Quotes about medal

A collection of quotes on the topic of medal, people, gold, doing.

Quotes about medal

Jesse Owens photo

“It took a lot of courage for him to befriend me in front of Hitler… You can melt down all the medals and cups I have and they wouldn't be a plating on the 24-karat friendship I felt for Lutz Long at that moment.”

Jesse Owens (1913–1980) American track and field athlete

On the congratulations given by German athlete Lutz Long, a competitor in the long jump, who in some accounts he credited with giving him some friendly advice that helped him to win against him; as quoted in "Owens pierced a myth" by Larry Schwartz http://espn.go.com/sportscentury/features/00016393.html in ESPN SportsCentury (2005)
Context: It took a lot of courage for him to befriend me in front of Hitler... You can melt down all the medals and cups I have and they wouldn't be a plating on the 24-karat friendship I felt for Lutz Long at that moment. Hitler must have gone crazy watching us embrace. The sad part of the story is I never saw Long again. He was killed in World War II.

Paul Watson photo

“It's dangerous & humiliating. The whalers killed whales while green peace watched. Now, you don't walk by a child that is being abused, you don't walk by a kitten that is being kicked to death and do nothing. So I find it abhorrent to sit there and watch a whale being slaughtered and do nothing but "bear witness" as they call it. I think it was best illustrated a few years ago, the contradictions that we have, when a ranger in Zimbabwe shot and killed a poacher that was about to kill a black rhinoceros and uh human rights groups around the world said "how dare you? Take a human life to protect an animal". I think the rangers' answer to that really illustrated a hypocrisy. He said "Ya know, if I lived in, If I was a police officer in Herrari and a man ran out of Bark Place Bank with a bag of money and I shot him in the head in front of everybody and killed him, you'd pin a medal on me and call me a national hero. Why is that bag of paper more valued than the future heritage of this nation?" This is our values. WE fight, WE kill, WE risk our lives for things we believe in… Imagine going into Mecca, walk up to the black stone and spit on it. See how far you get. You’re not going to get very far. You’re going to be torn to pieces. Walk into Jerusalem, walk up to that wailing wall with a pick axe, start whacking away. See how far you’re going to get, somebody is going to put a bullet in your back. And everybody will say you deserved it. Walk into the Vatican with a hammer, start smashing a few statues. See how far you’re going to get. Not very far. But each and every day, ya know, people go into the most beautiful, most profoundly sacred cathedrals of this planet, the rainforests of the Amazonia, the redwood forests of California, the rainforests of Indonesia, and totally desecrate & destroy these cathedrals with bulldozers, chainsaws and how do we respond to that? Oh, we write a few letters and protest; we dress up in animal costumes with picket signs and jump up and down; but if the rainforests of Amazonia and redwoods of California, were as, or had as much value to us as a chunk of old meteorite in Mecca, a decrepit old wall in Jerusalem or a piece of old marble in the Vatican, we would literally rip those pieces limb from limb for the act of blasphemy that we’re committing but we won’t do that because nature is an abstraction, wilderness is an abstraction. It has no value in our anthropocentric world where the only thing we value is that which is created by humans.”

Paul Watson (1950) Canadian environmental activist
Muhammad Ali photo
Jesse Owens photo

“The battles that count aren't the ones for gold medals. The struggles within yourself — the invisible, inevitable battles inside all of us — that's where it's at.”

Jesse Owens (1913–1980) American track and field athlete

As quoted in Blackthink: My Life as Black Man and White Man https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/0688011632 (1970)
1970s

Pierre de Coubertin photo

“Winning medals wasn’t the point of the Olympics. It’s the participating that counts.”

Pierre de Coubertin (1863–1937) Founder of modern Olympic Games, pedagogue and historian

As quoted in "The Olympics — Where Are They Headed?", in 'Awake!' magazine (8 February 1977)

Warren Buffett photo

“I’ve worked in an economy that rewards someone who saves the lives of others on a battlefield with a medal, rewards a great teacher with thank-you notes from parents, but rewards those who can detect the mispricing of securities with sums reaching into the billions.”

