Author and Islamic scholar Hamza Yusuf once said “Don’t ever diminish the power of words. Words move hearts and hearts move limbs.” Yusuf wasn’t talking about memorable Liverpool FC quotes when he said that, but he may as well have been.
Bill Shankly, Bob Paisley, Kevin Keegan, Emlyn Hughes, Tommy Smith … the list of inspirational and eminently quotable characters to have graced Anfield down the years is almost endless.
Everyone loves a good motivational quote and we’re no different, so we’ve scoured the archives and curated the wisest words from the greatest men to have ever represented our magnificent football club. YNWA.
Bill Shankly
Some people believe football is a matter of life and death. I am very disappointed with that attitude. I can assure you it is much, much more important than that.
Bill Shankly
Liverpool Football Club exists to win trophies.
Bill Shankly
A lot of football success is in the mind. You must believe that you are the best and then make sure that you are. In my time at Liverpool we always said we had the best two teams in Merseyside, Liverpool and Liverpool reserves.
Bill Shankly
When I’ve got nothing better to do, I look down the league table to see how Everton are getting along.
Bill Shankly
[On the ‘This is Anfield’ sign] It’s there to remind our lads who they’re playing for, and to remind the opposition who they’re playing against.
Bill Shankly
If Everton were playing at the bottom of my garden I’d draw the curtains.
Bill Shankly
I want to build a team that’s invincible, so they’ll have to send a team from Mars to beat us.
Bill Shankly
When the ball’s down the Kop end, they frighten the ball. Sometimes they suck it into the back of the net.
Bill Shankly
[At the unveiling of 6ft 2in, 14-stone centre-half Ron Yeats] He’s just stepped out of the shower. Come in and see him … have a walk round him. He’s a colossus.
Bill Shankly
Liverpool was made for me and I was made for Liverpool.
Bill Shankly
Bob Paisley
If you’re in the penalty area and don’t know what to do with the ball, put it in the net and we’ll discuss the options later.
Bob Paisley
Mind you, I’ve been here during the bad times too – one year we came second.
Bob Paisley
When you see Tommy Smith go down, then you know he’s been hurt.
Bob Paisley
It’s not about the long ball or the short ball, it’s about the right ball.
Bob Paisley
Bill Shankly set such a high standard. Liverpool have been geared to this sort of thing for 15 years. I have just helped things along.
Bob Paisley
I remember Jimmy Adamson crowing after Burnley had beaten us that his players were in a different league. A the end of the season they were.
Bob Paisley
Kenny Dalglish
The people who come to watch us play, who love the team and regard it as part of their lives, would never appreciate Liverpool having a huge balance in the bank. They want every asset we possess to be wearing a red shirt.
Kenny Dalglish
I would just love to have gone and stood in the Kop.
Kenny Dalglish
Management is a seven-days-a-week job. The intensity of it takes its toll on your health. Some people want to go on forever, and I obviously don’t.
Kenny Dalglish
[After Liverpool had won the 2012 Carling Cup] I think anyone who has ever won a trophy, whether it’s at Wembley or wherever, has come away and said, ‘I enjoyed that, I’d love to do it again’.
Kenny Dalglish
Gerard Houllier
When you have a Liverpool shirt on your back as part of this squad, you will do anything to make sure you preserve what it stands for.
Gerard Houllier
Our job is to make the fans happy. When we win, 45,000 people go home happy. When we lose, it not only affects them, it affects the cat.
Gerard Houllier
Liverpool players must play like a lion, give his all. There must be determination, commitment and resolve to be a Liverpool player.
Gerard Houllier
Rafael Benitez
Before, I said they [Liverpool supporters] were maybe the best supporters in England. Now maybe they are the best supporters in Europe.
Rafael Benitez
To work hard and have our supporters behind us and believing until the end, you run a little bit more.
Rafael Benitez
[On the 2005 Champions League final] We talked at half-time and told the players that we needed to believe. We started to press with more energy and the belief came back. I was so proud of my players in extra-time – this was the greatest night I’ve had as a manager.
Rafael Benitez
Brendan Rodgers
What attracts you to the club is its history. If you are clever and bright enough, you will look into the history.
Brendan Rodgers
You know I could have stayed in my comfortable chair in South Wales having the first Welsh team that got promoted and been there a number of years, but for me I wanted to work at a club that was world-class and at the very, very top.
Brendan Rodgers
Jurgen Klopp
This club is the mix of atmosphere, emotion, desire and football quality. Cut off one and it doesn’t work.
Jurgen Klopp
If I have to describe this club then it’s a big heart and tonight it was pounding like crazy. You could hear it all over the world.
Jurgen Klopp
I love the Scouse soul. I love the way they love life in the city of Liverpool, I love the way they want to be different. They are different. I know a lot of scousers and they are really good people.
Jurgen Klopp
