Yearly Archive: 2021

COACHES HOT SEAT > 2021

Coaches Hot Seat Quotes of the Day – Tuesday, December 21, 2021 – Carl Sagan

December 21, 2021

“All of the books in the world contain no more information than is broadcast as video in a single large American city in a single year. Not all bits have equal value.”

And

“But the fact that some geniuses were laughed at does not imply that all who are laughed at are geniuses. They laughed at Columbus, they laughed at Fulton, they laughed at the Wright Brothers. But they also laughed at Bozo the Clown.”

And

“For me, it is far better to grasp the Universe as it really is than to persist in delusion, however satisfying and reassuring.”

And

“For small creatures such as we the vastness is bearable only through love.”

And

“I am often amazed at how much more capability and enthusiasm for science there is among elementary school youngsters than among college students.”

And

“I can find in my undergraduate classes, bright students who do not know that the stars rise and set at night, or even that the Sun is a star.”

And

“If we long to believe that the stars rise and set for us, that we are the reason there is a Universe, does science do us a disservice in deflating our conceits?”

And

“If you wish to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first invent the universe.”

And

“Imagination will often carry us to worlds that never were. But without it we go nowhere.”

And

“Our species needs, and deserves, a citizenry with minds wide awake and a basic understanding of how the world works.”

And

“Personally, I would be delighted if there were a life after death, especially if it permitted me to continue to learn about this world and others, if it gave me a chance to discover how history turns out.”

And

“Science is a way of thinking much more than it is a body of knowledge.”

And

“Skeptical scrutiny is the means, in both science and religion, by which deep thoughts can be winnowed from deep nonsense.”

And

“Somewhere, something incredible is waiting to be known.”

And

“The brain is like a muscle. When it is in use we feel very good. Understanding is joyous.”

And

“The universe is not required to be in perfect harmony with human ambition.”

And

“The universe seems neither benign nor hostile, merely indifferent.”

And

“We have also arranged things so that almost no one understands science and technology. This is a prescription for disaster. We might get away with it for a while, but sooner or later this combustible mixture of ignorance and power is going to blow up in our faces.”

and

“We live in a society exquisitely dependent on science and technology, in which hardly anyone knows anything about science and technology.”

And

“Who are we? We find that we live on an insignificant planet of a humdrum star lost in a galaxy tucked away in some forgotten corner of a universe in which there are far more galaxies than people.”

And

“The truth may be puzzling. It may take some work to grapple with. It may be counterintuitive. It may contradict deeply held prejudices. It may not be consonant with what we desperately want to be true. But our preferences do not determine what’s true. We have a method, and that method helps us to reach not absolute truth, only asymptotic approaches to the truth — never there, just closer and closer, always finding vast new oceans of undiscovered possibilities. Cleverly designed experiments are the key.”

And

“Who is more humble? The scientist who looks at the universe with an open mind and accepts whatever it has to teach us, or somebody who says everything in this book must be considered the literal truth and never mind the fallibility of all the human beings involved?”

And

“The suppression of uncomfortable ideas may be common in religion and politics, but it is not the path to knowledge; it has no place in the endeavor of science.”

And

“Matter is composed chiefly of nothing.”

And

“Other things being equal, it is better to be smart than to be stupid.”

And

“Every one of us is, in the cosmic perspective, precious. If a human disagrees with you, let him live. In a hundred billion galaxies, you will not find another.”

And

“Humans are very good at dreaming, although you’d never know it from your television.”

And

“In the fabric of space and in the nature of matter, as in a great work of art, there is, written small, the artist’s signature.”

And

“We on Earth have just awakened to the great oceans of space and time from which we have emerged. We are the legacy of 15 billion years of cosmic evolution. We have a choice: We can enhance life and come to know the universe that made us, or we can squander our 15 billion-year heritage in meaningless self-destruction. What happens in the first second of the next cosmic year depends on what we do, here and now, with our intelligence and our knowledge of the cosmos.”

