“In 16th-century Italy there lived Lodovico Gonzaga, a 16-year old seminarist who was very fond of playing ball. Once a certain priest passing by wondered if for a future priest the youth was too keen on his pursuit and asked him:"What would you do if you learned that in half an hour the end of the world was coming?" To which Lodovico replied: "I'd play on." According to the Russian thinker Georgy Fedotov, the importance of culture lies in precisely that: we go on playing ball on the verge of Doomsday…”

Chromaticism, trans. Romela Kohanovskaya (1996, , Introduction, p. ix

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "In 16th-century Italy there lived Lodovico Gonzaga, a 16-year old seminarist who was very fond of playing ball. Once a …" by Vladimir Barsky?
Vladimir Barsky photo
Vladimir Barsky 1
Russian film director 1866–1936

Related quotes

P.G. Wodehouse photo
Bon Scott photo
Roberto Clemente photo

“Jackie, what is the matter with you? You did not lose this ball game. We all lost it. No one man loses any ball game. You remember that. You are a good ball player. We need you to play shortstop. Come now, get dressed, let's go out and have a steak.”

Roberto Clemente (1934–1972) Puerto Rican baseball player

English translation of pep talk given on August 21, 1971, after Hernandez' 6th-inning miscue—scored as a hit—had contributed significantly to Cincinnati's 6-3 come-from-behind victory over Pittsburgh http://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1971/B08210CIN1971.htm, as quoted in "Playing Games: Bad Day in Cincy" https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=iG8mAAAAIBAJ&sjid=Bm0DAAAAIBAJ&pg=5765%2C1664013&dq=clemente-began-talk-spanish by Charley Feeney, in The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (Tuesday, September 28, 1971), p. 23
Baseball-related, <big><big>1970s</big></big>, <big>1971</big>

“You don't ever get a chance to play what you really do; and if you do, you notice that you can't play, because you haven't been. And often I'd be asked to play like somebody else, like Joe Sample. I'd say, "I can't play like him. He's an original." I'd be asked to try and the producers would love it, but I'd feel rotten. Then one time I ran into Joe and he told me, "Man, I'm tired of people asking me to play like you."”

Clare Fischer (1928–2012) American keyboardist, composer, arranger, and bandleader

My jaw dropped. Then I found out this is a common practice.
On his years in the studio, playing on films, TV shows and jingles, as quoted in "He Arranges, Composes, Performs: Fischer, A Renaissance Man Of Music" http://articles.latimes.com/1987-05-14/entertainment/ca-8949_1_clare-fischer

Paul Scholes photo
Dutch Schultz photo

“You can play jacks, and girls do that with a soft ball and do tricks with it.”

Dutch Schultz (1902–1935) American mobster

From police transcripts of incoherent deathbed confession

Arsène Wenger photo

“The speed at which we moved the ball in small spaces and our quality was superb. We played the ball through needles and it was very difficult for Aston Villa.”

Arsène Wenger (1949) French footballer and manager

Aston Villa 1-2 Arsenal (1 December 2007) http://www.soccerway.com/news/2007/December/01/premiership-rivals-will-struggle-against-us-says-wenger/
Interviews

Thierry Henry photo
David Gilmour photo
Jon Stewart photo

“It's not that the Democrats are playing checkers and the Republicans are playing chess. It's that the Republicans are playing chess and the Democrats are in the nurse's office because once again they glued their balls to their thighs.”

Jon Stewart (1962) American political satirist, writer, television host, actor, media critic and stand-up comedian

Source: America (The Book): A Citizen's Guide to Democracy Inaction

Related topics