Quotes about player (698 quotes) | Quotes of famous people

“I am more worried about being a good person than being the best football player in the world. When all this is over, what are you left with? ”

Lionel Messi (1987) Argentine association football player

World , Football , Personality

“Take off all the mask, manners, fancy clothes, all the devices you use and be the most honest person you can be with yourself, then whatever love you get then is real. All the false approaches, like trying to be a player, only bring false results…”

Jacque Fresco (1916–2017) American futurist and self-described social engineer

Clothes , Personality , Falseness , Love

“I studied Italian five hours a day for many months to ensure I could communicate with the players, media and fans. [Claudio] Ranieri had been in England for five years and still struggled to say ‘good morning’ and ‘good afternoon.”

José Mourinho (1963) Portuguese association football player and manager

http://www.goal.com/en/news/1716/champions-league/2009/02/23/1122426/italy-v-england-10-classic-jose-mourinho-quotes
Chelsea FC

Communication , Study

“I can’t believe how fast 20 years went by. I mean, this is crazy… To be standing here, standing on the court with my teammates behind me, and appreciate this journey that we’ve been along… I grew up a die heart—I mean it—a die heart Laker fan. Die heart. I mean, I knew everything about every players’ that had played here. So, to be drafted, and then traded to this organization, and to spend 20 years here, I mean, you can’t write something better than this… The thing that had me crackin’ me up all night long was, in fact, I go though 20 years of everybody screaming, ‘pass the ball!’ and I was like, ‘No passing!’ (laugh)… (I also have to thank) my family: my wife, Vanessa, my daughters, Natalia and Gianna. Thank you guys for your sacrifice… What can I say? Mamba Out!”

Kobe Bryant (1978–2020) American basketball player

A speech after Bryant's last game, 13 April 2016, posted on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eg0mxPXIpLY&t=5s.

Family , Night , Daughters , Heart

“Dr. Watson's summary list of Sherlock Holmes's strengths and weaknesses:

"1. Knowledge of Literature: Nil.
2. Knowledge of Philosophy: Nil.
3. Knowledge of Astronomy: Nil.
4. Knowledge of Politics: Feeble.
5. Knowledge of Botany: Variable. Well up in belladonna, opium, and poisons generally. Knows nothing of practical gardening.
6. Knowledge of Geology: Practical but limited. Tells at a glance different soils from each other. After walks has shown me splashes upon his trousers, and told me by their colour and consistence in what part of London he had received them.
7. Knowledge of Chemistry: Profound.
8. Knowledge of Anatomy: Accurate but unsystematic.
9. Knowledge of Sensational Literature: Immense. He appears to know every detail of every horror perpetrated in the century.
10. Plays the violin well.
11. Is an expert singlestick player, boxer, and swordsman.
12. Has a good practical knowledge of British law.”

Arthur Conan Doyle book A Study in Scarlet

Source: A Study in Scarlet

Law , Literature , Knowledge , Appearance

“I love it when you call me Big Poppa; throw your hands in the air if you's a true player.”

The Notorious B.I.G. (1972–1997) American rapper

Song lyrics, Ready to Die (1994), "Big Poppa"

Love

“I feel confident because I'm the best player in the world. It's that simple.”

LeBron James (1984) American basketball player

World , Self-confidence , Confidence , Feeling

“I once took a ride to the beach in L. A., and all along the shore there were all these so-called jazz places. And I saw these college guys and session players playing this fusion Muzak stuff. It was just a lot of notes, and the more notes they played, the more it kept them from expressing anything. So I came back home and got out my Zeppelin albums.”

Jeff Buckley (1966–1997) American singer, guitarist and songwriter

О музыке

Guy , Home

“Diego is Diego and for me he is the greatest player of all time. Even after a million years I am not even going to be close to Maradona. I have no intention of comparing myself with Maradona - I want to make my own history for something I have achieved.”

Lionel Messi (1987) Argentine association football player

Response to the Maradona comparisons, 2010 http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/players/lionel-messi/7527633/Barcelonas-Lionel-Messi-says-he-will-never-be-as-good-as-Diego-Maradona.html

History , Time

“Yo, this one here, goes out to all my players out there man, you know.”

Akon (1973) singer

Lonely
Song lyrics, Trouble (2004)

“A game that keeps a smile on the player's face is a wonderful thing. Nintendo's theme for 2006 will be "Create new fun". Spread the fun of games to everyone. To do this, we must return to the beginning, to recapture the essence that made people who enjoy games even now enjoy them in the first place.”

Shigeru Miyamoto (1952) Japanese video game designer and producer

Source: Famitsu

People , Smile , Game

“Can I jump over two or three guys like I used to? No. Am I as fast as I used to be? No, but I still have the fundamentals and smarts. That's what enables me to still be a dominant player. As a kid growing up, I never skipped steps. I always worked on fundamentals because I know athleticism is fleeting.”

Kobe Bryant (1978–2020) American basketball player

Guy

“You know as a player that you won’t have many opportunities to play in World Cups - so you have to take them when you can.”

Lionel Messi (1987) Argentine association football player

World

“More money means litigating, more player-hating. Got a cell at the pen, for me waiting. Is this my fate?”