And

“As a boy Kepler had been captured by a vision of cosmic splendour, a harmony of the worlds which he sought so tirelessly all his life. Harmony in this world eluded him. His three laws of planetary motion represent, we now know, a real harmony of the worlds, but to Kepler they were only incidental to his quest for a cosmic system based on the Perfect Solids, a system which, it turns out, existed only in his mind. Yet from his work, we have found that scientific laws pervade all of nature, that the same rules apply on Earth as in the skies, that we can find a resonance, a harmony, between the way we think and the way the world works. When he found that his long cherished beliefs did not agree with the most precise observations, he accepted the uncomfortable facts, he preferred the hard truth to his dearest illusions. That is the heart of science.”

And

“Consider again that dot. That’s here. That’s home. That’s us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every “superstar”, every “supreme leader”, every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there – on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam.

The Earth is a very small stage in a vast cosmic arena. Think of the rivers of blood spilled by all those generals and emperors so that, in glory and triumph, they could become the momentary masters of a fraction of a dot. Think of the endless cruelties visited by the inhabitants of one corner of this pixel on the scarcely distinguishable inhabitants of some other corner, how frequent their misunderstandings, how eager they are to kill one another, how fervent their hatreds.

Our posturings, our imagined self-importance, the delusion that we have some privileged position in the Universe, are challenged by this point of pale light. Our planet is a lonely speck in the great enveloping cosmic dark. In our obscurity, in all this vastness, there is no hint that help will come from elsewhere to save us from ourselves.

The Earth is the only world known so far to harbor life. There is nowhere else, at least in the near future, to which our species could migrate. Visit, yes. Settle, not yet. Like it or not, for the moment the Earth is where we make our stand.

It has been said that astronomy is a humbling and character-building experience. There is perhaps no better demonstration of the folly of human conceits than this distant image of our tiny world. To me, it underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly with one another, and to preserve and cherish the pale blue dot, the only home we’ve ever known.”

And

“A scientific colleague tells me about a recent trip to the New Guinea highlands where she visited a stone age culture hardly contacted by Western civilization. They were ignorant of wristwatches, soft drinks, and frozen food. But they knew about Apollo 11. They knew that humans had walked on the Moon. They knew the names of Armstrong and Aldrin and Collins. They wanted to know who was visiting the Moon these days.”

And

“Education on the value of free speech and the other freedoms reserved by the Bill of Rights, about what happens when you don’t have them, and about how to exercise and protect them, should be an essential prerequisite for being an American citizen — or indeed a citizen of any nation, the more so to the degree that such rights remain unprotected. If we can’t think for ourselves, if we’re unwilling to question authority, then we’re just putty in the hands of those in power. But if the citizens are educated and form their own opinions, then those in power work for us. In every country, we should be teaching our children the scientific method and the reasons for a Bill of Rights. With it comes a certain decency, humility and community spirit. In the demon-haunted world that we inhabit by virtue of being human, this may be all that stands between us and the enveloping darkness.”

And

“When we consider the founders of our nation: Jefferson, Washington, Samuel and John Adams, Madison and Monroe, Benjamin Franklin, Tom Paine and many others; we have before us a list of at least ten and maybe even dozens of great political leaders. They were well educated. Products of the European Enlightenment, they were students of history. They knew human fallibility and weakness and corruptibility. They were fluent in the English language. They wrote their own speeches. They were realistic and practical, and at the same time motivated by high principles. They were not checking the pollsters on what to think this week. They knew what to think. They were comfortable with long-term thinking, planning even further ahead than the next election. They were self-sufficient, not requiring careers as politicians or lobbyists to make a living. They were able to bring out the best in us. They were interested in and, at least two of them, fluent in science. They attempted to set a course for the United States into the far future — not so much by establishing laws as by setting limits on what kinds of laws could be passed. The Constitution and its Bill of Rights have done remarkably well, constituting, despite human weaknesses, a machine able, more often than not, to correct its own trajectory. At that time, there were only about two and a half million citizens of the United States. Today there are about a hundred times more. So if there were ten people of the caliber of Thomas Jefferson then, there ought to be 10 x 100 = 1,000 Thomas Jefferson’s today. Where are they?”

Wikipedia:  Carl Sagan

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Coaches Hot Seat Quotes of the Day – Monday, December 20, 2021 – Ray Charles

December 20, 2021

“I was born with music inside me. Music was one of my parts. Like my ribs, my kidneys, my liver, my heart. Like my blood. It was a force already within me when I arrived on the scene. It was a necessity for me-like food or water.”

