling of oneness, of dependence on one another and of strength to be derived by unity.“ – Vince Lombardi
77. “Everybody on a championship team doesn’t get publicity, but everyone can say he’s a champion.” – Earvin ”Magic” Johnson
78. “If a team is to reach its potential, each player must be willing to subordinate his personal goals to the good of the team.” – Bud Wilkinson
79. “Individual commitment to a group effort — that is what makes a team work, a company work, a society work, a civilization work.“ – Vince Lombardi
80. “It is literally true that you can succeed best and quickest by helping others to succeed.“ – Napoleon Hill
81. “Light is the task where many share the toil.” – Homer
82. “Many hands make light work.” – John Heywood
83. “Members of groups that do not meet regularly together usually do not feel a strong sense of belonging and do not take ownership for the success of the group.“ – Anonymous
84. “Most teams aren’t teams at all but merely collections of individual relationships with the boss. Each individual vying with the others for power, prestige and position.” – Douglas Murray Mcgregor
85. “No man or woman is an island. To exist just for yourself is meaningless. You can achieve the most satisfaction when you feel related to some greater purpose in life, something greater than yourself.” – Denis Waitley
86. “One man can be a crucial ingredient on a team, but one man cannot make a team.” – Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
87. “Snowflakes are one of nature’s most fragile things, but just look at what they can do when they stick together.” – Anonymous
88. “Teamwork is what the Green Bay Packers were all about. They didn’t do it for individual glory. They did it because they loved one another.” – Vince Lombardi
89. “When a milestone is conquered, the subtle erosion called entitlement begins its consuming grind. The team regards its greatness as a trait and a right. Half hearted effort becomes habit and saps a champion.” – Pat Riley
91.“When a team outgrows individual performance and learns team confidence, excellency becomes a reality.“ – Joe Paterno
92. “When spider webs unite, they can tie up a lion.” – Ethiopian Proverb
93. “When your team is winning, be ready to be tough, because winning can make you soft. On the other hand, when your team is losing, stick by them. Keep believing.“ – Bo Schembechler
94. “White man builds big fire, stands back. Indian builds little fire, huddles close.” – Anonymous
95. “Working together, ordinary people can perform extraordinary feats. They can push things that come into their hands a little higher up, a little further on towards the heights of excellence.” – Anonymous
96. “A group is a bunch of people in an elevator. A team is also a bunch of people in an elevator, but the elevator is broken!” – Bonnie Edelstein
97. “A boat doesn’t go forward if each one is rowing their own way.” – Swahili Proverb
98. “Wearing the same shirts doesn’t make a team.“ – Buchholz and Roth
99. “In teamwork, silence isn’t golden, it’s deadly.“ – Mark Sanborn
100. “The greatest danger a team faces isn’t that it won’t become successful, but that it will, and then cease to improve.“ – Mark Sanborn
Which of these quotations inspired you the most?
Do share your thoughts. In case you know of any other inspiring quotations that have not found a place here – do share!