Tupac Shakur (1971–1996) rapper and actor

"Hold Ya Head" https://play.google.com/music/preview/Te5ppuyfquh4t6lnlla3zs6w33e?lyrics=1&utm_source=google&utm_medium=search&utm_campaign=lyrics&pcampaignid=kp-lyrics
1990s, The Don Killuminati: The 7 Day Theory (1996)

Money , Hate , Fate , Waiting

“So it's gonna be forever
Or it's gonna go down in flames.
You can tell me when it's over
If the high was worth the pain.
Got a long list of ex-lovers,
They'll tell you I'm insane.
'Cause you know I love the players,
And you love the game.”

Taylor Swift (1989) American singer-songwriter

Blank Space
Song lyrics, 1989 (2014)

Love , Pain , Game , Lovers

“The men can go away, the executives can go away, but what is really though in this society are the players who has been handed down the feel of winning, of being the absolute best, which isn't equal to any other team.”

Gianluigi Buffon (1978) Italian association football player

Gianluigi Buffon, as quoted after Cagliari Calcio 2-3 Juventus FC. Stadio Sant'Elia di Cagliari, September 2, 2007]

Men , Feeling

“In your career you have a lot of good moments and bad ones. The important thing is to have enough motivation to keep working all the days with humility and trying to be a better player than before. I am going to try to continue doing this.”

Rafael Nadal (1986) Spanish tennis player

http://www.wimbledon.org/en_GB/news/articles/2010-06-19/201006191276967412350.html?promo=sl_toparticles

Motivation

“I prefer to win titles with the team ahead of individual awards or scoring more goals than anyone else. I'm more worried about being a good person than being the best football player in the world. When all this is over, what are you left with? When I retire, I hope I am remembered for being a decent guy.”

Lionel Messi (1987) Argentine association football player

Personality , Hope , World , Football

“He is very strong at defending, both on the ground and in the air. He is a complete player and has no faults. He is a modern defender because he is as strong defensively as many others, but has something more than the rest. When he has the ball, he knows what to do.”

Thiago Silva (1984) Brazilian footballer

Carlo Ancelotti (PSG), 2013 http://www.sambafoot.com/en/news/45256_psg_coach_carlo_ancelotti__thiago_silva_is_best_defender_in_the_world.html
From coaches and club directors

Strong

“I score so many goals, this means a lot. I know I will always be a little bit behind and I have to maybe work harder than those players for my country if we want to achieve something. It’s not an easy job for me, but I’m not afraid. I’m not afraid. It’s a big chance.”

Robert Lewandowski (1988) Polish association football player

Chance , Country

“You can have the nine greatest individual ball players in the world, but if they don't play together the club won't be worth a dime.”

Babe Ruth (1895–1948) American baseball player

"Chapter X," Babe Ruth's Own Book of Baseball (1928), p. 135; reprinted as "Babe Ruth's Own Story — Chapter X: Great Individual Stars Worth Little Without Team Play; Signs and How They Operate, https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=c0sbAAAAIBAJ&sjid=AUsEAAAAIBAJ&pg=4554%2C1154246 The Pittsburgh Press (January 18, 1929), p. 45
Context: Baseball always has been and always will be a game demanding team play. You can have the nine greatest individual ball players in the world, but if they don't play together the club won't be worth a dime.

World

“All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players.”

William Shakespeare As You Like It

Source: As You Like It

Birthday , For Men , Women , Men

“All the world's a stage,
And all the men and women merely players;
They have their exits and their entrances;
And one man in his time plays many parts,
His acts being seven ages.”

William Shakespeare As You Like It

Jaques, Act II, scene vii.
Variant: All the world's a stage,
And all the men and women merely players:
They have their exits and their entrances;
And one man in his time plays many parts.
Source: As You Like It (1599–1600)

For Men , Women , Men , Age

“When you can't cheat the game, you'd best find a means to cheat the players.”

Scott Lynch book Red Seas Under Red Skies

Source: Red Seas Under Red Skies

Game , Cheating

“Out, out, brief candle! Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player that struts and frets his hour upon the stage and is heard no more. It is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.”

William Shakespeare Macbeth

Source: Macbeth, Act V, scene v.
Context: Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow,
Creeps in this petty pace from day to day,
To the last syllable of recorded time;
And all our yesterdays have lighted fools
The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle!
Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage,
And then is heard no more. It is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing.

Life

“Players with fight never lose a game, they just run out of time”

John Wooden (1910–2010) American basketball coach

Game , Time , Fight

“There is then no analogy whatever between the operations of the Chess-Player, and those of the calculating machine of Mr. Babbage, and if we choose to call the former a pure machine we must be prepared to admit that it is, beyond all comparison, the most wonderful of the inventions of mankind.”

Edgar Allan Poe (1809–1849) American author, poet, editor and literary critic

Poe stating his arguments that Maelzel's Chess-Player was a hoax. Maelzel's Chess-Player http://www.eapoe.org/works/essays/maelzel.htm, Southern Literary Journal (April 1836).

“Thunder only happens when it's raining,
Players only love you when they're playing,
Say, women, they will come and they will go,
When the rain washes you clean you'll know.”

Stevie Nicks (1948) American singer and songwriter, member of Fleetwood Mac

Dreams
The Dance (Fleetwood Mac album) (1997), Rumours (1977)

Love , Women

“So, I first chose the name Wotanism over Odinism. First because W. O. T. A. N. makes a perfect acronym for the Will Of The Aryan Nation. Secondly because he was called Wotan on the European continent and only called Odin in Scandinavia. Therefore Wotan appeals to the genetic memory of more of our ancestors. And finally because a split had to be made with the game players, deceivers and universalists who had usurped the name Odin.”