And

“I did it to myself. It wasn’t society… it wasn’t a pusher, it wasn’t being blind or being black or being poor. It was all my doing.”

And

“What makes my approach special is that I do different things. I do jazz, blues, country music and so forth. I do them all, like a good utility man.”

And

“Love is a special word, and I use it only when I mean it. You say the word too much and it becomes cheap.”

And

“Affluence separates people. Poverty knits ’em together. You got some sugar and I don’t; I borrow some of yours. Next month you might not have any flour; well, I’ll give you some of mine.”

And

“I don’t know what would have happened to me if I hadn’t been able to hear.”

And

“There’s nothing written in the Bible, Old or New testament, that says, ‘If you believe in Me, you ain’t going to have no troubles.'”

And

“I never wanted to be famous. I only wanted to be great.”

And

“There are many spokes on the wheel of life. First, we’re here to explore new possibilities.”

And

“Learning to read music in Braille and play by ear helped me develop a damn good memory.”

And

“Music’s been around a long time, and there’s going to be music long after Ray Charles is dead. I just want to make my mark, leave something musically good behind. If it’s a big record, that’s the frosting on the cake, but music’s the main meal.”

And

“What is a soul? It’s like electricity – we don’t really know what it is, but it’s a force that can light a room.”

And

“My music had roots which I’d dug up from my own childhood, musical roots buried in the darkest soil.”

And

“My version of ‘Georgia’ became the state song of Georgia. That was a big thing for me, man. It really touched me. Here is a state that used to lynch people like me suddenly declaring my version of a song as its state song. That is touching.”

And

“The fact of the matter is, you don’t give up what’s natural. Anything I’ve fantasized about, I’ve done.”

And

“Hey mama, don’t you treat me wrong,
Come and love your daddy all night long.
All right now, hey hey, all right.
See the girl with the diamond ring;
She knows how to shake that thing.
All right now now now, hey hey, hey hey.
Tell your mama, tell your pa,
I’m gonna send you back to Arkansas.
Oh yes, ma’m, you don’t do right, don’t do right.”
What’d I Say, from the album What’d I Say (1957)

And

“Soul is when you take a song and make it a part of you — a part that’s so true, so real, people think it must have happened to you. … It’s like electricity — we don’t really know what it is, do we? But it’s a force that can light a room. Soul is like electricity, like a spirit, a drive, a power.”

And

“But now if I can wrap myself up in that song, and when that song gets to be a part of me, and affects me emotionally, then the emotions that I go through, chances are I’ll be able to communicate to you. Make the people out there become a part of the life of this song that you’re singing about. That’s soul when you can do that.”

And

“I started to sing like myself — as opposed to imitating Nat Cole, which I had done for a while — when I started singing like Ray Charles, it had this spiritual and churchy, this religious or gospel sound. It had this holiness and preachy tone to it. It was very controversial. I got a lot of criticism for it.”

And

“Do it right or don’t do it at all. That comes from my mom. If there’s something I want to do, I’m one of those people that won’t be satisfied until I get it done. If I’m trying to sing something and I can’t get it, I’m going to keep at it until I get where I want it.”

And

“You better live every day like your last because one day you’re going to be right.”

And

“Before I begin, let me say right here and now that I’m a country boy. And, man, I mean the real backwoods! That’s at the start of the start of the thing, and that’s at the heart of the thing.”

And

“I was born with music inside me. That’s the only explanation I know of, since none of my relatives could sing or play an instrument. Music was one of my parts. Like my ribs, my kidneys, my liver, my heart. Like my blood. It was a force already within me when I arrived on the scene. It was a necessity for me — like food or water.”

And

“When I was going blind, I didn’t turn to God. It didn’t seem to me then — and it doesn’t seem to me now — that those items were His concern. Early on, I figured I better begin to learn how to count on myself, instead of counting on supernatural forces.”

And

“Oh beautiful for heroes proved,
In liberating strife,
Who more than self, our country loved,
And mercy more than life,

America, America may God thy gold refine,
Til all success be nobleness
And every gain devined.

And you know when I was in school,
We used to sing it something like this, listen here:

Oh beautiful, for spacious skies,
For amber waves of grain,
For purple mountain majesties,
Above the fruited plain,

But now wait a minute, I’m talking about
America, sweet America
You know, God done shed his grace on thee,
He crowned thy good, yes he did, in brotherhood,
From sea to shining sea.