Warren Buffett (1930) American business magnate, investor, and philanthropist

" My Philanthropic Pledge http://givingpledge.org/pdf/letters/Buffett_Letter.pdf" at the The Giving Pledge (2010)
Context: Some material things make my life more enjoyable; many, however, would not. I like having an expensive private plane, but owning a half-dozen homes would be a burden. Too often, a vast collection of possessions ends up possessing its owner. The asset I most value, aside from health, is interesting, diverse, and long-standing friends.
My wealth has come from a combination of living in America, some lucky genes, and compound interest. Both my children and I won what I call the ovarian lottery. (For starters, the odds against my 1930 birth taking place in the U. S. were at least 30 to 1. My being male and white also removed huge obstacles that a majority of Americans then faced.) My luck was accentuated by my living in a market system that sometimes produces distorted results, though overall it serves our country well. I’ve worked in an economy that rewards someone who saves the lives of others on a battlefield with a medal, rewards a great teacher with thank-you notes from parents, but rewards those who can detect the mispricing of securities with sums reaching into the billions. In short, fate’s distribution of long straws is wildly capricious.
The reaction of my family and me to our extraordinary good fortune is not guilt, but rather gratitude. Were we to use more than 1% of my claim checks on ourselves, neither our happiness nor our well-being would be enhanced. In contrast, that remaining 99% can have a huge effect on the health and welfare of others. That reality sets an obvious course for me and my family: Keep all we can conceivably need and distribute the rest to society, for its needs. My pledge starts us down that course.

Malcolm X photo

“Last but not least, I must say this concerning the great controversy over rifles and shotguns. The only thing that I’ve ever said is that in areas where the government has proven itself either unwilling or unable to defend the lives and the property of Negroes, it’s time for Negroes to defend themselves. Article number two of the constitutional amendments provides you and me the right to own a rifle or a shotgun. It is constitutionally legal to own a shotgun or a rifle. This doesn’t mean you’re going to get a rifle and form battalions and go out looking for white folks, although you’d be within your rights—I mean, you’d be justified; but that would be illegal and we don’t do anything illegal. If the white man doesn’t want the black man buying rifles and shotguns, then let the government do its job. […] If he’s not going to do his job in running the government and providing you and me with the protection that our taxes are supposed to be for, since he spends all those billions for his defense budget, he certainly can’t begrudge you and me spending $12 or $15 for a single-shot, or double-action. I hope you understand. Don’t go out shooting people, but any time—brothers and sisters, and especially the men in this audience; some of you wearing Congressional Medals of Honor, with shoulders this wide, chests this big, muscles that big—any time you and I sit around and read where they bomb a church and murder in cold blood, not some grownups, but four little girls while they were praying to the same God the white man taught them to pray to, and you and I see the government go down and can’t find who did it.”

Malcolm X (1925–1965) American human rights activist

The Ballot or the Bullet (1964), Speech in Cleveland, Ohio (April 3, 1964)

Abraham Lincoln photo

“!-- Your kind letter of the 25th ult., and the express package containing the bronze medal of -->Mr. Clay, during my whole political life, I have loved and revered as a teacher and leader.”

Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865) 16th President of the United States

Letter to Daniel Ullmann (1 February 1861); quoted in "Why Abraham Lincoln Was a Whig" by Daniel Walker Howe, The Journal of the Abraham Lincoln Association, Volume 16, Issue 1 (Winter 1995) http://quod.lib.umich.edu/j/jala/2629860.0016.105?view=text;rgn=main; also in We Have the War Upon Us: The Onset of the Civil War, November 1860-April 1861 (2013) by William J. Cooper, p. 72 http://books.google.com/books?id=meYLTCRlHaQC&pg=PA72&lpg=PA72&dq=Lincoln+%22I+have+loved+and+revered%22&source=bl&ots=A-QLTNlkSN&sig=F0MdGo6rkAVKc3tIQSs0Xp4AdSY&hl=en&sa=X&ei=fmpQUv22LpCi4APhj4HoDQ&ved=0CC8Q6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q=Lincoln%20%22I%20have%20loved%20and%20revered%22&f=false<!-- Random House LLC, Jun 4, 2013 -->
1860s

Jorge VI photo
Bertrand Russell photo

“I am writing to you to tell you of my decision to return to your Government the Carl von Ossietzsky medal for peace. I do so reluctantly and after two years of private approaches on behalf of Heinz Brandt, whose continued imprisonment is a barrier to coexistence, relaxation of tension and understanding between East and West… I regret not to have heard from you on this subject. I hope that you will yet find it possible to release Brandt through an amnesty which would be a boon to the cause of peace and to your country.”