David Lane (white nationalist) (1938–2007) American white supremacist, convicted felon

page ?
Wotanism (Odinism)

Game , Memory , Perfection

“There will be a player greater than me.”

Michael Jordan (1963) American retired professional basketball player and businessman

Michael Jordan to the Max http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0245280/ (Film, 2000)

“For me the most important thing has always been tennis, and that's what I want to get across the image I want to portray is a hard-working tennis player.”

Andy Murray (1987) British tennis player

Daily Mirror feature on Murray http://www.mirror.co.uk/topics/andy-murray/

“In chess so much depends on opening theory, so the champions before the last century did not know as much as I do and other players do about opening theory. So if you just brought them back from the dead they wouldn’t do well. They’d get bad openings. You cannot compare the playing strength, you can only talk about natural ability. Memorization is enormously powerful. Some kid of fourteen today, or even younger, could get an opening advantage against Capablanca, and especially against the players of the previous century, like Morphy and Steinitz. Maybe they would still be able to outplay the young kid of today. Or maybe not, because nowadays when you get the opening advantage not only do you get the opening advantage, you know how to play, they have so many examples of what to do from this position. It is really deadly, and that is why I don’t like chess any more.”

Bobby Fischer (1943–2008) American chess prodigy, chess player, and chess writer

Radio Interview, October 16 2006 http://www.geocities.jp/bobbby_b/mp3/F_35_3.MP3
2000s

Nature , Dependency , Dead

“The controls were anything but a hunch-player’s delight in a Universe composed of one-trillionth part matter to one decillion parts black velvet futility.”

Kurt Vonnegut book The Sirens of Titan

Epilogue “Reunion with Stony” (p. 303)
The Sirens of Titan (1959)

Universe , Parting

“If you have a love for the game of cricket, whether you are a player, an ex-player or simply an onlooker, many will be the pleasures in your life.”

Keith Andrew

The Pleasures of Cricket (1989), Introduction

Love , Life , Pleasure , Game

“I feel sorry for players who are always lying awake at night, brooding over their games.”

Magnus Carlsen (1990) Norwegian chess player

ChessBase.com - Magnus Carlsen on his chess career, 15 March 2010 http://www.chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=6187

Feeling , Game , Lying , Night

“We don't really feel our games have created a standard. I have no concern over others making similar games, it just shows that players wanted games that were like this, that are difficult, and wanted other studios to make challenging games that achieve the same level of satisfaction. We enjoy those games and their approach to creating them are never the same, anyway. We enjoy seeing the differences. We're totally fine with seeing more games come out that borrow aspects. Our main focus is keeping game creation fresh for ourselves.”

Hidetaka Miyazaki (1974) Japanese video game director

Dark Souls 3 Interview: "It Wouldn’t Be Right to Continue Creating Souls" https://www.gamespot.com/articles/dark-souls-3-interview-it-wouldnt-be-right-to-cont/1100-6432425/ (November 20, 2015)

Feeling , Game

“The happy-go-lucky barefoot kid who loved rugby, ice-cream-and-hot-chocolate sauce, staying at home for a braai and the flieks grew up into an international rubgy player, idol of millions and South African cult figure…”

Jani Allan (1952) South African columnist and broadcaster

Description of Naas Botha from her interview with Botha published in the Just Jani column of the Sunday Times, republished in Face Value by Jani Allan.
Sunday Times

Love , Home , Happiness

“They're all weak, all women. They're stupid compared to men. They shouldn't play chess, you know. They're like beginners. They lose every single game against a man. There isn't a woman player in the world I can't give knight-odds to and still beat.”

Bobby Fischer (1943–2008) American chess prodigy, chess player, and chess writer

1960s, Portrait of a Genius As a Young Chess Master (1961)

Women , Men , Stupidity , World

“But I keep cruising, can't stop, won't stop moving.
It's like I got this music in my body and it's gonna be alright.'Cause the players gonna play, play, play, play, play
And the haters gonna hate, hate, hate, hate, hate.
Baby, I'm just gonna shake, shake, shake, shake, shake,
I shake it off, I shake it off.
Heartbreakers gonna break, break, break, break, break
And the fakers gonna fake, fake, fake, fake, fake.
Baby, I'm just gonna shake, shake, shake, shake, shake,
I shake it off, I shake it off.”

Taylor Swift (1989) American singer-songwriter

Shake It Off, written by Taylor Swift, Max Martin, and Shellback
Song lyrics, 1989 (2014)

Hate , Music , Baby

“One highlight I have was playing with all the great players in Montreal. They were not only great players but they were great people. If you look around, a lot of these guys are still in the game. Not only have they been successful with the Montreal Canadiens, but they've helped a lot of other organizations.”

Steve Shutt (1952) ice hockey player

Quoted in Kevin Shea, "One on One with Steve Shutt," http://www.legendsofhockey.net/html/spot_oneononep199303.htm Legends of Hockey.net (2004-01-10)
Shutt comments on playing with players like Ken Dryden, Bob Gainey, Jacques Lemaire, Larry Robinson, Serge Savard, Rejean Houle and Mario Tremblay.

People , Guy , Game , Success

“In human life, you will find players of religion until the knowledge and proficiency in religion will be cleansed from all superstitions, and will be purified and perfected by the enlightenment of real science.”

