Quotes about sport
page 4

Amir Taheri photo
H. G. Wells photo
Tanith Lee photo
Chad Johnson photo

“(After kicking an extra point in a Bengals preseason game) Esteban' Ochocinco is back, the most interesting footballer in the world. Everyone has to remember, I've always said that soccer is my No. 1 sport. I think Ronaldinho would be proud of me right now.”

Chad Johnson (1978) American football player, wide receiver

"Ochocinco kicks PAT vs. Pats" http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=4412952&campaign=rss&source=NFLHeadlines, ESPN.com (20 August 2009)

Sarah Palin photo
Plutarch photo

“It was the saying of Bion, that though the boys throw stones at frogs in sport, yet the frogs do not die in sport but in earnest.”

Plutarch (46–127) ancient Greek historian and philosopher

Which are the most crafty, Water or Land Animals?, 7
Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919)

Moses Van Campen photo
José Mourinho photo

“I know Madrid is a special club. Madrid is politics. Madrid is not about football, Madrid is not about sport, is about many things around.”

José Mourinho (1963) Portuguese association football player and manager

http://www.insideworldsoccer.com/2013/08/jose-mourinho-real-madrid-is-politics.html
2010

Andrei Tarkovsky photo
Fernando Alonso photo
Jake Shields photo
Sara Paxton photo
Alan M. Dershowitz photo
Kumar Sangakkara photo

“He is an extremely messy person, the messiest on earth. But he loves to cook and absolutely loves making pasta at home. We never discussed cricket at home and always made sure there was life away from the sport at home. Conversations revolved around kids and made sure there was life beyond the sport. Kumar is a very relaxed, open sort of person. He has never demanded much. (But) He will have to get used to our routine now. He will of course still play some cricket for a year or two.”

Kumar Sangakkara (1977) Sri Lankan cricketer

Kumar's wife, Yehali Sangakkara, quoted on sports.ndtv, "Kumar Sangakkara is Extremely Messy, Would Love to Have Him at Home Now: Yehali Sangakkara" http://sports.ndtv.com/sri-lanka-vs-india-2015/news/247313-kumar-sangakkara-is-extremely-messy-would-love-to-have-him-at-home-now-yehali-sangakkara, August 21, 2015.
About

“It's bullshit, what the hell do they want me to do? The sport is going down. It's not even worth competing, because you do all the work for a year and you don't get what you deserve.”

Iris Kyle (1974) American bodybuilder

2004-01-01
Iris sees red.(Iris Kyle finishes second at Ms. Olympia)(Brief Article)
Flex
Internet
http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-111506207.html
Sourced quotes, 2004

Warren Farrell photo
Joanna MacGregor photo
Indro Montanelli photo
Michel De Montaigne photo

“When I play with my cat, who knows whether I do not make her more sport than she makes me?”

Book II, Ch. 12. Apology for Raimond Sebond
Essais (1595), Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919)

Joseph Strutt photo
John Buchan photo
Richard Cobden photo

“I cannot believe that the gentry of England will be made mere drumheads to be sounded upon by a Prime Minister to give forth unmeaning and empty sounds, and to have no articulate voice of their own. No! You are the gentry of England who represent the counties. You are the aristocracy of England. Your fathers led our fathers: you may lead us if you will go the right way. But, although you have retained your influence with this country longer than any other aristocracy, it has not been by opposing popular opinion, or by setting yourselves against the spirit of the age. In other days, when the battle and the hunting-fields were the tests of manly vigour, why, your fathers were first and foremost there. The aristocracy of England were not like the noblesse of France, the mere minions of a court; nor were they like the hidalgoes of Madrid, who dwindled into pigmies. You have been Englishmen. You have not shown a want of courage and firmness when any call has been made upon you. This is a new era. It is the age of improvement, it is the age of social advancement, not the age for war or for feudal sports. You live in a mercantile age, when the whole wealth of the world is poured into your lap. You cannot have the advantages of commercial rents and feudal privileges; but you may be what you always have been, if you will identify yourselves with the spirit of the age. The English people look to the gentry and aristocracy of their country as their leaders. I, who am not one of you, have no hesitation in telling you, that there is a deep-rooted, an hereditary prejudice, if I may so call it, in your favour in this country. But you never got it, and you will not keep it, by obstructing the spirit of the age.”

