For the two years I was there, it was hard to get close to Clemente. H — Roberto Clemente

"I hear people say I swing at bad pitches. What is a bad pitch? If I can hit it, its not a bad pitch."

"The American League must be that fountain of youth they talk about. A lot of National League pitchers did pretty good in the American League this year."

"He has these huge, strong hands. People always thought that because he hit with such power, he was this big guy. He wasnt, especially by todays standards. He came into spring training at 185 pounds. By the end of the season, he was 181. The power came from those hands."

"I played with Willie Mays and I played with Roberto Clemente, and what I see in Barry is the same ability I saw in Willie and Roberto. I see a guy who trusts himself at the plate and in the field. If I managed against Barry, I wouldnt let him beat me. I wouldnt give him the opportunity."

"I am having a plaque put on the front of my house. It will say, "To God, Mother, Father and Baseball."

"If Roberto Clemente could sing, he would make Harry Belafonte wish he could hit."

"In the life of the mass-order, the culture of the generality tends to conform to the demands of the average human being. Spirituality decays through being diffused among the masses when knowledge is impoverished in every possible way by rationalisation until it becomes accessible to the crude understanding of all."

"I say this to you because we Spaniards are a forgetful people, because we are used to living for the moment, because we do not look back, because we do not know how to see the chain of heroes, because we do not contemplate the sum of sacrifices."

"Sharon Tate was my best friend. Once, we were roommates. She introduced me to my husband. She was the godmother to my baby daughter who is named for her. In the six years time that I knew her, she never said an unkind word about anyone."

"Long time to see. (VS: Tapion)"

"Most mathematicians prove what they can, von Neumann proves what he wants." Once in a discussion about the rapid growth of mathematics in modern times, von Neumann was heard to remark that whereas thirty years ago a mathematician could grasp all of mathematics, that is impossible today. Someone asked him: "What percentage of all mathematics might a person aspire to understand today?" Von Neumann went into one of his five-second thinking trances, and said: "About 28 percent."

"Children must be free to think in all directions irrespective of the peculiar ideas of parents who often seal their childrens minds with preconceived prejudices and false concepts of past generations. Unless we are very careful, very careful indeed, and very conscientious, there is still great danger that our children may turn out to be the same kind of people we are."