Mustafa Kemal Atatürk (1881–1938) Turkish army officer, revolutionary, and the first President of Turkey

Speech (October 1927); quoted in Atatürk’ten Düşünceler by E. Z. Karal, p. 59

Life , Religion , Knowledge , Science

“My first teachers were street players, guys who would hustle you, get in your head, break you down mentally before they did it over the board.”

Josh Waitzkin (1976) Chess player

Sonshi interview

Guy , Teachers

“I don’t see anyone better than me. No player does things that I cannot do myself, but I see things others can’t do. There’s no more complete player than me. I’m the best player in history — in the good and the bad moments.”

Cristiano Ronaldo (1985) Portuguese association football player

[Dev, Sarthak, Football Paradise, The Ballon d’Or: It’s time football stopped trying to be Hollywood, 15 December 2017, 4 February 2018, https://www.footballparadise.com/ballon-dor/]
In the wake of winning his fifth Ballon d’Or in December 2017.

History

“I firmly believe that the primary role of the tabla is saath-sangat. Which is why I enjoy being on stage with Shivji (Pt Shivkumar Sharma), Amjadbhai (Amjad Ali Khan) or Birju Maharaj. I look forward to these concerts. Unlike a solo concert where I am my own boss, here I have to strike a dialogue in the music-making process. This enriches and makes me a better musician and tabla player.”

Zakir Hussain (musician) (1951) Indian tabla player, musical producer, film actor and composer

Quote, I've never wanted to fit in Abbaji's shoes: Ustad Zakir Hussain

Music

“Van Gaal has a good vision on football. But it's not mine. He wants to gel winning teams and has a militaristic way of working with his tactics. I don't. I want individuals to think for themselves and take the decision on the pitch that is best for the situation… I don't have anything against computers, but you judge football players intuitively and with your heart.”

Johan Cruyff (1947–2016) Dutch association football player

reported in Maarten Meijer (2014). Louis van Gaal: The Biography.

Way , Thinking , Decision , Heart

“Players and painted stage took all my love,
And not those things that they were emblems of.”

W.B. Yeats (1865–1939) Irish poet and playwright

The Circus Animals' Desertion http://poetry.poetryx.com/poems/1603/, II, st. 3.
Last Poems (1936-1939)

Love , Painting

“I'd have played against him (Len Bias) for the next 14 years. I would have been in my prime and he would have been in his. I'll never forget what he looked like. He was a 'Wow!' player. When Maryland played and was on television, I watched. It was like, 'I need to watch this guy; I'll be seeing him real soon.'… It was just shocking. Thing is, cocaine was huge then. My brother had been in and out of rehab a few times…. It was a popular drug at the time. And guys I was playing against, like John Lucas and Michael Ray Richardson and John Drew had done cocaine. I was thinking: 'What the hell is up with this cocaine? I should try this once to see what it was all about.' Then, we heard the reports were that Bias only used it once… that it was his first time. When I heard that, it scared me to death… scared the daylights out of me. It scared me into not trying it even once, not going anywhere near it.”

Charles Barkley (1963) American basketball player

Asked to comment on the 20th anniversary of the cocaine-overdose death of Len Bias,

Death , Guy , Hell , Thinking

“If a player in the game of Deadman's Catch drops a skittle, he is obliged to suffer a succession of handicaps. First to catch using one hand, then to catch kneeling on one knee, then on two knees, then with one eye closed. If a player finally drops a catch with both eyes closed, then he is out and must take his place in the winding-sheet.”

Peter Greenaway (1942) British film director

Drowning By Numbers

Game , Suffering , Success

“You can have the best skill in the world, but he has lots of will and that’s why he’s great. You look at the great young players around the league, including our players that we have here, and it’s their will. That’s what separates great players from medium players.”

Alexander Ovechkin (1985) Russian ice hockey player

Denis Savard, interview in Tim Sassone (October 11, 2008) "Can Hawks close gaps on Ovechkin?", Daily Herald (Arlington Heights, Illinois), p. 4.
About

World

“Reductio ad absurdum, which Euclid loved so much, is one of a mathematician's finest weapons. It is a far finer gambit than any chess play: a chess player may offer the sacrifice of a pawn or even a piece, but a mathematician offers the game.”

G. H. Hardy book A Mathematician's Apology

A Mathematician's Apology (1941)

Love , Game

“International specialization and division of labor requires institutions and organizations to safeguard property rights across international boundaries so that capital markets as well as other kinds of exchange can take place with credible commitment on the part of the players.”

Douglass C. North (1920–2015) American Economist

Source: Institutions (1990), p. 121

Parting

“Between the daylight gambler and the player at night there is the same difference that lies between a careless husband and the lover swooning under his lady’s window.”

Honoré de Balzac (1799–1850) French writer

Entre le joueur du matin et le joueur du soir il existe la différence qui distingue le mari nonchalant de l'amant pâmé sous les fenêtres de sa belle.
The Wild Ass’s Skin (1831), Part I: The Talisman

Lovers , Night

“The best chess-player in Christendom may be little more than the best player of chess; but proficiency in whist implies capacity for success in all these more important undertakings where mind struggles with mind.”

Edgar Allan Poe book The Murders in the Rue Morgue

"The Murders in the Rue Morgue" (1841).

Success

“We would have only lost if there were six Inter players left on the pitch.”