Richard Cobden (1804–1865) English manufacturer and Radical and Liberal statesman

Speech in the House of Commons http://hansard.millbanksystems.com/commons/1845/mar/13/effects-of-corn-laws-on-agriculturists (13 March 1845).
1840s

Tiësto photo

“The opportunity to perform my music for billions of people around the globe will be the greatest highlight of my life, I am honoured to be part of the biggest sports event in the world.”

Tiësto (1969) Dutch DJ and record producer

Tiësto said about the ATHOC.
Source: [Dutch Top DJ Tiësto to rock opening Olympics 2004 Greece this Friday at Kennisland, http://blog.kennisland.nl/kennisland/2004/08/12/dutch_top_dj_ti/, Kennisland.nl, 2008-04-17]

Gay Talese photo

“You should be proud of your profession because there's less lying in journalism than in any other profession. They lie in education, they lie in politics, they lie in banking, they lie in labor; there's liars all over the place. Sports? Full of liars. And there are liars in journalism, but if there are liars, journalism will out them.”

Gay Talese (1932) American writer

In an interview with David L. Ulin to Los Angeles Times - Gay Talese talks with David L. Ulin http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/jacketcopy/2010/10/gay-talese-talks-with-david-l-ulin.html (October 15, 2010)

Lewis Mumford photo
Margaret Cho photo

“All of them who need to tell ladies to stop talking about sports and stay on the sidelines, because we are baby-making machines.”

Margaret Cho (1968) American stand-up comedian

From Her Books, I Have Chosen To Stay And Fight, FEMINISM

Ilana Mercer photo

“The military is government. The military works like government; is financed like government, and sports many of the same inherent malignancies of government, chief of which is its liberalism. Like the government, the military is freighted with pathological political correctness.”

Ilana Mercer South African writer

“Assange is Us,” http://www.ilanamercer.com/phprunner/public_article_list_view.php?editid1=578 WorldNetDaily.com, December 10, 2010.
2010s, 2010

Alan Hirsch photo
J.M.W. Turner photo

“In our variable climate where [all] the seasons are recognizable in one day, where all the vapoury turbulence involves the face of things, where nature seems to sport in all: her dignity and dispensing incidents for the artist’s study.... how happily is the landscape painter situated, how roused by every change in nature in every moment, that allows no languor even in her effects which she places before him, and demands most peremptorily every moment his admiration and investigation, to store his mind with every change of time and place.”

J.M.W. Turner (1775–1851) British Romantic landscape painter, water-colourist, and printmaker

Quote from Turner's lectures, 1811; as cited in Life and Work of J.M.W. Turner, Andrew Wilton; London: Academy Editions, 1979; as quoted in 'A brief history of weather in European landscape art', John E. Thornes, in Weather Volume 55, Issue 10 Oct. 2000, p. 367-368
In 1811 already Turner gave his first lectures as Professor of Perspective; in one of his lectures he spoke of the advantages of the British climate for landscape artists
1795 - 1820

Frank Deford photo
George Herbert photo

“1023. An old cat sports not with her prey.”

George Herbert (1593–1633) Welsh-born English poet, orator and Anglican priest

Jacula Prudentum (1651)

Esther Williams photo

“Just make the point we come from the water. It's the most natural medium in the world. It's the only sport you can do from your first bath to your last without hurting yourself.”

Esther Williams (1921–2013) competitive American swimmer and actor

Tale of a Mermaid: Swimmimg regimen still suits Ester Williams at age 75 https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=_-kNAAAAIBAJ&sjid=K28DAAAAIBAJ&pg=6146,4767773&dq=esther+williams&hl=en (July 23, 1997)

Sania Mirza photo
Noam Chomsky photo

“Spectator sports make people more passive, because you're not doing them—you're watching somebody doing them.”

