Author Archive: Harry

COACHES HOT SEAT > Articles by: Harry

Coaches Hot Seat Quotes of the Day – Tuesday, March 14, 2023 – Lucius Annaeus Seneca

March 14, 2023

“One of the most beautiful qualities of true friendship is to understand and to be understood.”

And

“Our plans miscarry because they have no aim. When a man does not know what harbour he is making for, no wind is the right wind.”

And

“A physician is not angry at the intemperance of a mad patient, nor does he take it ill to be railed at by a man in fever. Just so should a wise man treat all mankind, as a physician does his patient, and look upon them only as sick and extravagant.”

And

“Life is the fire that burns and the sun that gives light. Life is the wind and the rain and the thunder in the sky. Life is matter and is earth, what is and what is not, and what beyond is in Eternity.”

And

“We are more often frightened than hurt; and we suffer more from imagination than from reality.”

And

“It is quality rather than quantity that matters.”

And

“It is a rough road that leads to the heights of greatness.”

And

“Life’s like a play: it’s not the length, but the excellence of the acting that matters.”

And

“Love in its essence is spiritual fire.”

And

“Religion is regarded by the common people as true, by the wise as false, and by the rulers as useful.”

And

“A happy life is one which is in accordance with its own nature.”

And

“A sword never kills anybody; it is a tool in the killer’s hand.”

And

“It is not because things are difficult that we do not dare, it is because we do not dare that they are difficult.”

And

“True happiness is… to enjoy the present, without anxious dependence upon the future.”

And

“A gift consists not in what is done or given, but in the intention of the giver or doer.”

And

“A gem cannot be polished without friction, nor a man perfected without trials.”

And

“Everything is the product of one universal creative effort. There is nothing dead in Nature. Everything is organic and living, and therefore the whole world appears to be a living organism.”

And

“The bravest sight in the world is to see a great man struggling against adversity.”

And

“Wisdom does not show itself so much in precept as in life – in firmness of mind and a mastery of appetite. It teaches us to do as well as to talk; and to make our words and actions all of a color.”

And

“Expecting is the greatest impediment to living. In anticipation of tomorrow, it loses today.”

And

“There is no person so severely punished, as those who subject themselves to the whip of their own remorse.”

And

“Shall I tell you what the real evil is? To cringe to the things that are called evils, to surrender to them our freedom, in defiance of which we ought to face any suffering.”

And

“There is no great genius without some touch of madness.”

And

“Nothing is so wretched or foolish as to anticipate misfortunes. What madness is it to be expecting evil before it comes.”

And

“Be wary of the man who urges an action in which he himself incurs no risk.”

And

“It is not the man who has too little, but the man who craves more, that is poor.”

And

“Everywhere means nowhere. When a person spends all his time in foreign travel, he ends by having many acquaintances, but no friends.”

And

“Live among men as if God beheld you; speak with God as if men were listening.”

And

“Men do not care how nobly they live, but only how long, although it is within the reach of every man to live nobly, but within no man’s power to live long.”

And

“God is near you, with you, and in you. Thus I say, Lucilius: there sits a holy spirit within us, a watcher of our right and wrong doing, and a guardian…”

And

“Treat your inferiors as you would be treated by your betters.”

And

“You can tell the character of every man when you see how he gives and receives praise.”

Wikipedia:  Lucius Annaeus Seneca

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Coaches Hot Seat Quotes of the Day – Monday, March 13, 2023 – Herb Brooks

March 13, 2023

“Great moments are born from great opportunities.”

And

“We should be dreaming. We grew up as kids having dreams, but now we’re too sophisticated as adults, as a nation. We stopped dreaming. We should always have dreams.”

And

“You know, Willie Wonka said it best: we are the makers of dreams, the dreamers of dreams.”

And

“You’re looking for players whose name on the front of the sweater is more important than the one on the back. I look for these players to play hard, to play smart and to represent their country.”