You know, I wish I had somebody to help me sing this
(America, America, God shed his grace on thee)
America, I love you America, you see,
My God he done shed his grace on thee,
And you oughta love him for it,
Cause he, he, he ,he crowned thy good,
He told me he would, with brotherhood,
(From sea to shining Sea).
Oh lord, oh lord, I thank you Lord
(Shining sea).”
America the Beautiful, Ray Charles

Wikipedia Page: Ray Charles

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Coaches Hot Seat Quotes of the Day – Sunday, December 19, 2021 – Muhammad Ali

December 19, 2021

“He who is not courageous enough to take risks will accomplish nothing in life.”

And

“I hated every minute of training, but I said, “Don’t quit. Suffer now and live the rest of your life as a champion.”

And

“The fight is won or lost far away from witnesses – behind the lines, in the gym, and out there on the road, long before I dance under those lights.”

And

“It’s lack of faith that makes people afraid of meeting challenges, and I believed in myself.”

And

“Only a man who knows what it is like to be defeated can reach down to the bottom of his soul and come up with the extra ounce of power it takes to win when the match is even.”

And

“Champions aren´t made in the gyms. Champions are made from something they have deep inside them – a desire, a dream, a vision.”

And

“It’s the repetition of affirmations that leads to belief. And once that belief becomes a deep conviction, things begin to happen.”

And

“The fight is won or lost far away from witnesses – behind the lines, in the gym, and out there on the road, long before I dance under those lights. I hated every minute of training, but I said, “Don’t quit. Suffer now and live the rest of your life as a champion.”

And

“A man who views the world the same at fifty as he did at twenty has wasted thirty years of his life.”

And

“A rooster crows only when it sees the light. Put him in the dark and he’ll never crow. I have seen the light and I’m crowing.”

And

“The man who views the world at 50 the same as he did at 20 has wasted 30 years of his life.”

And

“When you can whip any man in the world, you never know peace.”

And

“Only a man who knows what it is like to be defeated can reach down to the bottom of his soul and come up with the extra ounce of power it takes to win when the match is even.”

And

“Service to others is the rent you pay for your room here on earth.”

Wikipedia:  Muhammad Ali

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Coaches Hot Seat Quotes of the Day – Saturday, December 18, 2021 – Jake Gaither

December 18, 2021

“I like my boys agile, mobile and hostile.”

And

”Football is a hard-nosed game. You go into it pulling no punches and asking none. Football is a character-building game—but you can build more character with a winning team than with a losing one.”

And

“Expect to lose sometimes, but a loss can be a stepping stone to victory if used properly.”

And

“The Bear can take his and beat yours and take yours and beat his.” Jake Gaither, former Florida A&M coach on Alabama’s legendary Bear Bryant

And

“Never leave the field with a boy feeling you’re mad at him. You can chew him out, but then pat him on the shoulder.”

And

“It’s bad coaching to blame your boys for losing a game, even if it’s true.”

And

“I just organize. Give me credit for selecting good assistants.”

And

“Excuses are no good. Your friends don’t need them, and your enemies won’t believe them.”

Wikipedia: Jake Gaither

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Coaches Hot Seat Quotes of the Day – Friday, December 17, 2021 – Thomas Jefferson

December 17, 2021

“In CONGRESS, July 4, 1776.

The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America,

When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.”

Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson, July 4, 1776

And

“A wise and frugal Government, which shall restrain men from injuring one another, which shall leave them otherwise free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned. This is the sum of good government, and this is necessary to close the circlue of
our felicities.”

And

“Advertisements contain the only truths to be relied on in a newspaper.”

And

“All tyranny needs to gain a foothold is for people of good conscience to remain silent.”

And

“All, too, will bear in mind this sacred principle, that though the will of the majority is in all cases to prevail, that will to be rightful must be reasonable; that the minority possess their equal rights, which equal law must protect, and to violate would be oppression.”

And

“Always take hold of things by the smooth handle.”

And

“As our enemies have found we can reason like men, so now let us show them we can fight like men also.”

And

“Be polite to all, but intimate with few.”

