Monthly Archive: January 2022

COACHES HOT SEAT > 2022 > January

Coaches Hot Seat Quotes of the Day – Friday, January 21, 2022 – Ulysses S. Grant

January 21, 2022

“Although a soldier by profession, I have never felt any sort of fondness for war, and I have never advocated it, except as a means of peace.”

And

“I appreciate the fact, and am proud of it, that the attentions I am receiving are intended more for our country than for me personally.”

And

“If you see the President, tell him from me that whatever happens there will be no turning back.”

And

“In every battle there comes a time when both sides consider themselves beaten, then he who continues the attack wins.”

And

“Labor disgraces no man; unfortunately, you occasionally find men who disgrace labor.”

And

“Nations, like individuals, are punished for their transgressions.”

And

“The art of war is simple enough. Find out where your enemy is. Get at him as soon as you can. Strike him as hard as you can, and keep moving on.”

And

“The friend in my adversity I shall always cherish most. I can better trust those who helped to relieve the gloom of my dark hours than those who are so ready to enjoy with me the sunshine of my prosperity.”

And

“Every human being, of whatever origin, of whatever station, deserves respect. We must each respect others even as we respect ourselves.”

And

“The right of revolution is an inherent one. When people are oppressed by their government, it is a natural right they enjoy to relieve themselves of oppression, if they are strong enough, whether by withdrawal from it, or by overthrowing it and substituting a government more acceptable.”

And

“…but for a soldier his duty is plain. He is to obey the orders of all those placed over him and whip the enemy wherever he meets him.”

And

“Leave the matter of religion to the family altar, the church, and the private school, supported entirely by private contributions. Keep the church and state forever separate.”

And

“There never was a time when, in my opinion, some way could not be found to prevent the drawing of the sword.”

And

“Everyone has his superstitions. One of mine has always been when I started to go anywhere, or to do anything, never to turn back or to stop until the thing intended was accomplished.”

And

“I never held a council of war in my life. I heard what men had to say – the stream of talk at headquarters – but I made up my own mind, and from my written orders my staff got their first knowledge of what was to be done. No living man knew of plans”

And

“I have acted in every instance from a conscientious desire to do what was right, constitutional, within the law, and for the very best interests of the whole people. Failures have been errors of judgment, not of intent.”

And

“The one thing I never want to see again is a military parade. When I resigned from the army and went to a farm I was happy. When the rebellion came, I returned to the service because it was a duty. I had no thought of rank; all I did was try and make”

And

“No terms except an unconditional and immediate surrender can be accepted. I propose to move immediately upon your works.”
To General S.B. Buckner, Fort Donelson, February 16, 1862

And

“God gave us Lincoln and Liberty, let us fight for both.”
A toast made by Grant before his operations in the Vicksburg Campaign, February 22, 1863

And

“I propose to fight it out on this line, if it takes all summer.”
Dispatch to Washington, during the Battle of Spotsylvania Court House. May 11, 1864

And

“I propose to receive the surrender of the Army of N. Va. on the following terms, to wit: Rolls of all the officers and men to be made in duplicate. One copy to be given to an officer designated by me, the other to be retained by such officer or officers as you may designate. The officers to give their individual paroles not to take up arms against the Government of the United States until properly exchanged, and each company or regimental commander sign a like parole for the men of their commands. The arms, artillery and public property to be parked and stacked, and turned over to the officer appointed by me to receive them. This will not embrace the side-arms of the officers, nor their private horses or baggage. This done, each officer and man will be allowed to return to their homes, not to be disturbed by United States authority so long as they observe their paroles and the laws in force where they may reside.”
Terms of surrender, given to General Robert E. Lee after the Battle of Appomattox Courthouse, April 9, 1865

And

“Though I have been trained as a soldier, and participated in many battles, there never was a time when, in my opinion, some way could not be found to prevent the drawing of the sword. I look forward to an epoch when a court, recognized by all nations, will settle international differences, instead of keeping large standing armies as they do in Europe.”

And

“The will of the people is the best law.”

And

“Oh, I am heartily tired of hearing about what Lee is going to do. Some of you always seem to think he is suddenly going to turn a double somersault, and land in our rear and on both of our flanks at the same time. Go back to your command, and try to think what we are going to do ourselves, instead of what Lee is going to do.”

And

I had known General Lee in the old army, and had served with him in the Mexican War; but did not suppose, owing to the difference in our age and rank, that he would remember me, while I would more naturally remember him distinctly, because he was the chief of staff of General Scott in the Mexican War.

When I had left camp that morning I had not expected so soon the result that was then taking place, and consequently was in rough garb. I was without a sword, as I usually was when on horseback on the field, and wore a soldier’s blouse for a coat, with the shoulder straps of my rank to indicate to the army who I was. When I went into the house I found General Lee. We greeted each other, and after shaking hands took our seats. I had my staff with me, a good portion of whom were in the room during the whole of the interview.

