"I never, ever compared myself to him. I thought there never was a greater player in the history of baseball. For me just to be mentioned in the same breath, boy, I always felt like I was two steps below him. I thought I could hit with anybody, but he was in my opinion as good as any that ever played this game. Theres only one guy I saw you could mention in the same breath, and that was Willie Mays. I felt that just to have my name mentioned with Joe, it elevated me. I never thought I was ever as good."
Joseph Paul DiMaggio, nicknamed "Joltin' Joe", "the Yankee Clipper" and "Joe D.", was an American professional baseball center fielder who played his entire 13-year career in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the New York Yankees. Born to Italian immigrants in California, he is considered to be one of the greatest baseball players of all time and set the record for the longest hitting streak.
"I believe Dom has a little edge. I think he can outfield and outrun Joe. Their throwing is about on a par. I think that if Dom and I could hit like Joe, he wouldnt have anything on us. But Joe really can hit the ball. Man, he sure can. Id be satisfied to have just one year at bat like him. I call him a busher, but Id like to be a busher like him."
Joe DiMaggio"I remember Joe DiMaggios last at-bat in the World Series in 1951; we knew it was going to be his last at-bat. He hit a ball — a double to right-centerfield and pulled up into second base in that elegant way he did. And, I think there were tears in my eyes, I was there that day. And I thought Thats the last time Ill see him, but he was complete to the end."
Joe DiMaggio"He knew what the press and the fans and the kids expected of him, and he was always trying to live up to that image. Thats why he couldnt be silly in public like I could, or ever be caught without his shirt buttoned or his shoes shined. He knew he was Joe DiMaggio and he knew what that meant to the country."
Joe DiMaggio"Joe DiMaggio is the best baseball player I ever saw."
Joe DiMaggio"Although he was over the hill when I first saw him, I could visualize how good he must have been. Joe DiMaggio was the best all-around ballplayer I ever saw."
Joe DiMaggio"In the life of each of us, I said to myself, there is a place remote and islanded, and given to endless regret or secret happiness."
"Chess for me is not a game, but an art. Yes, and I take upon myself all those responsibilities which an art imposes on its adherents."
"On the platform a group of peasants were standing in military formation five soldiers armed with rifles guarding them. There were men and women, each carrying a bundle. Somehow, lining them up in military formation made the thing grotesque—wretched looking peasants, half-starved, tattered clothes, frightened faces, standing to attention. These may be kulaks, I thought, but if so they have made a mighty poor thing of exploiting their fellows. I hung about looking on curiously, wanting to ask where they were to be sent—to the north to cut timber, somewhere else to dig canals—until one of the guards told me sharply to take myself off."
Malcolm Muggeridge"We foreign journalists in Moscow used to amuse ourselves, as a matter of fact, by competing with one another as to who could wish upon one of these intelligentsia visitors to the USSR the most outrageous fantasy…One story I floated myself, for which I received considerable acclaim, was that the huge queues outside food shops came about because the Soviet workers were so ardent in building Socialism that they just wouldnt rest, and the only way the government could get them to rest for even two or three hours was organizing a queue for them to stand in. I laugh at it all now, but at the time you can imagine what a shock it was to someone like myself, who had been brought up to regard liberal intellectuals as the samurai, the absolute elite, of the human race, to find that they could be taken in by deceptions which a half-witted boy would see through in an instant…I could never henceforth regard the intelligentsia as other than credulous fools who nonetheless became the medias prophetic voices, their heirs and successors remaining so still."
Malcolm Muggeridge"Is he the best in the world? He might not get the attention of (Lionel) Messi and Ronaldo but yes, I think he just might be.If you dont have a player like Steven Gerrard, who is the engine room, it can affect the whole team.When we were winning league titles and European Cups at Real, I always said Claude Makelele was our most important player. There is no way myself, (Luis) Figo or Raul would have been able to do what we did without Claude and the same goes for Liverpool and Gerrard. He has great passing ability, can tackle and scores goals, but most importantly he gives the players around him confidence and belief. You cant learn that -- players like him are just born with that presence."
Steven Gerrard"Say anything you want against The Seventh Seal. My fear of death — this infantile fixation of mine — was, at that moment, overwhelming. I felt myself in contact with death day and night, and my fear was tremendous. When I finished the picture, my fear went away. I have the feeling simply of having painted a canvas in an enormous hurry — with enormous pretension but without any arrogance. I said, Here is a painting; take it, please."