And

“When you pull on that jersey, the name on the front is a hell of alot more important than the one on the back.”

And

“I’m not looking for the best players, Craig, I’m lookin’ for the right ones.”

And

“If we play ’em 10 times, they might win nine. But NOT this game.”

And

“[as the players who were cut depart] Take a good look, gentlemen, cause they’re the ones getting off easy”

And

“[making his team do sprints after a lackluster game] You keep playing this way, you won’t beat anybody who’s even good, let alone great! You wanna make this team? Then you better start playing at a level that’s gonna FORCE ME to keep you here! AGAIN!”

Wikipedia:   Herb Brooks 

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Coaches Hot Seat Quotes of the Day – Sunday, March 12, 2022 – Frank Leahy

March 12, 2023

“Egotism is the anesthetic that dulls the pain of stupidity.”

And

“Give me a lead of 14-0 at halftime and I will dictate the final score.”

And

“There are no shortcuts in life – only those we imagine.”

And

“When the going gets tough, let the tough get going.”

And

“A school without football is in danger of deteriorating into a medieval study hall.”

And

“Lads, you’re not to miss practice unless your parents died or you died.”

Wikipedia: Frank Leahy

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Coaches Hot Seat Quotes of the Day – Saturday, March 11, 2023 – Leonardo da Vinci

March 11, 2023

“Necessity is the mistress and guide of nature.”

And

“Every action needs to be prompted by a motive. To know and to will are two operations of the human mind. Discerning, judging, deliberating are acts of the human mind.”

And

“Experience, the interpreter between formative nature and the human race, teaches how that nature acts among mortals; and being constrained by necessity cannot act otherwise than as reason, which is its helm, requires her to act.”

And

“The acquisition of any knowledge is always of use to the intellect, because it may thus drive out useless things and retain the good. For nothing can be loved or hated unless it is first known.”

And

“That is not riches, which may be lost; virtue is our true good and the true reward of its possessor. That cannot be lost; that never deserts us, but when life leaves us. As to property and external riches, hold them with trembling; they often leave their possessor in contempt, and mocked at for having lost them.”

And

“It is easier to contend with evil at the first than at the last.”

And

“He who walks straight rarely falls.”

And

“Men will seem to see new destructions in the sky. The flames that fall from it will seem to rise in it and to fly from it with terror. They will hear every kind of animals speak in human language. They will instantaneously run in person in various parts of the world, without motion. They will see the greatest splendour in the midst of darkness. O! marvel of the human race! What madness has led you thus! You will speak with animals of every species and they with you in human speech. You will see yourself fall from great heights without any harm and torrents will accompany you, and will mingle with their rapid course.”

And

“Men standing in opposite hemispheres will converse and deride each other and embrace each other, and understand each other’s language.”

And

“It vexes me greatly that having to earn my living has forced me to interrupt the work and to attend to small matters.”

And

“He who does not value life does not deserve it.”

And

“As a well-spent day brings happy sleep, so a life well spent brings happy death.”

And

“Beyond a doubt truth bears the same relation to falsehood as light to darkness.”

And

“He who loves practice without theory is like the sailor who boards ship without a rudder and compass and never knows where he may cast.”

And

“He who wishes to be rich in a day will be hanged in a year.”

And

“I have been impressed with the urgency of doing. Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Being willing is not enough; we must do.”

And

“I have offended God and mankind because my work didn’t reach the quality it should have.”

And

“Learning never exhausts the mind.”

And

“It is easier to resist at the beginning than at the end.”

And

“Necessity is the mistress and guardian of Nature.”

And

“The earth is not in the centre of the Sun’s orbit nor at the centre of the universe, but in the centre of its companion elements, and united with them. And any one standing on the moon, when it and the sun are both beneath us, would see this our earth and the element of water upon it just as we see the moon, and the earth would light it as it lights us.”

And

“The motive power is the cause of all life.”

And

“Every action needs to be prompted by a motive. To know and to will are two operations of the human mind. Discerning, judging, deliberating are acts of the human mind.”