And

“Books constitute capital. A library book lasts as long as a house, for hundreds of years. It is not, then, an article of mere consumption but fairly of capital, and often in the case of professional men, setting out in life, it is their only capital.”

And

“Determine never to be idle. No person will have occasion to complain of the want of time who never loses any. It is wonderful how much may be done if we are always doing.”

And

“Do you want to know who you are? Don’t ask. Act! Action will delineate and define you.”

And

“Educate and inform the whole mass of the people… They are the only sure reliance for the preservation of our liberty.”

And

“Every citizen should be a soldier. This was the case with the Greeks and Romans, and must be that of every free state.”

And

“Every government degenerates when trusted to the rulers of the people alone. The people themselves are its only safe depositories.”

And

“Experience hath shewn, that even under the best forms of government those entrusted with power have, in time, and by slow operations, perverted it into tyranny.”

And

“Fix reason firmly in her seat, and call to her tribunal every fact, every opinion. Question with boldness even the existence of a God; because, if there be one, he must more approve of the homage of reason, than that of blindfolded fear.”

And

“For a people who are free, and who mean to remain so, a well-organized and armed militia is their best security.”

And

“I am an Epicurean. I consider the genuine (not the imputed) doctrines of Epicurus as containing everything rational in moral philosophy which Greek and Roman leave to us.”

And

“I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies.”

And

“I have sworn upon the altar of God, eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man.”

And

“I hope our wisdom will grow with our power, and teach us, that the less we use our power the greater it will be.”

And

“I know of no safe depository of the ultimate powers of the society but the people themselves; and if we think them not enlightened enough to exercise their control with a wholesome discretion, the remedy is not to take it from them but to inform their discretion.”

And

“I own that I am not a friend to a very energetic government. It is always oppressive.”

And

“I predict future happiness for Americans if they can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of taking care of them.”

And

“I was bold in the pursuit of knowledge, never fearing to follow truth and reason to whatever results they led, and bearding every authority which stood in their way.”

And

“If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be.”

And

“In matters of style, swim with the current; in matters of principle, stand like a rock.”

And

“It is incumbent on every generation to pay its own debts as it goes. A principle which if acted on would save one-half the wars of the world.”

And

It is our duty still to endeavor to avoid war; but if it shall actually take place, no matter by whom brought on, we must defend ourselves. If our house be on fire, “without inquiring whether it was fired from within or without, we must try to extinguish it.”

And

“Leave all the afternoon for exercise and recreation, which are as necessary as reading. I will rather say more necessary because health is worth more than learning.”

And

“Merchants have no country. The mere spot they stand on does not constitute so strong an attachment as that from which they draw their gains.”

And

“My reading of history convinces me that most bad government results from too much government.”

And

“Never put off till tomorrow what you can do today.”

And

“Never spend your money before you have earned it.”

And

“Nothing is unchangeable but the inherent and unalienable rights of man.”

And

“Our greatest happiness does not depend on the condition of life in which chance has placed us, but is always the result of a good conscience, good health, occupation, and freedom in all just pursuits.”

And

“The care of human life and happiness, and not their destruction, is the first and only object of good government.”

And

“The God who gave us life, gave us liberty at the same time; the hand of force may destroy, but cannot disjoin them.”

And

“There is not a truth existing which I fear… or would wish unknown to the whole world.”

And

“We never repent of having eaten too little.”

And

“When a man assumes a public trust he should consider himself a public property.”

And

“When the people fear the government, there is tyranny. When the government fears the people, there is liberty.”

And

“When we get piled upon one another in large cities, as in Europe, we shall become as corrupt as Europe.”

And

“Whenever a man has cast a longing eye on offices, a rottenness begins in his conduct.”

And

“Whenever the people are well-informed, they can be trusted with their own government.”

And

“Where the press is free and every man able to read, all is safe.”