Bertrand Russell (1872–1970) logician, one of the first analytic philosophers and political activist

Letter to Walter Ulbricht, January 7, 1964. Russell would later write, in his autobiography: "The abduction and imprisonment by the East Germans of Brandt, who had survived Hitler's concentration camps, seemed to me so inhuman that I was obliged to return to the East German Government the Carl von Ossietzky medal which it had awarded me. I was impressed by the speed with which Brandt was soon released".
1960s

Jesse Owens photo

“People say that it was degrading for an Olympic champion to run against a horse, but what was I supposed to do? I had four gold medals, but you can't eat four gold medals. There was no television, no big advertising, no endorsements then. Not for a black man, anyway.”

Jesse Owens (1913–1980) American track and field athlete

Interview (1971); also quoted in "Owens pierced a myth" by Larry Schwartz http://espn.go.com/sportscentury/features/00016393.html in ESPN SportsCentury
1970s

Jeremy Clarkson photo
Jesse Owens photo
Charles Spurgeon photo

“I am not superstitious, but the first time I saw this medal, bearing the venerated likeness of John Calvin, I kissed it, imagining that no one saw the action. I was very greatly surprised when I received this magnificent present, which shall be passed round for your inspection. On the one side is John Calvin with his visage worn by disease and deep thought, and on the other side is a verse fully applicable to him: ‘He endured, as seeing Him who is invisible.’
This sentence truly describes the character of that glorious man of God. Among all those who have been born of women, there has not risen a greater than John Calvin; no age, before him ever produced his equal, and no age afterwards has seen his rival. In theology, he stands alone, shining like a bright fixed star, while other leaders and teachers can only circle round him, at a great distance — as comets go streaming through space — with nothing like his glory or his permanence.”

Charles Spurgeon (1834–1892) British preacher, author, pastor and evangelist

The Autobiography of Charles H. Spurgeon, Compiled from His Diaries, Letters, and Records by His Wife and His Private Secretary, 1899, Fleming H. Revell, Vol. 2, (1854-1860), pp. 371-372. http://books.google.com/books?id=t3RAAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA371&dq=%22I+saw+this+medal,+bearing+the+venerated+likeness+of+John+Calvin,+I+kissed+it%22&hl=en&ei=JP4LTd-SMcX_lgf0--yzDA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CCMQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=%22I%20saw%20this%20medal%2C%20bearing%20the%20venerated%20likeness%20of%20John%20Calvin%2C%20I%20kissed%20it%22&f=false

Kristi Yamaguchi photo

“I’d never skated just to win a gold medal before; I’d never put that kind of pressure on myself.”

Kristi Yamaguchi (1971) American figure skater

"Kristi Yamaguchi, Unlaced" in Shondaland https://www.shondaland.com/inspire/a14436692/kristi-yamaguchi-interview/ (3 January 2018)

Paulo Coelho photo
Orson Scott Card photo
Paulo Coelho photo
Frank Miller photo

“My Sin City heroes are knights in dirty, blood-caked armor. They bring justice to a world that gives them no medals, no praise, no reward.”

Frank Miller (1957) American writer, artist, film director

"Frank Miller: I Stole From The Best!" COMICDOM interview (22 January 2006), edited by Dimitris Sakaridis http://www.comicdom.gr/interviews.php?id=17&lang=en
Context: My Sin City heroes are knights in dirty, blood-caked armor. They bring justice to a world that gives them no medals, no praise, no reward. That world, that city, often kills them for their brave service.

Hugh Laurie photo
Elbert Hubbard photo

“God will not look you over for medals, degrees or diplomas but for scars.”

Elbert Hubbard (1856–1915) American writer, publisher, artist, and philosopher fue el escritor del jarron azul
Joseph Heller photo
Leo Tolstoy photo
Sania Mirza photo
Gideon Mantell photo
Thomas Fuller (writer) photo
Bode Miller photo
Alexander Ovechkin photo

“All friends and relatives supported me. I do not know what to say. This is the victory for all Russians, for the whole country. We won the gold medal we were dreaming about. We deserved it.”

Alexander Ovechkin (1985) Russian ice hockey player

World News Connection (May 18, 2008) "Russian Forward Kovalchuk Says He Dreaming About This Victory", Moscow: Information Telegraph Agency of Russia.

Michael Grimm photo

“I risked my life. I came back and wore the ribbons and medals that my commanding officer told me to wear. And now you have the audacity to challenge me after serving this country? You sleep under a blanket of freedom that I helped provide. You should just say thank you.”