And

“The acquisition of any knowledge is always of use to the intellect, because it may thus drive out useless things and retain the good. For nothing can be loved or hated unless it is first known.”

And

“He who thinks little, errs much.”

And

“It is easier to contend with evil at the first than at the last.”

And

“Iron rusts from disuse; stagnant water loses its purity and in cold weather becomes frozen; even so does inaction sap the vigor of the mind.”

And

“Obstacles cannot crush me. Every obstacle yields to stern resolve. He who is fixed to a star does not change his mind.”

And

“Wisdom is the daughter of experience.”

And

“Nature is full of infinite causes that have never occurred in experience.”

Wikipedia: Leonardo da Vinci

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Coaches Hot Seat Quotes of the Day – Friday, March 10, 2023 – Ulysses S. Grant

March 10, 2023

“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

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Coaches Hot Seat Quotes of the Day – Thursday, March 9, 2022 – Billy Wilder

March 9, 2023

“A director must be a policeman, a midwife, a psychoanalyst, a sycophant and a bastard.”

And

“If you’re going to tell people the truth, be funny or they’ll kill you.”

And

“I have ten commandments. The first nine are, thou shalt not bore. The tenth is, thou shalt have right of final cut.”

And

“Happiness is working with Jack Lemmon.”

And

“I’d worship the ground you walked on if only you walked in a better neighborhood.”

And

“Now, what is it which makes a scene interesting? If you see a man coming through a doorway, it means nothing. If you see him coming through a window – that is at once interesting.”

And

“Trust your own instinct. Your mistakes might as well be your own, instead of someone else’s.”

And

“Hindsight is always twenty-twenty.”

And

“The Austrians are brilliant people. They made the world believe that Hitler was a German and Beethoven an Austrian.”

And

“If there’s anything I hate more than not being taken seriously, it’s being taken too seriously.”

And

“My Aunt Minnie would always be punctual and never hold up production, but who would pay to see my Aunt Minnie?”

And

“One’s too many, and a hundred’s not enough.”

And

“France is the country where the money falls apart and you can’t tear the toilet paper.”

And

“You have to have a dream so you can get up in the morning.”

And

“An audience is never wrong. An individual member of it may be an imbecile, but a thousand imbeciles together in the dark – that is critical genius.”

And

“Don’t be too clever for an audience. Make it obvious. Make the subtleties obvious also.”

And

“We are on the track of something absolutely mediocre.”

And

“The best director is the one you don’t see.”

And

“They’ve tried to manufacture other Marilyn Monroes and they will undoubtedly keep trying. But it won’t work. She was an original.”

And

“A bad play folds and is forgotten, but in pictures we don’t bury our dead. When you think it’s out of your system, your daughter sees it on television and says, My father is an idiot.”

And

“Eighty percent of a picture is writing, the other twenty percent is the execution, such as having the camera on the right spot and being able to afford to have good actors in all parts.”

And

“The truth always reveals itself.”

And

“Love is the hardest thing in the world to write about. So simple. You’ve got to catch it through details, like the early morning sunlight hitting the gray tin of the rain spout in front of her house. The ringing of a telephone that sounds like Beethoven’s “Pastoral.” A letter scribbled on her office stationery that you carry around in your pocket because it smells of all the lilacs in Ohio.”

And

“I never overestimate the audience, nor do I underestimate them. I just have a very rational idea as to who we’re dealing with, and that we’re not making a picture for Harvard Law School, we’re making a picture for middle-class people, the people that you see on the subway, or the people that you see in a restaurant. Just normal people.”

And

“If you don’t like what you’re doing, it’s unlikely anyone else will either, so be sure you are happy with your own work first.”

Wikipedia:  Billy Wilder

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Coaches Hot Seat Quotes of the Day – Wednesday, March 8, 2023 – Francis Ford Coppola

March 8, 2023

“A number of images put together a certain way become something quite above and beyond what any of them are individually.”