And

“The most fortunate of us, in our journey through life, frequently meet with calamities and misfortunes which may greatly afflict us; and, to fortify our minds against the attacks of these calamities and misfortunes, should be one of the principal studies and endeavours of our lives. The only method of doing this is to assume a perfect resignation to the Divine will, to consider that whatever does happen, must happen; and that by our uneasiness, we cannot prevent the blow before it does fall, but we may add to its force after it has fallen. These considerations, and others such as these, may enable us in some measure to surmount the difficulties thrown in our way; to bear up with a tolerable degree of patience under this burthen of life; and to proceed with a pious and unshaken resignation, till we arrive at our journey’s end, when we may deliver up our trust into the hands of him who gave it, and receive such reward as to him shall seem proportioned to our merit. Such, dear Page, will be the language of the man who considers his situation in this life, and such should be the language of every man who would wish to render that situation as easy as the nature of it will admit. Few things will disturb him at all: nothing will disturb him much.” Letter to John Page (15 July 1763)

And

“All persons shall have full and free liberty of religious opinion; nor shall any be compelled to frequent or maintain any religious institution.”

And

“I say, the earth belongs to each of these generations during its course, fully and in its own right. The second generation receives it clear of the debts and incumbrances of the first, the third of the second, and so on. For if the first could charge it with a debt, then the earth would belong to the dead and not to the living generation. Then, no generation can contract debts greater than may be paid during the course of its own existence.”

And

“I consider the foundation of the Constitution as laid on this ground: That “all powers not delegated to the United States, by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States or to the people.” To take a single step beyond the boundaries thus specially drawn around the powers of Congress, is to take
possession of a boundless field of power, no longer susceptible of any definition.

The incorporation of a bank, and the powers assumed by this bill, have not, in my opinion, been delegated to the United States, by the Constitution… They are not among the powers specially enumerated…” Opinion against the constitutionality of a National Bank (1791)

And

“The system of banking we have both equally and ever reprobated. I contemplate it as a blot left in all our Constitutions, which, if not covered, will end in their destruction, which is already hit by the gamblers in corruption, and is sweeping away in its progress the fortunes and morals of our citizens. Funding I consider as
limited, rightfully, to a redemption of the debt within the lives of a majority of the generation contracting it; every generation coming equally, by the laws of the Creator of the world, to the free possession of the earth he made for their subsistence, unincumbered by their predecessors, who, like them, were but tenants for life.”
Letter to John Taylor (28 May 1816)

And

“A Decalogue of Canons for Observation in Practical Life”
1. Never put off till to-morrow what you can do to-day.
2. Never trouble another for what you can do yourself.
3. Never spend your money before you have it.
4. Never buy what you do not want, because it is cheap; it will be dear to you.
5. Pride costs us more than hunger, thirst and cold.
6. We never repent of having eaten too little.
7. Nothing is troublesome that we do willingly.
8. How much pain have cost us the evils which have never happened.
9. Take things always by their smooth handle.
10. When angry, count ten before you speak; if very angry, an hundred.”

Wikipedia Page:  Thomas Jefferson

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Coaches Hot Seat Quotes of the Day – Thursday, December 16, 2021 – Albert Camus

December 16, 2021

“Don’t walk behind me; I may not lead. Don’t walk in front of me; I may not follow. Just walk beside me and be my friend.”

And

“Nothing is more despicable than respect based on fear.”

And

“The evil that is in the world almost always comes of ignorance, and good intentions may do as much harm as malevolence if they lack understanding.”

And

“But what is happiness except the simple harmony between a man and the life he leads?”

And

“Without culture, and the relative freedom it implies, society, even when perfect, is but a jungle. This is why any authentic creation is a gift to the future.”

And

“All great deeds and all great thoughts have a ridiculous beginning. Great works are often born on a street corner or in a restaurant’s revolving door.”

And

“Truth is mysterious, elusive, always to be conquered. Liberty is dangerous, as hard to live with as it is elating. We must march toward these two goals, painfully but resolutely, certain in advance of our failings on so long a road.”

And

“The absurd is the essential concept and the first truth.”

And

“The struggle itself towards the heights is enough to fill a man’s heart. One must imagine Sisyphus happy.”

And

“Those who lack the courage will always find a philosophy to justify it.”

And

“Real generosity toward the future lies in giving all to the present.”

And

“No cause justifies the deaths of innocent people.”

And

“Basically, at the very bottom of life, which seduces us all, there is only absurdity, and more absurdity. And maybe that’s what gives us our joy for living, because the only thing that can defeat absurdity is lucidity.”

And

“For if there is a sin against life, it consists perhaps not so much in despairing of life as in hoping for another life and in eluding the implacable grandeur of this life.”