Michael Grimm (1970) American politician

To Michael Allegretti, Inside City Hall, NY1, (3 September 2010). http://www.wnyc.org/story/103786-mr-incredible-goes-washington-nycs-michael-grimm/
2010s

Indro Montanelli photo

“To go from the point that I didn’t imagine meeting these people to the point where someday I hold a medal myself — I just couldn’t imagine that this would come true.”

Caucher Birkar (1978) Kurdish mathematician

"An innovator who brings order to an infinitude of equations" Quanta Magazine (2018)

Arlo Guthrie photo
Sarah Silverman photo
African Spir photo
Michelle Kwan photo
Henry James photo
Kodo Sawaki photo
Cherie Priest photo
Benoît Mandelbrot photo
Miklós Horthy photo
Suze Robertson photo

“It is not so bad that my paintings have been placed in the so-called reading room [Amsterdam exhibition, probably Arti et Amicitiae at the Rokin? ]. But it will be just as you write, they will definitely have to serve for FW Jansen and others. They certainly must get the medals and have to show in a most favorable way... Are there many beautiful things exhibited or is everything rather mediocre? Is there something to see of Breitner and Bauer.”

Suze Robertson (1855–1922) Dutch painter

translation from original Dutch, Fons Heijnsbroek, 2018
(version in original Dutch / origineel citaat van Suze Robertson's brief:) Het valt me nog mee dat mijn schilderijen in de zoogenaamde leeszaal geplaatst zijn [tentoonstelling Amsterdam, waarschijnlijk nl:Arti et Amicitiae aan het Rokin?]. Maar het zal wel net zijn zoals je schrijft, ze zullen zeker dienst moeten doen voor FW Jansen en anderen. Die moeten zeker de medailles hebben en moeten op zijn gunstigst uitkomen.. ..Is er veel moois of is alles nogal middelmatig? Is er van Breitner nog iets en Bauer.
In a letter of Suze Robertson from Heeze, 11 Sept. 1904, to her husband Richard Bisschop; as cited in Suze Robertson 1855-1922 – Schilderes van het harde en zware leven, exhibition catalog, ed. Peter Thoben; Museum Kemperland, Eindhoven, 2008, p. 12
1900 - 1922

Pietro Aretino photo
Bruno Schulz photo
Bode Miller photo

“It is other people who want me to win medals.”

Bode Miller (1977) American alpine ski racer

Interview with Gazzetta dello Sport, 16 Feb. 2006 http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11385083/

Charles Babbage photo
Winston S. Churchill photo

“The object of presenting medals, stars, and ribbons is to give pride and pleasure to those who have deserved them. At the same time a distinction is something which everybody does not possess. If all have it it is of less value … A medal glitters, but it also casts a shadow.”

Speech in the House of Commons, March 22, 1944 "War Decorations" http://hansard.millbanksystems.com/commons/1944/mar/22/war-decorations-and-medals#column_872.
The Second World War (1939–1945)

Michelle Kwan photo
George S. Patton IV photo
John Constable photo
Roger Stone photo
Benito Mussolini photo

“Three-fourths of the Italian economy, industrial and agricultural, is in the hands of the state. And if I dare to introduce to Italy state capitalism or state socialism, which is the reverse side of the medal, I will have the necessary subjective and objective conditions to do it.”

Benito Mussolini (1883–1945) Duce and President of the Council of Ministers of Italy. Leader of the National Fascist Party and subsequen…

The Oxford Handbook of the Italian Economy Since Unification, by Gianni Toniolo, editor, Oxford University Press (2013) p. 59. Mussolini’s speech to the Chamber of Deputies on May 26, 1934.
1930s

Ai Weiwei photo

“Measuring national prestige by gold medals is like using Viagra to judge the potency of a man.”

Ai Weiwei (1957) Chinese concept artist

“ Gold Is Not the Real Measure of a Nation http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/aug/25/olympics2008.china,” Guardian, August 25, 2008.
2000-09, 2008

Russell Brand photo

“If that's a euphemism - an egg and spoon race, - I'm probably gold medal class.”

Russell Brand (1975) British comedian, actor, and author

Radio One Interview, July 5th 2007

Noel Gallagher photo

“If there were gold medals for taking drugs for England then I’d have won a shitload! I did enjoy it but it kind of got to the point where I’d done them all and that was it, there was none left and I just thought 'Can’t be arsed any more.”