And

“Anything you build on a large scale or with intense passion invites chaos.”

And

“Art depends on luck and talent.”

And

“I became quite successful very young, and it was mainly because I was so enthusiastic and I just worked so hard at it.”

And

“It’s ironic that at age 32, at probably the greatest moment of my career, with The Godfather having such an enormous success, I wasn’t even aware of it, because I was somewhere else under the deadline again.”

And

“The stuff that I got in trouble for, the casting for The Godfather or the flag scene in Patton, was the stuff that was remembered, and was considered the good work.”

And

“You have to really be courageous about your instincts and your ideas. Otherwise you’ll just knuckle under, and things that might have been memorable will be lost.”

And

“You ought to love what you’re doing because, especially in a movie, over time you really will start to hate it.”

And

“I think cinema, movies, and magic have always been closely associated. The very earliest people who made film were magicians.”

And

“I believe that filmmaking – as, probably, is everything – is a game you should play with all your cards, and all your dice, and whatever else you’ve got. So, each time I make a movie, I give it everything I have. I think everyone should, and I think everyone should do everything they do that way.”

And

“I associate my motion picture career more with being unhappy and scared, or being under the gun, than with anything pleasant.”

And

“The essence of cinema is editing. It’s the combination of what can be extraordinary images of people during emotional moments, or images in a general sense, put together in a kind of alchemy.”

And

On his film, “Apocalypse Now”, at the 1979 Cannes Film Festival: “My movie is not about Vietnam… my movie is Vietnam.”

And

“Anything you build on a large scale or with intense passion invites chaos.”

And

“Lots of people have criticized my movies, but nobody has ever identified the real problem: I’m a sloppy filmmaker.”

And

“The Godfather changed my life, for better or worse. It definitely made me have an older man’s film career when I was 29. So now I say, ‘If I had my older career when I was young, as an older man, maybe I can have a young film-maker’s career.'”

And

“Brando wants to do what you want, but he wants people to be honest and not try to manipulate him.”

And

“Marlon was never hard to work with. His behaviour was a little eccentric on the set. He was like a bad boy and did what he wanted. But as an actor he was never hard to work with.”

And

“I want you to remember that no bastard ever won a war by dying for his country. He won it by making the other poor, dumb bastard die for his country.

Men, all this stuff you’ve heard about America not wanting to fight, wanting to stay out of the war, is a lot of horse dung. Americans, traditionally, love to fight. All real Americans love the sting of battle. When you were kids, you all admired the champion marble shooters, the fastest runners, big league ball players, the toughest boxers. Americans love a winner and will not tolerate a loser. Americans play to win all the time. I wouldn’t give a hoot in hell for a man who lost and laughed. That’s why Americans have never lost and will never lose a war, because the very thought of losing is hateful to Americans.

Now, an army is a team. It lives, eats, sleeps, fights as a team. This individuality stuff is a bunch of crap. The bilious bastards who wrote that stuff about individuality for the Saturday

Evening Post don’t know anything more about real battle than they do about fornicating.

Now, we have the finest food and equipment, the best spirit, and the best men in the world. You know, by God I, I actually pity those poor bastards we’re going up against, by God, I do.

We’re not just going to shoot the bastards; we’re going to cut out their living guts and use them to grease the treads of our tanks. We’re going to murder those lousy Hun bastards by the bushel.

Now, some of you boys, I know, are wondering whether or not you’ll chicken out under fire. Don’t worry about it. I can assure you that you will all do your duty.

The Nazis are the enemy. Wade into them. Spill their blood. Shoot them in the belly. When you put your hand into a bunch of goo that a moment before was your best friend’s face, you’ll know what to do.

Now there’s another thing I want you to remember: I don’t want to get any messages saying that we are holding our position. We’re not holding anything. Let the Hun do that. We are advancing constantly and we’re not interested in holding onto anything except the enemy. We’re going to hold onto him by the nose and we’re going to kick him in the ass. We’re going to kick the hell out of him all the time and we’re going to go through him like crap through a goose.

