Didn't come up here to read. Came up here to hit.

I don't feel right unless I have a sport to play or at least a way to work up a sweat.

The pitcher has got only a ball. I've got a bat. So the percentage in weapons is in my favor and I let the fellow with the ball do the fretting.

I don't see pitches down the middle anymore - not even in batting practice.

Didn't come up here to read. Came up here to hit.

The triple is the most exciting play in baseball. Home runs win a lot of games, but I never understood why fans are so obsessed with them.

My motto was always to keep swinging. Whether I was in a slump or feeling badly or having trouble off the field, the only thing to do was keep swinging.

Guessing what the pitcher is going to throw is eighty percent of being a successful hitter. The other twenty percent is just execution.

It took me seventeen years to get three thousand hits in baseball. I did it in one afternoon on the golf course.

I looked for the same pitch my whole career, a breaking ball. All of the time. I never worried about the fastball. They couldn't throw it past me, none of them.

I never smile when I have a bat in my hands. That's when you've got to be serious. When I get out on the field, nothing's a joke to me. I don't feel like I should walk around with a smile on my face.

I never doubted my ability, but when you hear all your life you're inferior, it makes you wonder if the other guys have something you've never seen before. If they do, I'm still looking for it.

I'm hoping someday that some kid, black or white, will hit more home runs than myself. Whoever it is, I'd be pulling for him.

You can only milk a cow so long, then you're left holding the pail.

On the field, blacks have been able to be super giants. But, once our playing days are over, this is the end of it and we go back to the back of the bus again.

Failure is a part of success.

Guessing what the pitcher is going to throw is 80% of being a successful hitter. The other 20% is just execution.

I am very proud to be an American. This country has so much potential, I'd just like to see things better, or whatever, and I think it will be.

I never thought we'd ever have a black president. President Obama has done such a tremendous job... He just has been unable to get what he needs to be moved at the level it should be moved.

The thing I like about baseball is that it's one-on-one. You stand up there alone, and if you make a mistake, it's your mistake. If you hit a home run, it's your home run.

The thing I like about baseball is that its one on one. You stand up there alone and if you make a mistake its your mistake. If you hit a home run its your home run.

The pitcher has got only a ball. Ive got a bat. So the percentage in weapons is in my favor and I let the fellow with the ball do the fretting.

You can only milk a cow so long then youre left holding the pail.

The pitcher has got only a ball. I've got a bat. So the percentage of weapons is in my favor and I let the fellow with the ball do the fretting.

I think what separates a superstar from the average ballplayer is that he concentrates just a little bit longer.

The Iraq War was the first conflict in western history in which an imperialist war was massively protested against before it had even been launched.

Before 'Wings' came out, I told a few people that at the end of book one, readers should think Laurel made the right choice. Then, at the end of 'Spells,' they should understand why Laurel made the choice she did.

For maximum impact, listen more and speak less.

The Iranian regime doesn't express the wishes and values of the Iranian people.

Michael is not only my friend, he's my family.

We should have an easier name to pronounce.

Everything that ever walked or crawled on the face of the earth, swum the depths of the ocean or soared through the skies left its imprint here.

Good guys need to be a little dirty otherwise they're just boring.

Surrounded yourself with brilliant people. You cant HELP but grow when that happens.

Sitcoms always made the most sense to me. I grew up watching them every day with my dad. Every Monday, Tuesday night, we would be sitting in front of the television watching any kind of sitcom. I connect with that more, but I love to do whatever kind of role.

I do have odd habits. I check under my bed every night for the bogeyman. That's just a little thing, though.

I feel uninhibited when I'm writing.

Life will not always change, so we must be willing to change.

Jokes are unanswerable objections.

I just don't think it's very dignified to ask people to like you. You can just wind up being somebody's ottoman.

In this context, the current recovery in the Japanese economy is taking place in tandem with the growing interdependence with the rest of the world, particularly with the other East Asian economies.

The only strategy I know of is to write every day, which I don't always do, because sometimes I just can't, for various reasons that seem out of my control.

It was very hard to rant while accepting a cup of tea.

It's not reasonable for companies that have chief executives and board members who are paid very considerable sums to subsidise low pay through in-work benefits.

The medicine of the future will be music and sound.

I'm a compassionate conservative.

My character is not flawless.

My parents were always pretty free with me. They were of the school of thought that if you really cramp down on someone and tell them not to do all these things, it's gonna become like forbidden fruit.

Was it not through pride that the devil became the devil? Christ wanted to serve. The devil wanted to rule.