José Mourinho (1963) Portuguese association football player and manager

http://www.goal.com/en-gb/news/3277/la-liga/2011/04/17/2445365/mourinhos-top-10-how-joses-sides-excel-with-a-man-down
2011

“To borrow a simile from the football field, we believe that men must play fair, but that there must be no shirking, and that the success can only come to the player who hits the line hard.”

Theodore Roosevelt (1858–1919) American politician, 26th president of the United States

Sagamore Hill, Oyster Bay, NY http://www.trsite.org/content/pages/speaking-loudly (October 1897)
1890s

Men , Success , Football

“I follow the old chess, I follow all the pre-arranged matches, like the last Kramnik-Kasparov match. At the highest level it is all pre-arranged, move by move. You have very interesting, beautiful pre-arranged games being created by very intelligent players, working with computers, working in teams. I have no objections to people creating such games, but they must say these are pre-arranged games, but they must not claim that they are finding the moves over the board.”

Bobby Fischer (1943–2008) American chess prodigy, chess player, and chess writer

Radio Interview, January 27 2002 http://en.chessbase.com/post/i-m-finished-with-the-old-che-it-s-rotten-to-the-core-
2000s

People , Beauty , Game , Intelligence

“I think the way that you develop your own sound is you go through a process by which you imitate people sometimes very closely. With me, I would mimic people to the note. And then I think you form a collage of all these different players that you imitate, that you learn, and you form your own recipe. I think anybody that has an originality to them, it came from a pool of taking stuff from their predecessors.”

Eric Johnson

"Eric Johnson's Guitar Gets to Austin's Roots" at NPR (13 August 2005) http://www.wbur.org/npr/4795689&ft=3&f=15403510

People , Way , Thinking , Learning

“I don't know any franchise players that come off the bench. I don't know any Olympian that comes off the bench. I don't know any All-Star that comes off the bench. I don't know any former MVP that comes off the bench. I don't know any three-time scoring champion that comes off the bench. I don't know any first team All-NBA (player) that comes off the bench. Why Allen Iverson?”

Allen Iverson (1975) American basketball player

Clip from YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3h00oBDCODs
Allen Iverson's reaction to being benched by Sixers coach Chris Ford in April 2004.

Star , Time

“Ukraine can become a successful country and a major player on the political stage if we start heeding the voices of the people.”

Vasyl Slipak (1974–2016) Ukrainian opera singer

Ukrainian opera singer Vasyl Slipak killed by sniper // The Washington Post. — 2016. — July 2. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2016/07/01/famous-ukrainian-opera-singer-vasyl-slipak-killed-by-sniper-in-eastern-ukraine/

People , Success , Country

“I was sitting alone in an empty locker room, left leg injured. I need to prove my worth when the opportunity is given. I look at my leg, powerless, and wonder why I had to get hurt in this moment. Then, Coach Hiddink appears out of nowhere with an interpretor and speaks to me in English. Not understanding, I stare at the interpretor. He says you have great mentality. With that kind of mental strength, you will become a great player. I was shocked. Before I could murmur the easy 'thank you' in English, he was gone. My heart was pounding. The coach always seemed to be so far away, but he came to me and told me I have great mentality. Somewhere inside, energy was rousing up…. mentality. I have nothing else to boast, but one thing I could do is to never give up. I will endure all hardships, even if I would die from it. And I will keep this mentality…. in the entire World Cup, I played with those words ringing in my ears. With my mentality, I can become a great player. I kicked the ball and ran around the field clinging on to those words. For better or for worse, I am calm and quiet, so not many people take notice of me. But I was sure that Coach Hiddink would be looking at me and urging me to move on. This gave me courage. If it was not for Coach Hiddink, I would not be where I am now. With the words 'where I am now,' I am not referring to me becoming famous or being able to purchase a spacious condo for my parents. I am referring to the fact that I learned to love myself more. Within a minute, what Coach Hiddink said to me changed my life forever. I feel a bit shy thinking about what he would think after reading this, but he is my 'master' and I owe him everything and I won't be able to repay it in my lifetime.”

Park Ji-sung (1981) South Korean footballer

From Park's autobiography, praising the efforts of Guus Hiddink.

Love , Life , People , World

“Morphy and Capablanca had enormous talent, they are two of my favorites. Steinitz was very great too. Alekhine was great, but I am not a big fan of his. Maybe it’s just my taste. I’ve studied his games a lot, but I much prefer Capablanca and Morphy. Alekhine had a rather heavy style, Capablanca was much more brilliant and talented, he had a real light touch. Everyone I’ve spoken to who saw Capablanca play still speak of him with awe. If you showed him any position he would instantly tell you the right move. When I used to go to the Manhattan Chess Club back in the fifties, I met a lot of old-timers there who knew Capablanca, because he used to come around to the Manhattan club in the forties – before he died in the early forties. They spoke about Capablanca with awe. I have never seen people speak about any chess player like that, before or since. Capablanca really was fantastic. But even he had his weaknesses, especially when you play over his games with his notes he would make idiotic statements like 'I played the rest of the game perfectly.”