What General Lee’s feelings were I do not know. As he was a man of much dignity, with an impassible face, it was impossible to say whether he felt inwardly glad that the end had finally come, or felt sad over the result, and was too manly to show it. Whatever his feelings, they were entirely concealed from my observation; but my own feelings, which had been quite jubilant on the receipt of his letter, were sad and depressed. I felt like anything rather than rejoicing at the downfall of a foe who had fought so long and valiantly, and had suffered so much for a cause, though that cause was, I believe, one of the worst for which a people ever fought, and one for which there was the least excuse. I do not question, however, the sincerity of the great mass of those who were opposed to us.

Our conversation grew so pleasant that I almost forgot the object of our meeting. After the conversation had run on in this style for some time, General Lee called my attention to the object of our meeting, and said that he had asked for this interview for the purpose of getting from me the terms I proposed to give his army. I said that I meant merely that his army should lay down their arms, not to take them up again during the continuance of the war unless duly and properly exchanged. He said that he had so understood my letter. Personal Memoirs of Ulysses S. Grant, 1885

And

“The cause of the great War of the Rebellion against the United Status will have to be attributed to slavery. For some years before the war began it was a trite saying among some politicians that “A state half slave and half free cannot exist.” All must become slave or all free, or the state will go down. I took no part myself in any such view of the case at the time, but since the war is over, reviewing the whole question, I have come to the conclusion that the saying is quite true.”

And

We must go back to the campaigns of Napoleon to find equally brillant results accomplished in the same space of time with such a small loss.
Francis Vinton Greene in The Mississippi (1882) on Grant’s role in the Vicksburg campaign

And

If Grant only does this thing right down there — I don’t care how, so long as he does it right — why, Grant is my man and I am his the rest of the war!
Abraham Lincoln on Grant’s Vicksburg campaign, July 5, 1863

And

I wish some of you would tell me the brand of whiskey that Grant drinks. I would like to send a barrel of it to my other generals.
Statement attributed to Abraham Lincoln in response to complaints about Grant’s drinking habits, November 1863

And

“He (Grant) habitually wears an expression as if he had determined to drive his head through a brick wall, and was about to do it.”
Col. Theodore Lyman. in Meade’s headquarters, 1863-1865

Wikipedia Page:  Ulysses S. Grant

(more…)

Uncategorized

, ,

Coaches Hot Seat Blog Quotes of the Day – Thursday, January 20, 2022 – Louis L’Amour

January 20, 2022

“A good beginning makes a good end.” 

And

“A wise man fights to win, but he is twice a fool who has no plan for possible defeat.”

And

“All loose things seem to drift down to the sea, and so did I.”

And

“Anger is a killing thing: it kills the man who angers, for each rage leaves him less than he had been before – it takes something from him.” 

And

“For one who reads, there is no limit to the number of lives that may be lived, for fiction, biography, and history offer an inexhaustible number of lives in many parts of the world, in all periods of time.”

And

“He might never really do what he said, but at least he had it in mind. He had somewhere to go.”

And

“Knowledge is like money: to be of value it must circulate, and in circulating it can increase in quantity and, hopefully, in value.” 

And

“No memory is ever alone; it’s at the end of a trail of memories, a dozen trails that each have their own associations.”

And

“No one can get an education, for of necessity education is a continuing process.”

And

“Nobody got anywhere in the world by simply being content.”

And

“There will come a time when you believe everything is finished. Yet that will be the beginning.”

And

“To disbelieve is easy; to scoff is simple; to have faith is harder.”

And

“To make democracy work, we must be a notion of participants, not simply observers. One who does not vote has no right to complain.”

And

“Too often I would hear men boast of the miles covered that day, rarely of what they had seen.”

And

“Victory is won not in miles but in inches. Win a little now, hold your ground, and later, win a little more.”

And

“One day I was speeding along at the typewriter, and my daughter – who was a child at the time – asked me, “Daddy, why are you writing so fast?” And I replied, “Because I want to see how the story turns out!”

Wikipedia:  Louis L’Amour

www.louislamour.com

(more…)

Uncategorized

, ,

Coaches Hot Seat Quotes of the Day – Wednesday, January 19, 2022 – Amelia Earhart

January 19, 2022

“Adventure is worthwhile in itself.”

And

“Better do a good deed near at home than go far away to burn incense.”

And

“Courage is the price that Life exacts for granting peace, The soul that knows it not, knows no release from little things.”

And

“Flying might not be all plain sailing, but the fun of it is worth the price.”

And

“I want to do it because I want to do it.”

And

“In soloing – as in other activities – it is far easier to start something than it is to finish it.”

And

“Never do things others can do and will do if there are things others cannot do or will not do.”

And

“Never interrupt someone doing what you said couldn’t be done.”

And

“Obviously I faced the possibility of not returning when first I considered going. Once faced and settled there really wasn’t any good reason to refer to it.”

And

“Please know that I am aware of the hazards. I want to do it because I want to do it. Women must try to do things as men have tried. When they fail, their failure must be a challenge to others.”

And

“The more one does and sees and feels, the more one is able to do, and the more genuine may be one’s appreciation of fundamental things like home, and love, and understanding companionship.”

