The true mission of American sports is to prepare young men for war.
—Dwight D. Eisenhower, c. 1952
Archive
Quotes
We who officially value freedom of speech above life itself seem to have nothing to talk about but the weather.
—Barbara Ehrenreich, 1991Where it is a duty to worship the sun, it is pretty sure to be a crime to examine the laws of heat.
—John Morley, 1872The only competition worthy a wise man is with himself.
—Anna Jameson, 1846Few sons are equal to their fathers; most fall short, all too few surpass them.
—Homer, c. 750 BCThe sadness of the end of a career of an older athlete, with the betrayal of his body, is mirrored in the rest of us. Consciously or not, we know: there, soon, go I.
—Ira Berkow, 1987Laughter almost ever cometh of things most disproportioned to ourselves and nature. Laughter hath only a scornful tickling.
—Philip Sidney, 1582Ships at a distance have every man’s wish on board.
—Zora Neale Hurston, 1937Only connect! That was the whole of her sermon. Only connect the prose and the passion, and both will be exalted, and human love will be seen at its height.
—E.M. Forster, 1910It would be impossible to live for a year without disaster unless one practiced character-reading.
—Virginia Woolf, 1924What a heavy burden is a name that has become too famous.
—Voltaire, 1723I find the pain of a little censure, even when it is unfounded, is more acute than the pleasure of much praise.
—Thomas Jefferson, 1789France has neither winter, summer, nor morals—apart from these drawbacks it is a fine country.
—Mark Twain, 1879