Bobby Fischer (1943–2008) American chess prodigy, chess player, and chess writer

But then you play through the moves and it is not true at all. But the thing that was great about Capablanca was that he really spoke his mind, he said what he believed was true, he said what he felt.
Radio Interview, October 16 2006 http://www.geocities.jp/bobbby_b/mp3/F_35_3.MP3

People , Game , Study , Light

“Regarding social order, Fukuyama writes, "The systematic study of how order, and thus social capital, can emerge in spontaneous and decentralized fashion is one of the most important intellectual developments of the late twentieth century." He correctly attributes the modern origins of this argument to F. A. Hayek, whose pioneering contributions to cognitive science, the study of cultural evolution, and the dynamics of social change put him in the forefront of the most creative scholars of the 20th century. But Hayek's views about the "spontaneity" of social order remain controversial. In their extreme form, they imply that all deliberate efforts to manipulate social order — social engineering — are doomed to failure because the complex nature of our cultural heritage makes a complete understanding of the human condition impossible.
Hayek was certainly correct that we have, at best, a very imperfect understanding of the human landscape, but "spontaneous" it is not. What distinguishes human evolution from the Darwinian model is the intentionality of the players. The mechanism of variation in evolutionary theory (mutation) is not informed by beliefs about eventual consequences. In contrast, human evolution is guided by the perceptions of the players; their choices (decisions) are made in the light of the theories the actors have, which provide expectations about outcomes.”

Douglass C. North (1920–2015) American Economist

Douglass North in "Orders of the Day" in Reason (November 1999) http://reason.com/archives/1999/11/01/orders-of-the-day, a review of The Great Disruption : Human Nature and the Reconstruction of Social Order (1999) by Francis Fukuyama

Fashion , Failure , Understanding , Nature

“Even now as a manager, when I suffer a loss it still feels like a first loss, the first I suffered as a player. And when I win, it is like my first win, too. This is me, this is my personality, it is who I am and will always be.”

Diego Maradona (1960) Argentine association football player

Daily Mail interview

Feeling , Suffering , Loss , Personality

“Why were so many Americans treated by their government as though their lives were as disposable as paper facial tissues? Because that was the way authors customarily treated bit-part players in their madeup tales.”

Kurt Vonnegut book Breakfast of Champions

Breakfast of Champions (1973)
Context: I thought Beatrice Keedsler had joined hands with other old-fashioned storytellers to make people believe that life had leading characters, minor characters, significant details, insignificant details, that it had lessons to be learned, tests to be passed, and a beginning, a middle, and an end.
As I approached my fiftieth birthday, I had become more and more enraged and mystified by the idiot decisions made by my countrymen. And then I had come suddenly to pity them, for I understood how innocent and natural it was for them to behave so abominably, and with such abominable results: They were doing their best to live like people invented in story books. This was the reason Americans shot each other so often: It was a convenient literary device for ending short stories and books.
Why were so many Americans treated by their government as though their lives were as disposable as paper facial tissues? Because that was the way authors customarily treated bit-part players in their madeup tales.
And so on.
Once I understood what was making America such a dangerous, unhappy nation of people who had nothing to do with real life, I resolved to shun storytelling. I would write about life. Every person would be exactly as important as any other. All facts would also be given equal weightiness. Nothing would be left out. Let others bring order to chaos. I would bring chaos to order, instead, which I think I have done.
If all writers would do that, then perhaps citizens not in the literary trades will understand that there is no order in the world around us, that we must adapt ourselves to the requirements of chaos instead.
It is hard to adapt to chaos, but it can be done. I am living proof of that: It can be done.

Way , Parting

“A great player is a player who can do everything on the field. He can do assists, encourage his colleagues, give them confidence to go forward. It is someone who, when a team does not do well, becomes one of the leaders.”

Pelé (1940–2022) Brazilian association football player

Self-confidence , Confidence

“Great teams are not made up of many well-rounded players. Great teams are made up of a variety of players, each having their own strengths.”

Pelé (1940–2022) Brazilian association football player

“The day you think there is no improvements to be made is a sad one for any player.”

Lionel Messi (1987) Argentine association football player

Sadness , Thinking

“One of the Arsenal players came up to me afterwards and said it had been an honor to be on the same pitch as me. I thought, My God, that is a great thing to say when your team has just lost.”

Lionel Messi (1987) Argentine association football player

God

“I think a band by its very nature is only as good as the chemistry between the players. None of us in rock bands, or whatever kind of bands we’re in, are virtuosos, otherwise we’d be concert pianists. So the only thing you have in your favor as a band is your unique chemistry.”

Chris Martin (1977) musician, co-founder of Coldplay

http://www.stopcryingyourheartout.co.uk/2015/11/chris-martin-on-oasis-and-working-with.html?m=1 source

Thinking , Nature

“One of the things that was crucial for me I got from Rory Gallagher, which was the idea of, like, being a guitar player for life and living it.”

Rory Gallagher (1948–1995) Blues rock musician from Ireland

Johnny Marr (The Smiths), UK Guitarist 265: The Rory Gallagher Story, BBC Radio 2
About Gallagher

Idea , Life

“How wonderful it is to celebrate a 27 years career! When you moved from basket ball to music, the world of sports lost a great player, but music won a great singer. You transmit good vibrations, a wonderful energy on the stage.”

Simone Bittencourt de Oliveira (1949) Brazilian singer

Hebe Camargo

World , Music , Sport

“An excellent player, in my opinion, he is a modern player because he is a player who runs, marks, knows how to pass, cross, score goals and he is a leader on the field for Liverpool. So he is a player that I would like to have in my team.”

Steven Gerrard (1980) English footballer

Kaka on Steven Gerrard http://uk.reuters.com/article/2007/05/15/uk-soccer-champions-kaka-idUKL1540342020070515, (May 2006)

“You claim to be a player, but I fucked your wife.”