Now, there’s one thing that you men will be able to say when you get back home. And you may thank God for it. Thirty years from now when you’re sitting around your fireside with your grandson on your knee, and he asks you: “What did you do in the great World War II?” You won’t have to say, “Well, I shoveled shit in Louisiana.”

Alright, now, you sons-of-bitches, you know how I feel. Oh… I will be proud to lead you wonderful guys into battle anytime, anywhere.

That’s all.” Opening Speech by George C. Scott playing General Patton in move Patton

And

“It was here. The battlefield was here. The Carthaginians defending the city were attacked by three Roman Legions. The Carthaginians were proud and brave but they couldn’t hold. They were massacred. The Arab women stripped them of the tunics and swords, and lances. And the soldiers lay naked in the sun. 2000 years ago. I was here. (Looking at Bradley) You don’t believe me, do you Brad?

You know what the poet said:
‘Through the travail of ages,
Midst the pomp and toils of war,
Have I fought and strove and perished
Countless times upon a star.
As if through a glass, and darkly
The age-old strife I see—
Where I fought in many guises, many names—
but always me.’
Do you know who the poet was? Me.” Battle of Carthage Scene, movie Patton

And

“All Mighty and most merciful Father, We humbly beseech Thee, of thy great goodness to restrain this immoderate weather with which we have had to contend. Grant us fair weather for battle. Graciously hearken to us as soldiers who call upon Thee that, armed with Thy power, we may advance from victory to victory, and crush the oppression and wickedness of our enemies and establish Thy justice among men and nations. Amen.” Weather Prayer, move Patton

Wikipedia: Francis Ford Coppola

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Coaches Hot Seat Quotes of the Day – Tuesday, March 7, 2023 – Ralph Waldo Emerson

March 7, 2023

“Character is higher than intellect.”

And

“I cannot find language of sufficient energy to convey my sense of the sacredness of private integrity.”

And

“A little integrity is better than any career. “

And

“Every industrious man, in every lawful calling, is a useful man. And one principal reason why men are so often useless is that they neglect their own profession or calling, and divide and shift their attention among a multiplicity of objects and pursuits.”

And

“What you do thunders so loudly in my ears I cannot hear what you say.”

And

“To finish the moment, to find the journey’s end in every step of the road, to live the greatest number of good hours, is wisdom.”

And

“We are always getting ready to live but never living.”

And

“None of us will ever accomplish anything excellent or commanding except when he listens to this whisper which is heard by him alone.”

And

“To believe your own thought, to believe that what is true for you in your private heart is true for all men that is genius. “

And

“What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us.”

And

“Is it so bad, then, to be misunderstood? Pythagoras was misunderstood, and Socrates, and Jesus, and Luther, and Copernicus, and Galileo, and Newton, and every pure and wise spirit that ever took flesh. To be great is to be misunderstood.”

And

“Whatever you do, you need courage. Whatever course you decide upon, there is always someone to tell you that you are wrong. There are always difficulties arising that tempt you to believe your critics are right. To map out a course of action and follow it to an end requires some of the same courage that a soldier needs. Peace has its victories, but it takes brave men and women to win them.”

And

“The purpose of life is not to be happy. It is to be useful, to be honorable, to be compassionate, to have it make some difference that you have lived and lived well.”

And

“Guard well your spare moments. They are like uncut diamonds. Discard them and their value will never be known. Improve them and they will become the brightest gems in a useful life.”

And

“A chief event of life is the day in which we have encountered a mind that startled us.”

And

“A man is what he thinks about all day long.”

And

“As long as a man stands in his own way, everything seems to be in his way.”

And

“Character is higher than intellect. A great soul will be strong to live as well as think.”

And

“Enthusiasm is the mother of effort, and without it nothing great was ever achieved.”

And

“It was high counsel that I once heard given to a young person, ‘always do what you are afraid to do.”