Noam Chomsky (1928) american linguist, philosopher and activist

"Sports" in How the World Works, p. 168
Quotes 1990s, 1990-1994, Secrets, Lies and Democracy, 1994

Winston S. Churchill photo

“I am a sporting man. I always give them a fair chance to get away.”

Winston S. Churchill (1874–1965) Prime Minister of the United Kingdom

Asked why he missed so many trains and aeroplanes, as cited in My Darling Clementine (1963), Fishman, W.H. Allen : Star Books edition (1974), p. 218 ISBN 0352300191
Post-war years (1945–1955)

David Carter photo
Fridtjof Nansen photo

“It is better to go skiing and think of God, than to go to church and think of sport.”

Fridtjof Nansen (1861–1930) Norwegian polar explorer and Nobel Peace Prize laureate

Quoted in [The New Yorker, 86, 15 March 2010, 56]

“You know, I'm kind of a tomboy. I love to fish. I like to fish. I love to stay outdoors. I'm a big sports fan and go to games. I don't care what they are. I love to gamble and go to Vegas. I like my dog.”

Erika Jayne (1969) American singer, actress and television personality

Erika Jayne interview to SheKnows http://www.sheknows.com/entertainment/articles/810403/erika-jayne-exclusive-interview/page:2 (2009)

Larry Bird photo

“It's unbelievable. But I've never been to a pro football game. I've never been to a pro hockey game, either. I guess I'm not much of a sports fan.”

Larry Bird (1956) basketball player and coach

Dan Shaughnessy (September 7, 1997) "There'll Be No Bird Watching", Boston Globe, p. D1.

Roger Ebert photo

“I have always had my doubts about any form of divine intervention in sports contests. The power of prayer may be remarkable in many other arenas, but why should God want my team to win instead of the other side? Isn't it insulting to request God to even take an interest in baseball?”

Roger Ebert (1942–2013) American film critic, author, journalist, and TV presenter

Review http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/angels-in-the-outfield-1994 of Angels in the Outfield (15 July 1994)
Reviews, Two star reviews

Arnold Schwarzenegger photo
Ben Jonson photo
Charles Stross photo
John F. Kennedy photo
Fred Shero photo
Max Schmeling photo

“I received a letter from the Reich Ministry of Sports. They want me to split from Joe Jacobs, my manager since 1928…. I really need Joe Jacobs. I owe all my success in America to him.”

Max Schmeling (1905–2005) German boxer

To Adolf Hitler, 1935 http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/fight/peopleevents/p_jacobs.html

Keith Olbermann photo

“Without humor, a sports fan is a religious fanatic. Without humor, a newscast is a terrible, depressing, unpalatable thing.”

Keith Olbermann (1959) American sports and political commentator

" News duo thinking young http://deseretnews.com/dn/view/0%2C1249%2C565037325%2C00.html" by David Bauder, Deseretnews.com (2003-12-09)

Ian McDonald photo

“His theory of golf is, never play any sport that requires you to dress as your grandfather.”

Source: River of Gods (2006), Ch. 20 (p. 249).

John Ralston Saul photo
Stephen Leacock photo
John Milton photo
Roberto Clemente photo
Marshall McLuhan photo
Rob Enderle photo

“[I]t seems pretty clear why this class of product [Apple Watch] is languishing. … But, with products like the LG Watch Sport the market may finally be coming around to a winner.”

Rob Enderle (1954) American financial analyst

Why the Smartwatch May Finally Take Off; or Not http://techspective.net/2017/02/24/smartwatch-may-finally-take-off-not in TechSpective (24 February 2017)

Jack Kemp photo

“I think it is important for all those young out there, who someday hope to play real football, where you throw it and kick it and run with it and put it in your hands, a distinction should be made that football is democratic, capitalism, whereas soccer is a European socialist sport.”

