Bill Simmons Quotes

You always hear that tragedies put sports in perspective, that they prove we shouldn't care this much about the successes and failures of a bunch of wealthy strangers. I'm going the other way - sometimes, sports put everything else in perspective.

Bill Simmons

• Sports
• Perspective

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Quotes to Explore

• Be polite; write diplomatically; even in a declaration of war one observes the rules of politeness.

  

  Otto von Bismarck
  • War
  • Rules
  • Politeness

• I got a note from my father, who said that Success is wonderful, if you don't inhale. That was his own aphorism, and I think it's the very best thing he could have said to me or anyone else on the subject.

  

  Sam Waterston
  • Father
  • Success
  • Best

• My father, I think he played percussion in high school. My mother played piano when she was very young, but only for a brief while. I don't think she had a great teacher. In any case, neither of them were really into music at a young age.

  

  Aaron Diehl
  • Music
  • School
  • Mother

• I posed nude to show my parents they couldn't dictate to me any more - that I control my life.

  

  LaToya Jackson
  • Life
  • Parents
  • Control

• There were points in my life where I felt oddly irresistible to women. I'm not in that state now and that makes me sad.

  

  Jack Nicholson
  • Life
  • Women
  • Sad

• The people of South Africa are ready to stand up to the oppressions of the Pretoria regime, and they are ready to fight back.

  

  Oliver Tambo
  • People
  • Up
  • Fight

• You know, bigotry isn't relevant to just the South. It never was. But I'm very grateful that I don't know what it's like from experience.

  

  Octavia Spencer
  • Experience
  • Know
  • Grateful

• I have often said one of the reasons more blacks don't support Republicans is because they don't trust the GOP establishment.

  

  J. C. Watts
  • Support
  • Trust
  • Said

• Clinton saw himself much more as the steward of alliances and of consensus that moved in the right direction. He didn't see himself as someone who could change the overall thrust, I think, of global policy.

  

  Barton Gellman
  • Think
  • Change
  • Direction

• When action grows unprofitable, gather information; when information grows unprofitable, sleep.

  

  Ursula K. Le Guin
  • Action
  • Sleep
  • Information

• If my client calls me and says, 'I'm going to a friend's premiere,' I'll say, 'Come over and let's do something cute.' And I won't bill them for that.

  

  Rachel Zoe
  • Me
  • Friend
  • Cute

• I never really did any disco dancing.

  

  Barry Gibb Bee Gees
  • Never
  • Dancing
  • Disco

• Is it really true that religion makes people more kindly, generous, or loving? History tends to disprove this. The worst wars, the most vicious Inquisitions, the cruelest pogroms and persecutions, were both fomented and supported by religion.

  

  Barbara G. Walker
  • People
  • History
  • True

• I have been learning English on the road since I started when I was 15, so it is a slow process but making some progress. Now I think I am much more comfortable with my English. However, it is difficult, still, when I speak about something that is not tennis.

  

  Rafael Nadal
  • Learning
  • Road
  • English

• I think the tone of the show has certainly changed over the years, because it's really, really hard to do something different when you have a show going on as long as this has.

  

  Dan Castellaneta
  • Different
  • Long
  • Think

• I didn't start off as a journalist; I started off as a poet. My ambition was to practise poetry. Then I found journalism, but that other voice never fled from me.

  

  Ta-Nehisi Coates
  • Poetry
  • Start
  • Ambition

• When I was a kid, there was so much talent outside of recorded music.

  

  Henry Saint Clair Fredericks
  • Music
  • Talent
  • Kid

• I think Hollywood wants to be safe. The things you do first become your calling card, and I think people just sort of go, 'Well, we know he can do that.' They kind of put you in that hole.

  

  Falk Hentschel
  • People
  • Think
  • Know

• Gold medals aren't really made of gold. They're made of sweat, determination, and a hard-to-find alloy called guts.

  

  Dan Gable
  • Sports
  • Gold
  • Determination

• My mind is not a bed to be made and re-made.

  

  James Agate
  • Mind

• When I was growing up, my house was filled with books. My mother was an educator, and my father was a history buff, so our home was a virtual library, covering every author from Beverly Cleary to James Michener.

  

  Jeff Kinney
  • Up
  • Home
  • History

• My goal is for 'The Bill Engvall Show' to be a show the networks look at and say, 'Ooh, maybe we should get back to the family sitcom.'

  

  Bill Engvall
  • Family

• I love auditioning. Since 'The Notebook' and 'Wedding Crashers,' I don't have to audition anymore, and I miss it. You get to show your interpretation of the character. I get nervous when I don't audition. What if they hate what I want to do?

  

  Rachel McAdams
  • Character
  • Hate
  • Nervous

• You always hear that tragedies put sports in perspective, that they prove we shouldn't care this much about the successes and failures of a bunch of wealthy strangers. I'm going the other way - sometimes, sports put everything else in perspective.

  

  Bill Simmons
  • Sports
  • Perspective