And

“Shallow men believe in luck. Strong men believe in cause and effect.”

And

“To be great is to be misunderstood.”

And

“To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment.”

And

“Trust men and they will be true to you; treat them greatly and they will show themselves great.”

And

“With the past, I have nothing to do; nor with the future. I live now.”

And

“If the colleges were better, if they … had the power of imparting valuable thought, creative principles, truths which become powers, thoughts which become talents, — if they could cause that a mind not profound should become profound, — we should all rush to their gates: instead of contriving inducements to draw students, you would need to set police at the gates to keep order in the in-rushing multitude.”

And

“Only the great generalizations survive. The sharp words of the Declaration of Independence, lampooned then and since as ‘glittering generalities,’ have turned out blazing ubiquities that will burn forever and ever.”

And

“To different minds, the same world is a hell, and a heaven.”

And

“Sometimes a scream is better than a thesis.”

And

“If the stars should appear one night in a thousand years, how would men believe and adore, and preserve for many generations the remembrance of the city of God which had been shown! But every night come out these envoys of beauty, and light the universe with their admonishing smile.”

And

“The charming landscape which I saw this morning, is indubitably made up of some twenty or thirty farms. Miller owns this field, Locke that, and Manning the woodland beyond. But none of them owns the landscape. There is a property in the horizon which no man has but he whose eye can integrate all the parts, that is, the poet. This is the best part of these men’s farms, yet to this their warranty-deeds give no title. To speak truly, few adult persons can see nature. Most persons do not see the sun. At least they have a very superficial seeing. The sun illuminates only the eye of the man, but shines into the eye and the heart of the child. The lover of nature is he whose inward and outward senses are still truly adjusted to each other; who has retained the spirit of infancy even into the era of manhood. His intercourse with heaven and earth, becomes part of his daily food.”

And

“But genius looks forward: the eyes of men are set in his forehead, not in his hindhead: man hopes: genius creates.”

And

“There is a time in every man’s education when he arrives at the conviction that envy is ignorance; that imitation is suicide; that he must take himself for better for worse as his portion; that though the wide universe is full of good, no kernel of nourishing corn can come to him but though his toil bestowed on that plot of ground which is given to him to till.”

And

“Society everywhere is in conspiracy against the manhood of every one of its members. Society is a joint-stock company, in which the members agree, for the better securing of his bread to each shareholder, to surrender the liberty and culture of the eater. The virtue in most request is conformity. Self-reliance is its aversion. It loves not realities and creators, but names and customs.”

And

“Trust thyself: every heart vibrates to that iron string. Accept the place the divine providence has found for you, the society of your contemporaries, the connection of events. Great men have always done so.”

And

“Whoso would be a man, must be a nonconformist. He who would gather immortal palms must not be hindered by the name of goodness, but must explore if it be goodness. Nothing is at last sacred but the integrity of your own mind. Absolve you to yourself, and you shall have the suffrage of the world.”

And

“Your genuine action will explain itself, and will explain your other genuine actions. Your conformity explains nothing. Act singly, and what you have already done singly will justify you now. Greatness appeals to the future. If I can be firm enough to-day to do right, and scorn eyes, I must have done so much right before as to defend me now. Be it how it will, do right now. Always scorn appearances, and you always may. The force of character is cumulative.”

And

“Hence, the less government we have, the better, — the fewer laws, and the less confided power. The antidote to this abuse of formal Government, is, the influence of private character, the growth of the Individual.”

And

“Money, which represents the prose of life, and which is hardly spoken of in parlors without an apology, is, in its effects and laws, as beautiful as roses.”

And

“The reward of a thing well done is to have done it.”

Wikipedia:  Ralph Waldo Emerson

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Coaches Hot Seat

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Coaches Hot Seat Quotes of the Day – Monday, March 6, 2023 – Jake Gaither

March 6, 2023

“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 – Sunday, March 5, 2023 – Bill Russell

March 5, 2023

“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

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