And

“The most difficult thing is the decision to act, the rest is merely tenacity. The fears are paper tigers. You can do anything you decide to do. You can act to change and control your life; and the procedure , the process is its own reward.”

And

“The most effective way to do it, is to do it.”

And

“The woman who can create her own job is the woman who will win fame and fortune.”

And

“There are two kinds of stones, as everyone knows, one of which rolls.”

And

“There is so much that must be done in a civilized barbarism like war.”

And

“Women must pay for everything. They do get more glory than men for comparable feats, but, they also get more notoriety when they crash.”

And

“Women must try to do things as men have tried. When they fail their failure must be but a challenge to others.”

And

“Women, like men, should try to do the impossible. And when they fail, their failure should be a challenge to others.”

And

“The more one does and sees and feels, the more one is able to do, and the more genuine may be one’s appreciation of fundamental things like home, and love, and understanding companionship.”

And

“Adventure is worthwhile in itself.”

And

“No kind action ever stops with itself. One kind action leads to another. Good example is followed. A single act of kindness throws out roots in all directions, and the roots spring up and make new trees. The greatest work that kindness does to others is that it makes them kind themselves.”

And

“In my life I had come to realize that when things were going very well indeed it was just the time to anticipate trouble. And, conversely, I learned from pleasant experience that at the most despairing crisis, when all looked sour beyond words, some delightful “break” was apt to lurk just around the corner.”

And

“The soul’s dominion? Each time we make a choice, we pay with courage to behold restless day and count it fair.”

And

“Anticipation, I suppose, sometimes exceeds realization.”

And

“The most difficult thing is the decision to act, the rest is merely tenacity. The fears are paper tigers. You can do anything you decide to do. You can act to change and control your life; and the procedure, the process is its own reward.”

And

“Worry retards reaction and makes clear-cut decisions impossible.”

And

“…decide…whether or not the goal is worth the risks involved. If it is, stop worrying….”

And

“Not much more than a month ago I was on the other shore of the Pacific, looking westward. This evening, I looked eastward over the Pacific. In those fast-moving days which have intervened, the whole width of the world has passed behind us -except this broad ocean. I shall be glad when we have the hazards of its navigation behind us.” — Amelia Earhart, several days before she left for Howland Island and disappeared

Wikipedia: Amelia Earhart

(more…)

Uncategorized

, ,

Coaches Hot Seat Quotes of the Day – Tuesday, January 18, 2022 – F. Scott Fitzgerald

January 18, 2022

“A big man has no time really to do anything but just sit and be big.”

And

“Action is character.”

And

“Advertising is a racket, like the movies and the brokerage business. You cannot be honest without admitting that its constructive contribution to humanity is exactly minus zero.”

And

“An author ought to write for the youth of his own generation, the critics of the next, and the schoolmaster of ever afterwards.”

And

“Either you think, or else others have to think for you and take power from you, pervert and discipline your natural tastes, civilize and sterilize you.”

And

“Every one suspects himself of at least one of the cardinal virtues.”

And

“First you take a drink, then the drink takes a drink, then the drink takes you.”

And

“Genius is the ability to put into effect what is on your mind.”

And

“I like people and I like them to like me, but I wear my heart where God put it, on the inside.”

And

“Life is essentially a cheat and its conditions are those of defeat; the redeeming things are not happiness and pleasure but the deeper satisfactions that come out of struggle.”

And

“Never confuse a single defeat with a final defeat.”

And

“Scratch a Yale man with both hands and you’ll be lucky to find a coast-guard. Usually you find nothing at all.”

And

“Show me a hero and I’ll write you a tragedy.”

And

“The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in mind at the same time and still retain the ability to function.”

And

“There are no second acts in American lives.”

And

“You don’t write because you want to say something, you write because you have something to say.”

And

“Once one is caught up into the material world not one person in ten thousand finds the time to form literary taste, to examine the validity of philosophic concepts for himself, or to form what, for lack of a better phrase, I might call the wise and tragic sense of life.”

Amd

“Isn’t Hollywood a dump — in the human sense of the word. A hideous town, pointed up by the insulting gardens of its rich, full of the human spirit at a new low of debasement.”

And

“Let me tell you about the very rich. They are different from you and me. They possess and enjoy early, and it does something to them, makes them soft, where we are hard, cynical where we are trustful, in a way that, unless you were born rich, it is very difficult to understand.”

And

“There are no second acts in American lives.”

And

“Before I go on with this short history, let me make a general observation – the test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in the mind at the same time, and still retain the ability to function. One should, for example, be able to see that things are hopeless and yet be determined to make them otherwise. This philosophy fitted on to my early adult life, when I saw the improbable, the implausible, often the “impossible,” come true.”

And

“All good writing is swimming under water and holding your breath.

And

“My generation of radicals and breakers-down never found anything to take the place of the old virtues of work and courage and the old graces of courtesy and politeness.”

And

“Show me a hero and I will write you a tragedy.”

And

“On the last night, with my trunk packed and my car sold to the grocer, I went over and looked at that huge incoherent failure of a house once more. On the white steps an obscene word, scrawled by some boy with a piece of brick, stood out clearly in the moonlight, and I erased it, drawing my shoe raspingly along the stone. Then I wandered down to the beach and sprawled out on the sand.

