“I think I should be allowed to be only fair, or even mediocre, for a while.”

“The pitching coach was bugged by the author's technique because he had never seen anyone do it before, and besides, it wasn't the coach's idea.”

“The author emphasizes the importance of self-forgetfulness when his statistics were marred by a bad outing. He forgot all of that outing to such an extent that he quipped, "What was my name?”

“Front offices are more interested in players that are far than players that are near.”

“The older they get, the better they get when they were younger”

“High school games would just as big a deal to me as any major league game.”

“In fact, second lieutenants were primary-school teachers. Sure, teachers with guns, but a platoon commander was, nonetheless, the guy who sorted out the working day for 30 men under his command, ta...”

“Here was a king who saw his subjects as peers and allies around whom he had growing up rather than semi-alien entities to be suspected and persecuted.”

“Their lot in life, their station, became a part of their personalities and helped to for my worldview.”

“Insight is the deep intuitive understanding of things, and it often breaks through the conventional wisdom.”

“Dont accept any knowledge or conventional wisdom without critically questioning it first.”

“When it comes to anniversaries, the publishing industry usually resembles distant relatives, readiest with gifts that are redundant or farcical.”

“The imagination serves us only when the mind is absolutely free of any prejudice. A single prejudice suffices to cool off the imagination. This whimsical part of the mind is so unbridled as to be u...”

“The institutions, conventions, customs and laws that make up the complex structure of a society are the work of a hundred centuries and a billion minds; and one mind must not expect to comprehend t...”

“If they're from the village, you take them to the inn. If they're from the city, you treat them with respect when they are beautiful and throw them on the highway when they are dead.”