And

“You will never be happy if you continue to search for what happiness consists of. You will never live if you are looking for the meaning of life.”

And

“Peace is the only battle worth waging.”

And

“There are causes worth dying for, but none worth killing for.”

And

“I know that man is capable of great deeds. But if he isn’t capable of great emotion, well, he leaves me cold.”

And

“The need to be right — the sign of a vulgar mind.”

And

“Seeking what is true is not seeking what is desirable.”

And

“People hasten to judge in order not to be judged themselves.”

And

“I would rather live my life as if there is a god and die to find out there isn’t, than live my life as if there isn’t and die to find out there is.”

And

“Life can be magnificent and overwhelming — that is the whole tragedy. Without beauty, love, or danger it would almost be easy to live. ”

And

“At the heart of all beauty lies something inhuman.”

And

“The evil that is in the world almost always comes from ignorance, and good intentions may do as much harm as malevolence if they lack understanding.”

And

“Freedom is nothing but a chance to be better.”

And

“There are crimes of passion and crimes of logic. The boundary between them is not clearly defined.”

And

“Where there is no hope, it is incumbent on us to invent it.”

And

“I rebel; therefore I exist.”

And

“Real generosity towards the future lies in giving all to the present.”

And

“Nobody realizes that some people expend tremendous energy merely to be normal.”

And

“Beauty is unbearable, drives us to despair, offering us for a minute the glimpse of an eternity that we should like to stretch out over the whole of time.”

And

“In the midst of winter, I found there was, within me, an invincible summer. And that makes me happy. For it says that no matter how hard the world pushes against me, within me, there’s something stronger — something better, pushing right back.”

And

“There is scarcely any passion without struggle.”

And

“Should I kill myself, or have a cup of coffee?”

And

“But in the end one needs more courage to live than to kill himself.”

And

“Always go too far, because that’s where you’ll find the truth.”

And

“In order to understand the world, one has to turn away from it on occasion.”

And

“The truth is that everyone is bored, and devotes himself to cultivating habits.”

And

“He who despairs of the human condition is a coward, but he who has hope for it is a fool.”

And

“The habit of despair is worse than despair itself.”

And

“But what is happiness except the simple harmony between a man and the life he leads?”

And

“My chief occupation, despite appearances, has always been love.”

And

“If absolute truth belongs to anyone in this world, it certainly does not belong to the man or party that claims to possess it.”

Wikipedia:  Albert Camus

Is it worth the trouble, Ralph Ammer, Medium.com

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Coaches Hot Seat Quotes of the Day – Wednesday, December 15, 2021 – Bill Russell

December 15, 2021

“Concentration and mental toughness are the margins of victory.”

And

“Durability is part of what makes a great athlete.”

And

“The idea is not to block every shot. The idea is to make your opponent believe that you might block every shot.”

And

“To me, one of the most beautiful things to see is a group of men coordinating their efforts toward a common goal, alternately subordinating and asserting themselves to achieve real teamwork in action. I tried to do that, we all tried to do that, on the Celtics. I think we succeeded.”

And

“What do you think of the Chicago Bulls winning three in a row?” — Russell: “Not much.” In perspective, Russell won eight times in a row with the Celtics.

Wikipedia:  Bill Russell

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Coaches Hot Seat Quotes of the Day – Tuesday, December 14, 2021 – Bum Phillips

December 14, 2021

“How do you win? By getting average players to play good and good players to play great. That’s how you win.”

And

“The only discipline that lasts is self-discipline.”

And

“Two kinds of ballplayers aren’t worth a darn: One that never does what he’s told, and one who does nothin’ except what he’s told.”

And

“Winning is only half of it. Having fun is the other half.”

And

“You don’t know a ladder has splinters until you slide down it.”

And

“You don’t win by making sensational plays; you win by not making mistakes.”

And

“He can take his’n and beat your’n and take your’n and beat his’n.” About Paul “Bear” Bryant

And

“When it’s first and a mile, I won’t give it to him.” On Earl Campbell’s inability to finish a 1 mile run in training camp

And

“There’s two kinds of coaches, them that’s fired and them that’s gonna be fired.”