Noel Gallagher (1967) British musician

Noel Gallagher cited in " Gallagher speaks about drug experiences http://www.digitalspy.com/article/ds39948.html" at digitalspy.com, 25 November 2006
Controversy with other artists

Ted Nugent photo

“Donald Trump should be given the Medal of Freedom for speaking his mind in such a bold, honest and straight-forward manner.”

Ted Nugent (1948) American rock musician

Give Trump the Medal of Freedom (August 7, 2015)
Source: https://www.factcheck.org/2018/09/shaq-didnt-call-trump-the-best-president/

Joseph Heller photo
Bode Miller photo

“The silver medals I won in Salt Lake City didn’t give me anything. Last year I set myself the goal of winning the World Cup and lining up a long series of wins. It was my private challenge.”

Bode Miller (1977) American alpine ski racer

Interview with Gazzetta dello Sport, 16 Feb. 2006 http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11385083/

Iain Banks photo

“On the July 12, 2005, edition of Fox News's The Big Story, host John Gibson said that White House deputy chief of staff Karl Rove should be given "a medal" for outing covert CIA operative Valerie Plame, adding that Plame "should have been outed by somebody."”

John Gibson (media host) (1946) American radio talk show host

Fox's Gibson: Rove deserves "a medal ... Because Valerie Plame should have been outed by somebody" http://mediamatters.org/items/200507130004

Brian W. Aldiss photo
Harry Turtledove photo

“Eisenhower climbed down from his jeep. Two unsmiling dogfaces with Tommy guns escorted him to a lectern in front of the church's steps. The sun glinted from the microphones on the lectern… and from the pentagon of stars on each of Ike's shoulder straps. "General of the Army" was a clumsy title, but it let him deal with field marshals on equal terms. He tapped a mike. Noise boomed out of speakers to either side of the lectern. Had some bright young American tech sergeant checked to make sure the fanatics didn't try to wire explosives to the microphone circuitry? Evidently, because nothing went kaboom. "Today it is our sad duty to pay our final respects to one of the great soldiers of the 20th century. General George Smith Patton was admired by his colleagues, revered by his troops, and feared by his foes," Ike said. If there were a medal for hypocrisy, he would have won it then. But you were supposed tp only speak well of the dead. Lou groped for the Latin phrase, but couldn't come up with it. "The fear our foes felt for General Patton is shown by the cowardly way they murdered him: from behind, with a weapon intended to take out tanks. They judged, and rightly, that George Patton was worth more to the U. S. Army than a Stuart or a Sherman or a Pershing," Eisenhower said. "Damn straight, muttered the man standing next to Lou. He wore a tanker's coveralls, so his opinion of tanks carried weight. Tears glinted in his eyes, which told all that needed telling if his opinion of Patton.”

Harry Turtledove (1949) American novelist, short story author, essayist, historian

Source: The Man With the Iron Heart (2008), p. 61-62

Gangubai Hangal photo
George S. Patton photo

“I don't know what you think you're trying to do, but the krauts ought to pin a medal on you for helping them mess up discipline for us.”

George S. Patton (1885–1945) United States Army general

During a March 1945 meeting with Bill Mauldin, complaining about his "Willy and Joe" cartoons; as quoted in The Brass Ring (1971) by Bill Mauldin

James K. Morrow photo
Scott McClellan photo
Daisy Ashford photo
Charles Bukowski photo
Samuel T. Cohen photo
Johan Cruyff photo
David Duke photo
Simon Armitage photo
George S. Patton IV photo
Charles Lyell photo
Hillary Clinton photo

“…freedom is never granted. It is earned by each generation… in the face of tyranny, cruelty, oppression, extremism, sometimes there is only one choice. When the world looks to America, America looks to you, and you never let her down… I have never lost faith in America's essential goodness and greatness… I have 35 years of experience, fighting for real change… the American people and our American military cannot want freedom and stability for the Iraqis more than they want it for themselves… we should have stayed focused on wiping out the Taliban and finding, killing, capturing bin Laden and his chief lieutenants… I also made a full commitment to martial American power, resources and values in the global fight against these terrorists. That begins with ensuring that America does have the world's strongest and smartest military force. We've begun to change tactics in Iraq, and in some areas, particularly in Al Anbar province, it's working… We can't be fighting the last war. We have to be preparing to fight the new war… We've got to be prepared to maintain the best fighting force in the world. I propose increasing the size of our Army by 80,000 soldiers, balancing the legacy systems with newer programs to help us keep our technological edge… I'm fighting for a Cold War medal for everyone who served our country during the Cold War, because you were on the front lines of battling communism. Well, now we're on the front lines of battling terrorism, extremism, and we have to win. Our commitment to freedom, to tolerance, to economic opportunity has inspired people around the world… American values are not just about America, but they speak to the human dignity, the God-given spark that resides in each and every person across the world… We are a good and great nation.”