Most of the big shore places were closed now and there were hardly any lights except the shadowy, moving glow of a ferryboat across the Sound. And as the moon rose higher the inessential houses began to melt away until gradually I became aware of the old island here that flowered once for Dutch sailors’ eyes—a fresh, green breast of the new world. Its vanished trees, the trees that had made way for Gatsby’s house, had once pandered in whispers to the last and greatest of all human dreams; for a transitory enchanted moment man must have held his breath in the presence of this continent, compelled into an aesthetic contemplation he neither understood nor desired, face to face for the last time in history with something commensurate to his capacity for wonder.

And as I sat there brooding on the old, unknown world, I thought of Gatsby’s wonder when he first picked out the green light at the end of Daisy’s dock. He had come a long way to this blue lawn, and his dream must have seemed so close that he could hardly fail to grasp it. He did not know that it was already behind him, somewhere back in that vast obscurity beyond the city, where the dark fields of the republic rolled on under the night.

Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgastic future that year by year recedes before us. It eluded us then, but that’s no matter—to-morrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms farther. . . . And one fine morning——

So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.” The Ending of The Great Gatsby, 1925

Wikipedia:  F. Scott Fitzgerald

(more…)

Uncategorized

, ,

Coaches Hot Seat Quotes of the Day – Monday, January 17, 2022 – Martin Luther King, Jr.

January 17, 2022

“A genuine leader is not a searcher for consensus but a molder of consensus.”

And

“A nation or civilization that continues to produce soft-minded men purchases its own spiritual death on the installment plan.”

And

“Faith is taking the first step even when you don’t see the whole staircase.”

And

“If a man hasn’t discovered something that he will die for, he isn’t fit to live.”

And

“There is nothing more tragic than to find an individual bogged down in the length of life, devoid of breadth.”

And

“Whatever your life’s work is, do it well. A man should do his job so well that the living, the dead, and the unborn could do it no better.”

And

“The function of education is to teach one to think intensively and to think critically. Intelligence plus character – that is the goal of true education.”

And

“Men often hate each other because they fear each other; they fear each other because they don’t know each other; they don’t know each other because they can not communicate; they can not communicate because they are separated.”

And

“We must live together as brothers or perish together as fools.”

And

“On some positions, Cowardice asks the question, “Is it safe?” Expediency asks the question, “Is it politic?” And Vanity comes along and asks the question, “Is it popular?” But Conscience asks the question “Is it right?” And there comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular, but he must do it because Conscience tells him it is right.”

And

“I say to you that our goal is freedom, and I believe we are going to get there because however much she strays away from it, the goal of America is freedom.”

And

“Peace for Israel means security, and we must stand with all our might to protect its right to exist, its territorial integrity. I see Israel as one of the great outposts of democracy in the world, and a marvelous example of what can be done, how desert land can be transformed into an oasis of brotherhood and democracy. Peace for Israel means security and that security must be a reality.”

And

“The tough mind is sharp and penetrating, breaking through the crust of legends and myths and sifting the true from the false. The tough-minded individual is astute and discerning. He has a strong austere quality that makes for firmness of purpose and solidness of commitment. Who doubts that this toughness is one of man’s greatest needs? Rarely do we find men who willingly engage in hard, solid thinking. There is an almost universal quest for easy answers and half-baked solutions. Nothing pains some people more than having to think.”

And

“Nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.”

And

“The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.”

And

“We know through painful experience that freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed.”

And

“Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.”

And

“Every man must decide whether he will walk in the light of creative altruism or in the darkness of destructive selfishness.”

And

“Rarely do we find men who willingly engage in hard, solid thinking. There is an almost universal quest for easy answers and half-baked solutions. Nothing pains some people more than having to think.”

And

“The first question which the priest and the Levite asked was: ‘If I stop to help this man, what will happen to me?’ But… the good Samaritan reversed the question: ‘If I do not stop to help this man, what will happen to him?'”

And

“Let us not wallow in the valley of despair. I say to you today, my friends, that in spite of the difficulties and frustrations of the moment, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream. I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: “We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal.” I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slaveowners will be able to sit down together at a table of brotherhood. I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state, sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice. I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. I have a dream today.”

“I have a dream that one day the state of Alabama, whose governor’s lips are presently dripping with the words of interposition and nullification, will be transformed into a situation where little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls and walk together as sisters and brothers. I have a dream today. I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together. This is our hope. This is the faith with which I return to the South. With this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.”

“This will be the day when all of God’s children will be able to sing with a new meaning, “My country, ’tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing. Land where my fathers died, land of the pilgrim’s pride, from every mountainside, let freedom ring.” And if America is to be a great nation, this must become true. So let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire. Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York. Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania! Let freedom ring from the snowcapped Rockies of Colorado! Let freedom ring from the curvaceous peaks of California! But not only that; let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia! Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee! Let freedom ring from every hill and every molehill of Mississippi. From every mountainside, let freedom ring.