Tupac Shakur (1971–1996) rapper and actor

1990s, "Hit 'Em Up" (1996)

“A good poet is of no more use to his country than a good petanque player.”

Paul Valéry (1871–1945) French poet, essayist, and philosopher

Source: Unsourced

Country

“I think when you become a parent you go from being a star in the movie of your own life to the supporting player in the movie of someone else's.”

Craig Ferguson (1962) Scottish-born American television host, stand-up comedian, writer, actor, director, author, producer and voice a…

Source: American on Purpose: The Improbable Adventures of an Unlikely Patriot

Life , Star , Support , Thinking

“Oh, ‘twould be marvelous if the world and its moral questions were like some game board, with plain black players and white, and fixed rules, and nary a shade of grey.”

Glen Cook book Shadows Linger

Source: Shadows Linger (1984), Chapter 33, “Juniper: The Encounter” (p. 367)

World , Game , Question

“Government has three primary functions. It should provide for military defense of the nation. It should enforce contracts between individuals. It should protect citizens from crimes against themselves or their property. When government-- in pursuit of good intentions tries to rearrange the economy, legislate morality, or help special interests, the cost come in inefficiency, lack of motivation, and loss of freedom. Government should be a referee, not an active player.”

Milton Friedman (1912–2006) American economist, statistician, and writer

Motivation , Freedom , Loss , Help

“Isn't it strange how upset people get about a few dozen baseball players taking growth hormones, when we're doing what were doing to our food animals and feeding them to our children?”

Jonathan Safran Foer book Eating Animals

Source: Eating Animals

Children , People , Food , Animals

“Baseball players are smarter than football players. How often do you see a baseball team penalized for too many men on the field?”

Jim Bouton (1939–2019) American baseball player, writer

Men , Football

“Ralph… would treat the day's decisions as though he were playing chess. The only trouble was that he would never be a very good chess player.”

William Golding book Lord of the Flies

Source: Lord of the Flies

Decision

“To be a princess is to play at life. To be a queen is to be a serious player… The purpose of life as a woman is to ascend to the throne and rule with heart.”

Marianne Williamson (1952) American writer

Life , Heart , Princess

“Rafe didn't just flirt-he charmed girls right up to the point where they fell for him, then he changed his mind. I called him a player with attention deficit disorder.”

Kelley Armstrong The Gathering

Source: The Gathering

Girl , Change

“My choice early in life was either to be a piano-player in a whorehouse or a politician. And to tell the truth there's hardly any difference.”

Harry Truman (1884–1972) American politician, 33rd president of the United States (in office from 1945 to 1953)

As quoted in Esquire, Vol. 76 (1971), also in Truman's Crises : A Political Biography of Harry S. Truman (1980) by Harold Foote Gosnell, p. 9; sometimes paraphrased: Being a politician is like being a piano player in a whorehouse.

Life , Truth

“Games are won by players who focus on the playing field –- not by those whose eyes are glued to the scoreboard.”

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

Game

“You were designed to be very smart, Max,' she told me. 'We electrically stimulated your synaptic nerve endings while your brain was developing.' (The director)
And yet I still can't program my DVD player,' I said." (Max)”

James Patterson (1947) American author

“Mistakes are part of the game. It's how well you recover from them, that's the mark of a great player.”

Alice Cooper (1948) American rock singer, songwriter and musician

On the game of Golf in an interview with Nick Harper http://sport.guardian.co.uk/news/story/0,,1093850,00.html in The Guardian (28 November 2003).

Game , Parting

“The first thing the average white Latin American player does when he comes to the States is associate with other whites. He doesn't want to be seen with Latin Negroes, even from his own country, because he's afraid people might think he's colored.”

Roberto Clemente (1934–1972) Puerto Rican baseball player

As quoted in “Roberto Clementeː Pounder from Puerto Rico” by John Devaney, in Baseball Stars of 1964 (1964), edited by Ray Robinson, p. 150
Other, <big><big>1960s</big></big>, <big>1964</big>

People , Color , Thinking , Country

“Darrall Imhoff, who as a 6-foot-10 rookie center for the New York Knicks had the misfortune of guarding Chamberlain during his 100-point game in 1962, said, "I spent 12 years in his armpits, and I always carried that 100-point game on my shoulders. "After I got my third foul, I said to one of the officials, Willy Smith, 'Why don't you just give him 100 points and we'll all go home?' Well, we did." Two nights later, at Madison Square Garden, Chamberlain tried to go for the century mark again. But Imhoff 'held' him to 54 points. The fans gave Imhoff a standing ovation. "He was an amazing, strong man," Imhoff said. "I always said the greatest record he ever held wasn't 100 points, but his 55 rebounds against Bill Russell. Those two players changed the whole game of basketball. The game just took an entire step up to the next level."”

Wilt Chamberlain (1936–1999) basketball player

Scoring

Home , Game , Strong , Change

“There are certain guys that are band players and there's certain guys that ain't. If there's anybody lazier than me, it's Eric (Clapton).”

Keith Richards (1943) British rock musician, member of The Rolling Stones

Mojo magazine; reported in " In quotes: Keith Richards http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/6526133.stm", BBC (April 4, 2007).

Guy

“I've always been a team player, that's all. One for all and all for one.”