Hillary Clinton (1947) American politician, senator, Secretary of State, First Lady

Remarks to the Veterans of Foreign Wars, Kansas City, Missouri, August 20, 2007 http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2007/08/21/clinton-iraq-tactics-wo_n_61272.html
Presidential campaign (January 20, 2007 – 2008)

Étienne de La Boétie photo

“We're all children. We invent the adult facade and don it and try to keep the buttons and the medals polished. We're all trying to give such a good imitation of being an adult that the real adults in the world won't catch on.”

John D. MacDonald (1916–1986) writer from the United States

Travis McGee series, A Tan and Sandy Silence (1972)
Context: We're all children. We invent the adult facade and don it and try to keep the buttons and the medals polished. We're all trying to give such a good imitation of being an adult that the real adults in the world won't catch on. Each of us takes up the shticks that compose the adult image we seek. I'd gone the route of lazy, ironic bravado, of amiable, unaffiliated insouciance. Tinhorn knights of a stumbling from Rent-A-Steed, maybe with one little area of the heart so pinched, so parched, I never dared let anything really lasting happen to me. Or dared admit the the flaw...
The adult you pretend to be convinces himself that the risk is worth the game, the game worth the risk. Tells himself the choice of life style could get him killed — on the Daytona track, in the bull ring, falling from the raw steel framework forty stories up, catching a rodeo hoof in the side of the head.
Adult pretenses are never a perfect fit for the child underneath, and when there is the presentiment of death, like a hard black light making panther eyes glow in the back of the cave, the cry is, "Mommy, mommy, mommy, it's so dark out there, so dark and so forever."

Maxwell D. Taylor photo

“Standing bareheaded at the foot of the reviewing stand, I received the last salute of these gallant soldiers, their ribbons and streamers recalling our battles together. They had put stars on my shoulders and medals on my chest. I owed my future to them, and I was grateful.”

Maxwell D. Taylor (1901–1987) United States general

Source: Swords and Plowshares (1972), p. 110-111
Context: My days in Europe with the 101st were nearly at an end. I suddenly received orders relieving me from the Division and assigning me as Superintendent of West Point. On August 22 I took an emotion-laden leave of my troops in a division review at Auxerre. For all their hard-boiled reputation, generals can be terribly sentimental about their units and their men. Standing bareheaded at the foot of the reviewing stand, I received the last salute of these gallant soldiers, their ribbons and streamers recalling our battles together. They had put stars on my shoulders and medals on my chest. I owed my future to them, and I was grateful.

William Morris photo

“Upon the floor uncounted medals lay
Like things of little value”

William Morris (1834–1896) author, designer, and craftsman

The Earthly Paradise (1868-70), The Lady of the Land
Context: Upon the floor uncounted medals lay
Like things of little value; here and there
Stood golden caldrons, that might well outweigh
The biggest midst an emperor's copper-ware,
And golden cups were set on tables fair,
Themselves of gold; and in all hollow things
Were stored great gems, worthy the crowns of kings.

Daniel Abraham photo
Uthradom Thirunal Marthanda Varma photo

“During his Bangalore days he was a motor enthusiastic who clocked 4 million miles in his Mercedes Benz 180 D.. During those days Mercedes used to honour drivers who crossed one-lakh miles and it had presented him with 10 medals.”

Uthradom Thirunal Marthanda Varma (1922–2013) Maharaja of Travancore

The New Indian Express, in “An Avid Shutterbug, Driving Enthusiast, Sanskrit Scholar (17 December 2013)”

Uthradom Thirunal Marthanda Varma photo

“Later, he graduated from the then Travancore University with specialization in Economics, Politics and History. The varsity honoured him with Moncombu Aandi Iyer Gold Medal for being the best student in Sanskrit.”