“When we let freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God’s children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, “Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!”

And

“The time is always right to do what’s right.”

And

“Each of us lives in two realms, the “within” and the “without.” The within of our lives is somehow found in the realm of ends, the without in the realm of means. The within of our [lives], the bottom — that realm of spiritual ends expressed in art, literature, morals, and religion for which at best we live. The without of our lives is that realm of instrumentalities, techniques, mechanisms by which we live. Now the great temptation of life and the great tragedy of life is that so often we allow the without of our lives to absorb the within of our lives. The great tragedy of life is that too often we allow the means by which we live to outdistance the ends for which we live.”

And

“Yes, if you want to say that I was a drum major, say that I was a drum major for justice; say that I was a drum major for peace; I was a drum major for righteousness. And all of the other shallow things will not matter. I won’t have any money to leave behind. I won’t have the fine and luxurious things of life to leave behind. But I just want to leave a committed life behind. And that’s all I want to say.”

“We all have the drum major instinct. We all want to be important, to surpass others, to achieve distinction, to lead the parade. … And the great issue of life is to harness the drum major instinct. It is a good instinct if you don’t distort it and pervert it. Don’t give it up. Keep feeling the need for being important. Keep feeling the need for being first. But I want you to be the first in love. I want you to be the first in moral excellence. I want you to be the first in generosity.”

And

“Well, I don’t know what will happen now. We’ve got some difficult days ahead. But it doesn’t matter with me now. Because I’ve been to the mountaintop. And I don’t mind. Like any man, I would like to live a long life. Longevity has its place. But I’m not concerned about that now. I just want to do God’s will. And He’s allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I’ve looked over. And I’ve seen the promised land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people will get to the promised land. And I’m happy, tonight. I’m not worried about anything. I’m not fearing any man. Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord.”

Wikipedia: Martin Luther King, Jr.

(more…)

Uncategorized

, , ,

Coaches Hot Seat Quotes of the Day – Sunday, January 16, 2022 – John Updike

January 16, 2022

“A leader is one who, out of madness or goodness, volunteers to take upon himself the woe of the people. There are few men so foolish, hence the erratic quality of leadership in the world.”

And

‘Creativity is merely a plus name for regular activity. Any activity becomes creative when the doer cares about doing it right, or better.”

And

‘Dreams come true; without that possibility, nature would not incite us to have them.”

And

“Golf appeals to the idiot in us and the child. Just how childlike golf players become is proven by their frequent inability to count past five.”

And

“If men do not keep on speaking terms with children, they cease to be men, and become merely machines for eating and for earning money.”

And

“Sex is like money; only too much is enough.”

And

“We are most alive when we’re in love.”

And

“When I write, I aim in my mind not toward New York but toward a vague spot a little to the east of Kansas.”

And

“I love my government not least for the extent to which it leaves me alone.”

And

“We take our bearings, daily, from others. To be sane is, to a great extent, to be sociable.”

And

“I secretly understood: the primitive appeal of the hearth. Television is — its irresistible charm — a fire.”

And

‘Four years was enough of Harvard. I still had a lot to learn, but had been given the liberating notion that now I could teach myself.”

And

“It was true of my generation, that the movies were terribly vivid and instructive. There were all kinds of things you learned. Like the 19th century novels, you saw how other social classes lived — especially the upper classes. So in a funny way, they taught you manners almost. But also moral manners. The gallantry of a Gary Cooper or an Errol Flynn or Jimmy Stewart. It was ethical instruction of a sort that the church purported to be giving you, but in a much less digestible form. Instead of these remote, crabbed biblical verses, you had contemporary people acting out moral dilemmas. Just the grace, the grace of those stars — not just the dancing stars, but the way they all moved with a certain grace. All that sank deep into my head, and my soul.”

And

“In the old movies, yes, there always was the happy ending and order was restored. As it is in Shakespeare’s plays. It’s no disgrace to, in the end, restore order. And punish the wicked and, in some way, reward the righteous.”

And

“Rain is grace; rain is the sky descending to the earth; without rain, there would be no life.”

And

“The essential support and encouragement comes from within, arising out of the mad notion that your society needs to know what only you can tell it.”

And

“America is a vast conspiracy to make you happy.”

And

“Writers may be disreputable, incorrigible, early to decay or late to bloom but they dare to go it alone.”

And

“Being naked approaches being revolutionary; going barefoot is mere populism.”

Wikipedia Page:  John Updike

(more…)

Uncategorized

, ,

Coaches Hot Seat Quotes of the Day – Saturday, January 15, 2022 – John Steinbeck

January 15, 2022

“A journey is a person in itself; no two are alike. And all plans, safeguards, policing, and coercion are fruitless. We find that after years of struggle that we do not take a trip; a trip takes us.”

And

“A journey is like marriage. The certain way to be wrong is to think you control it.”

And

“I am impelled, not to squeak like a grateful and apologetic mouse, but to roar like a lion out of pride in my profession.”

And

“I have never smuggled anything in my life. Why, then, do I feel an uneasy sense of guilt on approaching a customs barrier?”