Jack Kemp (1935–2009) American football player, quarterback, U.S. Congressman

In a 1988 speech to the United States Congress, quoted by himself at Townhall.com http://www.townhall.com/columnists/JackKemp/2006/06/19/what_i_really_think_about_soccer

Fyodor Tyutchev photo
Jahangir photo
Joe Frazier photo

“Boxing is the only sport you can get your brain shook, your money took and your name in the undertaker book.”

Joe Frazier (1944–2011) American boxer

Joe speaking on the great sport. http://www.gmanews.tv/pbr/article/212702/underdog-boxing-pumped-up-for-the-pacquiao-mosley-undercard-fights

Andrew Marvell photo
Calvin Coolidge photo
Floyd Mayweather Jr. photo

“Anything can happen in the sport of boxing.”

Floyd Mayweather Jr. (1977) American boxer

2010s, 2015, Interview with Jim Gray (September 2015)

Christie Brinkley photo

“Nutrition has always played a huge role in my life. I became a vegetarian when I was 13 and then got my entire family to become vegetarians. And I have always been active my whole life. I genuinely enjoy sports and I spend time on my total gym.”

Christie Brinkley (1954) American model

“Christie Brinkley Is 'Energized' About 2009”, interview with People (18 January 2009) http://people.com/celebrity/christie-brinkley-is-energized-about-2009/.

Ivan Goncharov photo
Matthew Lewis (writer) photo

“The worms, They crept in, and the worms, They crept out,
And sported his eyes and his temples about,
While the Spectre addressed Imogine.”

Page 315; "Alonzo the Brave, and Fair Imogine", line 59.
The Monk (1796)

Lewis Pugh photo

“I don’t know of any sport where the goalposts can shift the way they do with endurance swimming.”

Lewis Pugh (1969) Environmental campaigner, maritime lawyer and endurance swimmer

p 17
21 Yaks And A Speedo (2013)

François Andrieux photo

“Princes' sports are these:
A mill they'll spare: a province they will seize.”

François Andrieux (1759–1833) French man of letters and playwright

Ce sont là jeux de prince:
On respecte un moulin: on vole une province.
Le Meunier de Sans-Souci. (Ed. 1818, Vol. III., p. 208).
Translation reported in Harbottle's Dictionary of quotations French and Italian (1904), p. 24.

Francis Escudero photo
Derren Brown photo
Noam Chomsky photo

“… the stupefying effect spectator sports have in making people passive, atomized, obedient nonparticipants—nonquestioning, easily controlled and easily disciplined”

Noam Chomsky (1928) american linguist, philosopher and activist

"Sports" in How the World Works, p. 169
Quotes 1990s, 1990-1994, Secrets, Lies and Democracy, 1994

Joseph Strutt photo
John Milton photo

“Alas! what boots it with incessant care
To tend the homely slighted shepherd's trade,
And strictly meditate the thankless Muse?
Were it not better done as others use,
To sport with Amaryllis in the shade,
Or with the tangles of Neaera's hair?
Fame is the spur that the clear spirit doth raise
(That last infirmity of noble mind)
To scorn delights, and live laborious days;
But the fair guerdon when we hope to find,
And think to burst out into sudden blaze,
Comes the blind Fury with th' abhorrèd shears,
And slits the thin-spun life.”

Source: Lycidas (1637), Line 64; comparable to: "Erant quibus appetentior famæ videretur, quando etiam sapientibus cupido gloriae novissima exuitur" (Translated: "Some might consider him as too fond of fame, for the desire of glory clings even to the best of men longer than any other passion"), Tacitus, Historiae, iv. 6; said of Helvidius Priscus.

Carson Cistulli photo
Walter Wick photo

“I had so many other interests at the time: drawing, tinkering, building, inventing, games, sports, climbing trees. It took me through high school, and then college to settle on photography. But a half-century later, I'm still staging my shots.”