Uthradom Thirunal Marthanda Varma (1922–2013) Maharaja of Travancore

Sangeetha Seshagiri, in Marthanda Varma, Titular Head of Travancore Royal Family, Passes Away (16 December 2013) http://www.ibtimes.co.in/articles/530446/20131216/marthanda-varma-passes-away-travancore-royalfamily-sreepadmanabhaswamytemple.htm

Paul Scholes photo
Ferdinand Marcos photo
Suraj Sani photo

“A soldier will return as a hero either with a medal on his chest or a metal in his chest.”

Suraj Sani (1996) Nigerian writer, Spoken word artist

P. 52. https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/10937446-a-soldier-will-return-as-a-hero-either-with-a

Mwanandeke Kindembo photo
Tsakhiagiin Elbegdorj photo

“I made a very historic decision. Every month, we will give cash to our athletes for their lifetime if they get medals in the Olympic games.”

Tsakhiagiin Elbegdorj (1963) Mongolian politician

Source: "Mongolian President Talks Corruption And Human Rights" in The Harvard Crimson https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2012/9/24/mongolian-president-institute-politics/ (24 September 2012)

John Dalberg-Acton, 1st Baron Acton photo

“A time came when the Catholics, having long relied on force, were compelled to appeal to opinion. That which had been defiantly acknowledged and defended required to be ingeniously explained away. The same motive which had justified the murder now prompted the lie. Men shrank from the conviction that the rulers and restorers of their Church had been murderers and abetters of murder, and that so much infamy had been coupled with so much zeal. They feared to say that the most monstrous of crimes had been solemnly approved at Rome, lest they should devote the Papacy to the execration of mankind. A swarm of facts were invented to meet the difficulty: The victims were insignificant in number; they were slain for no reason connected with religion; the Pope believed in the existence of the plot; the plot was a reality; the medal is fictitious; the massacre was a feint concerted with the Protestants themselves; the Pope rejoiced only when he heard that it was over. These things were repeated so often that they have been sometimes believed; and men have fallen into this way of speaking whose sincerity was unimpeachable, and who were not shaken in their religion by the errors or the vices of Popes. Möhler was pre-eminently such a man. In his lectures on the history of the Church, which were published only last year, he said that the Catholics, as such, took no part in the massacre; that no cardinal, bishop, or priest shared in the councils that prepared it; that Charles informed the Pope that a conspiracy had been discovered; and that Gregory made his thanksgiving only because the King's life was saved. Such things will cease to be written when men perceive that truth is the only merit that gives dignity and worth to history.”

John Dalberg-Acton, 1st Baron Acton (1834–1902) British politician and historian

Source: 1860s, The Massacre Of St. Bartholomew (1869)

Sania Nehwal photo

“I am set to give my best. Yes, to win a medal for India in the Olympics is my dream. But I will go step by step; I will give my hundred percent and leave the rest to God.”

Sania Nehwal (1990) Indian badminton player

"Saina Nehwal Interview: Sportskeeda Exclusive" https://www.sportskeeda.com/badminton/saina-nehwal-interview-sportskeeda-exclusive (19 April 2012)

Sania Nehwal photo

“I am a professional athlete and pressure is a part of every professional sport. It will be a dream come true for me if I could defeat the Chinese on my way to a medal, so if there’s pressure, there’s also incentive.”

Sania Nehwal (1990) Indian badminton player

"Saina Nehwal Interview: Sportskeeda Exclusive" https://www.sportskeeda.com/badminton/saina-nehwal-interview-sportskeeda-exclusive (19 April 2012)

Beiwen Zhang photo

“I’ll be honest, I’m not really good like a top-five player. So of course, it also depends on the draw. If I’m lucky, I’ll get a good draw. I’m looking for a medal, not like gold medals.”

Beiwen Zhang (1990) badminton player

"Making Her Own Way, Beiwen Zhang Sets Her Course as Team USA’s Top Badminton Player" https://www.teamusa.org/News/2019/December/10/Making-Her-Own-Way-Beiwen-Zhang-Sets-Her-Course-As-Team-USAs-Top-Badminton-Player (10 December 2019)

Chen Ruolin photo

“Nowadays, many people are not focusing on gold medals, but sportsmanship, the positive energy in sportspeople.”

Chen Ruolin (1992) Chinese diver

"陈若琳:从“奥运五金王”到最年轻全国人大代表" http://zqb.cyol.com/html/2017-03/06/nw.D110000zgqnb_20170306_5-06.htm (6 March 2017)