And

“I’ve lived in good climate, and it bores the hell out of me. I like weather rather than climate.”

And

“I’ve seen a look in dogs’ eyes, a quickly vanishing look of amazed contempt, and I am convinced that basically dogs think humans are nuts.”

And

“Ideas are like rabbits. You get a couple and learn how to handle them, and pretty soon you have a dozen.”

And

“If you’re in trouble, or hurt or need – go to the poor people. They’re the only ones that’ll help – the only ones.”

And

“In the souls of the people the grapes of wrath are filling and growing heavy, growing heavy for the vintage.”

And

“It has always been my private conviction that any man who puts his intelligence up against a fish and loses had it coming.”

And

“It has always seemed strange to me… the things we admire in men, kindness and generosity, openness, honesty, understanding and feeling, are the concomitants of failure in our system. And those traits we detest, sharpness, greed, acquisitiveness, meanness, egotism and self-interest, are the traits of success. And while men admire the quality of the first they love the produce of the second.”

And

“It is a common experience that a problem difficult at night is resolved in the morning after the committee of sleep has worked on it.”

And

“No man really knows about other human beings. The best he can do is to suppose that they are like himself.”

And

“Power does not corrupt. Fear corrupts… perhaps the fear of a loss of power.”

And

“Sectional football games have the glory and the despair of war, and when a Texas team takes the field against a foreign state, it is an army with banners.”

And

“The writer must believe that what he is doing is the most important thing in the world. And he must hold to this illusion even when he knows it is not true.”

And

“We spend our time searching for security and hate it when we get it.”

And

“Where does discontent start? You are warm enough, but you shiver. You are fed, yet hunger gnaws you. You have been loved, but your yearning wanders in new fields. And to prod all these there’s time, the Bastard Time.”

And

“Writers are a little below clowns and a little above trained seals.”

And

“We are lonesome animals. We spend all our life trying to be less lonesome. One of our ancient methods is to tell a story begging the listener to say — and to feel — ”Yes, that’s the way it is, or at least that’s the way I feel it. You’re not as alone as you thought.””

And

“One man was so mad at me that he ended his letter: “Beware. You will never get out of this world alive.””

And

“If I wanted to destroy a nation, I would give it too much and I would have it on its knees, miserable, greedy and sick.”

And

“Man, unlike anything organic or inorganic in the universe, grows beyond his work, walks up the stairs of his concepts, emerges ahead of his accomplishments.”

And

“Cannery Row in Monterey in California is a poem, a stink, a grating noise, a quality of light, a tone, a habit, a nostalgia, a dream.”

And

“And this I believe: that the free, exploring mind of the individual human is the most valuable thing in the world. And this I would fight for: the freedom of the mind to take any direction it wishes, undirected. And this I must fight against: any religion, or government which limits or destroys the individual. This is what I am and what I am about. I can understand why a system built on a pattern must try to destroy the free mind, for it is the one thing which can by inspection destroy such a system. Surely I can understand this, and I hate it and I will fight against it to preserve the one thing that separates us from the uncreative beasts. If the glory can be killed, we are lost.”

And

“In every bit of honest writing in the world … there is a base theme. Try to understand men, if you understand each other you will be kind to each other. Knowing a man well never leads to hate and nearly always leads to love. There are shorter means, many of them. there is writing promoting social change, writing punishing injustice, writing in celebration of heroism, but always that base theme. Try to understand each other.”

And

“I have come to believe that a great teacher is a great artist and that there are as few as there are any other great artists. It might even be the greatest of the arts since the medium is the human mind and spirit.”

And

“The profession of book-writing makes horse-racing seem like a solid, stable business.”

And

“Our species is the only creative species, and it has only one creative instrument, the individual mind and spirit of a man. Nothing was ever created by two men. There are no good collaborations, whether in art, in music, in poetry, in mathematics, in philosophy. Once the miracle of creation has taken place, the group can build and extend it, but the group never invents anything. The preciousness lies in the lonely mind of a man.”

And

“It seems to me that if you or I must choose between two courses of thought or action, we should remember our dying and try so to live that our death brings no pleasure on the world.”

And

“I guess this is why I hate governments. It is always the rule, the fine print, carried out by the fine print men. There’s nothing to fight, no wall to hammer with frustrated fists.

And

Excerpt from Travels with Charley, John Steinbeck

The next passage in my journey is a love affair. I am in love with Montana. For other states I have admiration, respect, recognition, even some affection, but with Montana it is love, and it’s difficult to analyze love when you’re in it. Once, when I raptured in a violet glow given off by the Queen of the World, my father asked me why, and I thought he was crazy not to see. Of course I know now she was a mouse-haired, freckle-nosed, scabby-kneed little girl with a voice like a bat and the loving kindness of a gila monster, but then she lighted up the landscape and me. It seems to me that Montana is a great splash of grandeur. The scale is huge but not overpowering. The land is rich with grass and color, and the mountains are the kind I would create if mountains were ever put on my agenda. Montana seems to me to be what a small boy would think Texas is like from hearing Texans. Here for the first time I heard a definite regional accent unaffected by TV-ese, a slow-paced warm speech. It seemed to me that the frantic bustle of America was not in Montana. Its people did not seem afraid of shadows in a John Birch Society sense. The calm of the mountains and the rolling grasslands had got into the inhabitants. It was hunting season when I drove through the state. The men I talked to seemed to me not moved to a riot of seasonal slaughter but simply to be going out to kill edible meat. Again my attitude may be informed by love, but it seemed to me that the towns were places to live in rather than nervous hives. People had time to pause in their occupations to undertake the passing art of neighborliness.