Walter Wick (1953) American photographer and creator of children's books

My First Roll Of Film http://www.walterwick.com/blog/2016/3/2/my-first-roll-of-film-1 (March 2, 2016)

Hope Solo photo
Sania Mirza photo

“I have a passion for playing tennis and enjoy the workload and struggles of performing in this amazing global sport.”

Sania Mirza (1986) Indian tennis player

In Zee News: Winning Grand Slams is Sania's motivation after London Games http://zeenews.india.com/sports/tennis/winning-grand-slams-is-sania-s-motivation-after-london-games_747629.html, Zee News, August 17, 2012,

Lewis Mumford photo
Georges St. Pierre photo
Wilhelm II, German Emperor photo
Quentin Tarantino photo

“To me, torture would be watching sports on television.”

Quentin Tarantino (1963) American film director, screenwriter, producer, and actor

Playboy interview (November 1994 issue) http://www.tarantino.info/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=305&Itemid=41.

Jacques Plante photo

“Hockey is an art. It requires speed, precision, and strength like other sports, but it also demands an extraordinary intelligence to develop a logical sequence of movements, a technique which is smooth, graceful and in rhythm with the rest of the game.”

Jacques Plante (1929–1986) Canadian ice hockey player

Quoted in Kevin Shea, "One on One with Jacques Plante," http://www.legendsofhockey.net/html/spot_oneononep197802.htm Legends of Hockey.net (2005-05-24)

Anton Chekhov photo
Herm Edwards photo
Derren Brown photo

“I am embarrassingly incompetent at football or any kind of team sport. I’m so bad it would anger you.”

Derren Brown (1971) British illusionist

TV Series and Specials (Includes DVDs), Trick of the Mind (2004–2006)

Bill Bryson photo
William Drummond of Hawthornden photo

“This Life, which seems so fair,
Is like a bubble blown up in the air
By sporting children's breath,
Who chase it every where”

William Drummond of Hawthornden (1585–1649) British writer

This Life, which seems so fair http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/this-life-which-seems-so-fair-2/

“Our society, it turns out, can use modern art. A restaurant, today, will order a mural by Míro in as easy and matter-of-fact a spirit as, twenty-five years ago, it would have ordered one by Maxfield Parrish. The president of a paint factory goes home, sits down by his fireplace—it looks like a chromium aquarium set into the wall by a wall-safe company that has branched out into interior decorating, but there is a log burning in it, he calls it a firelace, let’s call it a fireplace too—the president sits down, folds his hands on his stomach, and stares at two paintings by Jackson Pollock that he has hung on the wall opposite him. He feels at home with them; in fact, as he looks at them he not only feels at home, he feels as if he were back at the paint factory. And his children—if he has any—his children cry for Calder. He uses thoroughly advanced, wholly non-representational artists to design murals, posters, institutional advertisements: if we have the patience (or are given the opportuity) to wait until the West has declined a little longer, we shall all see the advertisements of Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner, and Smith illustrated by Jean Dubuffet.
This president’s minor executives may not be willing to hang a Kandinsky in the house, but they will wear one, if you make it into a sport shirt or a pair of swimming-trunks; and if you make it into a sofa, they will lie on it. They and their wives and children will sit on a porcupine, if you first exhibit it at the Museum of Modern Art and say that it is a chair. In fact, there is nothing, nothing in the whole world that someone won’t buy and sit in if you tell him it is a chair: the great new art form of our age, the one that will take anything we put in it, is the chair. If Hieronymus Bosch, if Christian Morgenstern, if the Marquis de Sade were living at this hour, what chairs they would be designing!”

Randall Jarrell (1914–1965) poet, critic, novelist, essayist

“The Taste of the Age”, pp. 19–20
A Sad Heart at the Supermarket: Essays & Fables (1962)

Wayne Pacelle photo

“If we could shut down all sport hunting in a moment, we would.”

Wayne Pacelle (1965) American activist

Wayne Pacelle, Impassioned Agitator http://www.huntersagainstpeta.com/the-president-of-the-hsus-wayne-pacelle-howls-about-wolves-being-delisted, Associated Press, December 30, 1991