Alfredo Di Stéfano (1926–2014) Argentine association football player

The Guardian interview (2008)

“Roger: I was super, crazy little! Yeah, like my dad's a guitar player and my uncle was in bands when I was growing up. I sat behind a drum set when I was like six years old. I started taking piano lessons when I was like nine. So, like I've been around music my whole, entire, entire life.”

Roger Manganelli (1973) American musician

Life , Music

““All life is theatre,” he said. “We are all actors, you and I, in a play which nobody wrote and which nobody will see. We have no audience but ourselves….” He laughed gently. “Some players would say that is the best kind of theatre there can be.””

Susan Cooper (1935) English fantasy writer

Source: The Dark Is Rising (1965-1977), Silver on the Tree (1977), Chapter 9 “The City” (p. 139)

Life

“My greatest satisfaction comes from helping to erase the old opinion about Latin American and black ballplayers. People had the wrong opinion. They never questioned our ability but they considered us inferior in our station of life. Simply because many of us were poor, we were thought to be low class. Even our integrity was questioned. I don't blame the fans for that; I blame the writers. They made it look like we were something different entirely from the white players. We're not. We're the same.”

Roberto Clemente (1934–1972) Puerto Rican baseball player

As quoted in "Sports Parade"
Other, <big><big>1970s</big></big>, <big>1971</big>

Life , People , Question , Help

“He can become the best player in the Premiership.”

Thierry Henry (1977) French association football player

Arsene Wenger Arsenal's Homepage http://www.arsenal.com
About

“We don't believe it's possible to protect digital content … What's new is this amazingly efficient distribution system for stolen property called the Internet — and no one's gonna shut down the Internet. And it only takes one stolen copy to be on the Internet. And the way we expressed it to them is: Pick one lock — open every door. It only takes one person to pick a lock. Worst case: Somebody just takes the analog outputs of their CD player and rerecords it — puts it on the Internet. You'll never stop that. So what you have to do is compete with it.”

Steve Jobs (1955–2011) American entrepreneur and co-founder of Apple Inc.

As quoted in "Steve Jobs: The Rolling Stone Interview" in Rolling Stone (3 December 2003) http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/_/id/5939600
2000s

Way , Personality

“The only people who criticize me are writers. You say, maybe I no team player. Did a player ever come to you and say I no team player? Who say that? The writers, right. I win four batting championships. Why I no team player? I kill myself in the outfield. You say, I no team player. You never see me loaf on the field. I break my back. Even Harry Walker tell me: "Roberto, why you want to break your back? Look at the other fellows. Take it easy." Super stars, my foot. They say Mickey Mantle is a super star. He's limping. They say poor Mickey. I play with four stitches in my foot and nobody knows about it. […] The fans are good to me. Only the writers are bad."”

Roberto Clemente (1934–1972) Puerto Rican baseball player

As quoted in "Clemente Back, Lashes Out at Writers; Buc Explodes Over 'Team Player' Image" https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=LJxRAAAAIBAJ&sjid=02wDAAAAIBAJ&pg=7083%2C4907609 by Charley Feeney, in The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (Monday, March 31, 1969), p. 29
Baseball-related, <big><big>1960s</big></big>, <big>1969</big>

People , Star

“Mnemonists, people with freakish memories and no other virtues, were capable of playing dazzling games, dismaying and confusing the other participants by their rapid muster of countless ideas. In the course of time such displays of virtuosity fell more and more under a strict ban, and contemplation became a highly important component of the Game. Ultimately, for the audiences at each Game it became the main thing. This was the necessary turning toward the religious spirit. What had formerly mattered was following the sequences of ideas and the whole intellectual mosaic of a Game with rapid attentiveness, practiced memory, and full understanding. But there now arose the demand for a deeper and more spiritual approach. After each symbol conjured up by the director of a Game, each player was required to perform silent, formal meditation on the content, origin, and meaning of this symbol, to call to mind intensively and organically its full purport. The members of the Order and of the Game associations brought the technique and practice of contemplation with them from their elite schools, where the art of contemplation and meditation was nurtured with the greatest care. In this way the hieroglyphs of the Game were kept from degenerating into mere empty signs.”

Hermann Hesse book The Glass Bead Game

The Glass Bead Game (1943)

People , School , Art , Way

“For me the best players are in the poor suburbs, but the clubs are not interested.”

Cuauhtémoc Blanco (1973) Mexican footballer

Interview with BigSoccer.com

“I'd take over World of Warcraft and I'd close it. I just want better virtual worlds. Sacrificing one of the best so its players have to seek out alternatives would be a sure-fire way to ensure that unknown gems got the chance they deserved, and that new games were developed to push back the boundaries. Er, I would get to do this anonymously, wouldn't I?”

Richard Bartle (1960) British writer

From an interview http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/games/archives/2007/07/17/id_close_world_of_warcraft_mud_creator_richard_bartle_on_the_state_of_virtual_worlds.html with Keith Stuart on Guardian Unlimited's http://www.guardian.co.uk Gamesblog
The question that prompted this was "If you could take over control of one major MMORPG - which would you choose and what would you do with it?"

World , Way , Game , Chance

“And that, apart from a flurry of sensational newspaper reports which exposed him as a fraud, then trumpeted him as the real thing so that they could have another round of exposing him as a fraud again and then trumpeting him as the real thing again, until they got bored and found a nice juicy snooker player to harass instead, was that.”

Douglas Adams book Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency

Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency (1987)

Fraud