I found I did not rush through the towns to get them over with. I even found things I had to buy to make myself linger. In Billings I bought a hat, in Livingston a jacket, in Butte a rifle I didn’t particularly need, a Remington bolt-action .22, secondhand but in beautiful condition. Then I found a telescope sight I had to have, and waited while it was mounted on the rifle, and in the process got to know everyone in the shop and any customers who entered. With the gun in a vise and the bolt out, we zeroed the new sight on a chimney three blocks away, and later when I got to shooting the little gun I found no reason to change it. I spent a good part of a morning at this, mostly because I wanted to stay. But I see that, as usual, love is inarticulate. Montana has a spell on me. It is grandeur and warmth. If Montana had a seacoast, or if I could live away from the sea, I would instantly move there and petition for admission. Of all the states it is my favorite and my love.

At Custer we made a side trip south to pay our respects to General Custer and Sitting Bull on the battlefield of Little Big Horn. I don’t suppose there is an American who doesn’t carry Remington’s painting of the last defense of the center column of the 7th Cavalry in his head. I removed my hat in memory of brave men, and Charley saluted in his own manner but I thought with great respect.

The whole of eastern Montana and the western Dakotas is memory-marked as Injun country, and the memories are not very old either. Some years ago my neighbor was Charles Erskine Scott Wood, who wrote Heavenly Discourse. He was a very old man when I knew him, but as a young lieutenant just out of military academy he had been assigned to General Miles and he served in the Chief Joseph campaign. His memory of it was very clear and very sad. He said it was one of the most gallant retreats in all history. Chief Joseph and the Nez Percés with squaws and children, dogs, and all their possessions, retreated under heavy fire for over a thousand miles, trying to escape to Canada. Wood said they fought every step of the way against odds until finally they were surrounded by the cavalry under General Miles and the large part of them wiped out. It was the saddest duty he had ever performed, Wood said, and he had never lost his respect for the fighting qualities of the Nez Percés. “If they hadn’t had their families with them we could never have caught them,” he said. “And if we had been evenly matched in men and weapons, we couldn’t have beaten them. They were men,” he said, “Real men.”

Wikipedia: John Steinbeck

(more…)

Uncategorized

, ,

Coaches Hot Seat Quotes of the Day – Friday, January 14, 2022 – Johnny Carson

January 14, 2022

“Anytime four New Yorkers get into a cab together without arguing, a bank robbery has just taken place.”

And

“Happiness is your dentist telling you it won’t hurt and then having him catch his hand in the drill.”

And

“I know a man who gave up smoking, drinking, sex, and rich food. He was healthy right up to the day he killed himself.”

And

“I know you’ve been married to the same woman for 69 years. That is marvelous. It must be very inexpensive.”

And

“I was so naive as a kid I used to sneak behind the barn and do nothing.”

And

“My success just evolved from working hard at the business at hand each day.”

And

“Never continue in a job you don’t enjoy. If you’re happy in what you’re doing, you’ll like yourself, you’ll have inner peace. And if you have that, along with physical health, you will have had more success than you could possibly have imagined.”

And

“Talent alone won’t make you a success. Neither will being in the right place at the right time, unless you are ready. The most important question is: “Are your ready?””

And

“The only thing money gives you is the freedom of not worrying about money”

Wikipedia: Johnny Carson

(more…)

Uncategorized

, ,

Coaches Hot Seat Quotes of the Day – Thursday, January 13, 2022 – Jimmy Stewart

January 13, 2022

“I’ve always been skeptical of people who say they lose themselves in a part. Someone once came up to Spencer Tracy and asked, “Aren’t you tired of always playing Tracy?” Tracy replied, “What am I supposed to do, play Bogart?” You have to develop a style that suits you and pursue it, not just develop a bag of tricks.”

And

“The great thing about the movies … is-you’re giving people little … tiny pieces of time … that they never forget.”

And

“You must be oh-so smart, or oh-so pleasant. For years I was smart. I recommend pleasant…and you may quote me.”

And

“I have my own rules and adhere to them. The rule is simple but inflexible. A James Stewart picture must have two vital ingredients. It will be clean and it will involve the triumph of the underdog over the bully.”

And

“You know, people seldom go to the trouble of scratching the surface of things to find the inner truth.”

And

“Frank called me one day and said, ‘I have an idea for a movie, why don’t you come over and I’ll tell you?’ So I went over and we sat down and he said, ‘This picture starts in heaven’. That shook me.”