Wikipedia:  Bum Phillips

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Coaches Hot Seat Quotes of the Day – Monday, December 13, 2021 – Henry Ford

December 13, 2021

“Anyone who stops learning is old, whether at twenty or eighty. Anyone who keeps learning stays young. The greatest thing in life is to keep your mind young.”

And

“Before everything else, getting ready is the secret of success.”

And

“Coming together is a beginning; keeping together is progress; working together is success.”

And

“Enthusiasm is the yeast that makes your hopes shine to the stars. Enthusiasm is the sparkle in your eyes, the swing in your gait. The grip of your hand, the irresistible surge of will and energy to execute your ideas.”

And

“Failure is simply the opportunity to begin again, this time more intelligently.”

And

“I am looking for a lot of men who have an infinite capacity to not know what can’t be done.”

And

“I do not believe a man can ever leave his business. He ought to think of it by day and dream of it by night.”

And

“If everyone is moving forward together, then success takes care of itself.”

And

“If money is your hope for independence you will never have it. The only real security that a man will have in this world is a reserve of knowledge, experience, and ability.”

And

“Life is a series of experiences, each one of which makes us bigger, even though sometimes it is hard to realize this. For the world was built to develop character, and we must learn that the setbacks and grieves which we endure help us in our marching onward.”

And

“Obstacles are those frightful things you see when you take your eyes off your goal.”

And

“The competitor to be feared is one who never bothers about you at all, but goes on making his own business better all the time.”

And

“There is joy in work. There is no happiness except in the realization that we have accomplished something.”

And

“Thinking is the hardest work there is, which is probably the reason why so few engage in it.”

And

“What’s right about America is that although we have a mess of problems, we have great capacity – intellect and resources – to do some thing about them.”

And

“Whether you believe you can do a thing or not, you are right.”

And

“You will find men who want to be carried on the shoulders of others, who think that the world owes them a living. They don’t seem to see that we must all lift together and pull together.”

And

“You can’t build a reputation on what you are going to do.”

And

“If there is any one secret of success, it lies in the ability to get the other person’s point of view and see things from that person’s angle as well as from your own.”

And

“One of the greatest discoveries a man makes, one of his great surprises, is to find he can do what he was afraid he couldn’t do.”

And

“I don’t know whether Napoleon did or did not try to get across there and I don’t care. I don’t know much about history, and I wouldn’t give a nickel for all the history in the world. It means nothing to me. History is more or less bunk. It’s tradition. We don’t want tradition. We want to live in the present and the only history that is worth a tinker’s damn is the history we make today.”

And

“An idealist is a person who helps other people to be prosperous.”

And

“I will build a car for the great multitude. It will be large enough for the family, but small enough for the individual to run and care for. It will be constructed of the best materials, by the best men to be hired, after the simplest designs that modern engineering can devise. But it will be so low in price that no man making a good salary will be unable to own one — and enjoy with his family the blessing of hours of pleasure in God’s great open spaces.”

And

“The average man won’t really do a day’s work unless he is caught and cannot get out of it. There is plenty of work to do if people would do it.”

And

“A business that makes nothing but money is a poor business.”

And

“When everything seems to be going against you, remember that the airplane takes off against the wind, not with it.”

And

“It is not the employer who pays the wages. Employers only handle the money. It is the customer who pays the wages.”

And

“Most people spend more time and energy going around problems than in trying to solve them.”

And

“A business absolutely devoted to service will have only one worry about profits. They will be embarrassingly large.”

Wikipedia Page:  Henry Ford

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Coaches Hot Seat Quotes of the Day – Sunday, December 12, 2021 – Joe Namath

December 12, 2021

“First, I prepare. Then I have faith.”

And

“If you aren’t going all the way, why go at all?”

And

“Till I was 13, I thought my name was “Shut Up.””

And

“To be a leader, you have to make people want to follow you, and nobody wants to follow someone who doesn’t know where he is going.”

And

“We’re going to win Sunday. I guarantee it.”

And

“When we won the league championship, all the married guys on the club had to thank their wives for putting up with all the stress and strain all season. I had to thank all the single broads in New York.”

And

“When you have confidence, you can have a lot of fun. And when you have fun, you can do amazing things.”

And

“When you win, nothing hurts.”

And

“You learn how to be a gracious winner and an outstanding loser.”

Wikipedia:  Joe Namath

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