And

“Clarence: You’ve been given a great gift, George: A chance to see what the world would be like without you.” It’s A Wonderful Life

And

“Clarence: You see George, you’ve really had a wonderful life. Don’t you see what a mistake it would be to just throw it away? ” It’s A Wonderful Life

And

“I always told Hitch that it would have been better to put seats around the set and sell tickets.”

And

“I sort of got into Westerns… It was a sort of desperation move, really. I had several pictures that didn’t go very well, and I just realised that I would have to try something else. “

And

“I was going to be an architect. I graduated with a degree in architecture and I had a scholarship to go back to Princeton and get my Masters in architecture. I’d done theatricals in college, but I’d done them because it was fun.”

And

“We had an apartment on west side of Central Park. The rent was very reasonable. We found out later that it belonged to a gangster called Legs Diamond and it was a front to his headquarters. It was fine.”

And

“Never treat your audience as customers, always as partners.”

And

“My mother approved, my father just didn’t accept the idea of my being an actor. I think that’s the reason he kept the hardware store in operation, because I think he was pretty sure that I was going to be found out sooner or later, and he wanted to have a job for me to come back to.”

And

“I think one day you’ll find that you’re the hero you’ve been looking for.” An American Tail: Fievel Goes West

And

“If we don’t try we don’t do. And if we don’t do, what are we on this earth for?” Shenandoah

And

“There’s not much I can tell you about this war. It’s like all wars, I guess. The undertakers are winning.” Shenandoah

And

“Don’t believe everything you hear and only half of what you see.” The Greatest Show on Earth

And

“Liberty is too precious to be buried in books. Men should hold it up in front of them every single day of their lives and say, ‘I’m free.’” Mr. Smith Goes to Washington

And

“He used to say to me, “Have you ever noticed how grateful you are to see daylight again after coming through a long dark tunnel?”…Always try to see life around you as if you’d just come out of a tunnel.” Mr. Smith Goes to Washington

And

“You sit around here and you spin your little webs and you think the whole world revolves around you and your money! Well, it doesn’t, Mr. Potter! In the whole vast configuration of things, I’d say you were nothing but a scurvy little spider!” It’s A Wonderful Life

And

“I’ve always been skeptical of people who say they lose themselves in a part. Someone once came up to Spencer Tracy and asked, “Aren’t you tired of always playing Tracy?” Tracy replied, “What am I supposed to do, play Bogart?” You have to develop a style that suits you and pursue it, not just develop a bag of tricks.”

And

“I’d like people to remember me as someone who was good at his job and seemed to mean what he said.”

And

“If a western is a good western, it gives you a sense of that world and some of the qualities those men had – their comradeship, loyalty, and physical courage. The vogue for the new kind of western seems pretty unimportant to me. They try to destroy something that has been vital to people for so long.”

And

“I suppose people can relate to being me, while they dream about being John Wayne.”

And

“I cannot tell you, Mr President, just how happy I am to finally be able to call you my Commander-in-Chief.” — to longtime friend Ronald Reagan, on his inauguration as US President on 1/20/81.

Wikipedia:  Jimmy Stewart

Lessons in Manliness:  Jimmy Stewart – The Art of Maniless

Life with Jimmy Stewart:  A War Hero Comes Home, 1945, Life Magazine

(more…)

Uncategorized

, ,

Coaches Hot Seat Quotes of the Day – Wednesday, January 12, 2022 – Ted Turner

January 12, 2022

“All my life people have said that I wasn’t going to make it.”

And

“I didn’t get here for my acting… but I love show business.”

And

“I see what keeps people young: work!”

And

“I’ve never run into a guy who could win at the top level in anything today and didn’t have the right attitude, didn’t give it everything he had, at least while he was doing it; wasn’t prepared and didn’t have the whole program worked out.”

And

“My son is now an ‘entrepreneur.’ That’s what you’re called when you don’t have a job.”

And

“There’s nothing wrong with being fired.”

And

“You can never quit. Winners never quit, and quitters never win.”

And

“You should set goals beyond your reach so you always have something to live for.”

And

“Early to bed, early to rise, work like hell and advertise”

And

“Sports is like a war without the killing.”

And

“I didn’t care what, how much adversity life threw at me. I intended to get to the top.”

And

“I mean, there’s no point in sittin’ around and cryin’ about spilt milk. Gotta move on.”

And

“I know what I’m having ’em put on my tombstone: ‘I have nothing more to say’.”

And

“Life is like a B-movie. You don’t want to leave in the middle of it but you don’t want to see it again.”

And

“The mind is just another muscle.”

And

“I’m a human being, just like everybody else. I’m up some days and down others. Some days, I just refuse comment. If I’m feeling a little down, I won’t say anything. But if I’m really up, I’ll let it all hang out. I do have a slight propensity to put my foot in my mouth.”

And

“I’m a millionaire, I guess, but I’m just a normal person and I like everybody, taxi drivers, whoever you are, to call me by my first name and talk to me on a man-to-man basis. I think the garbage collector is as important as the goddamned president.”

And

‘I’ve got a virtually limitless supply of bullshit.”

Wikipedia:  Ted Turner

www.tedturner.com

(more…)

Uncategorized

, ,