Cobb lived off the field as though he wished to live forever. He lived on the field as though it was his last day.
Interpretation
The quote emphasizes the importance of balancing long-term aspirations with living fully in the present moment.
Branch Rickey's quote about Cobb suggests that one should aim for immortality in their personal pursuits, treating life outside of their passions with care and intention, while simultaneously embracing each moment with fervor when engaged in what they love. This duality highlights the value of cherishing life and its fleeting moments while also building a legacy that would last beyond one's years.
In practice
This quote could be used in a motivational speech about pursuing one's dreams while appreciating everyday moments.
I don't like the subtle infiltration of 'something for nothing' philosophies into the very hearthstone of the American family. I believe that 'Thou shalt earn the bread by the sweat of thy face' was a benediction and not a penalty. Work is the zest of life; there is joy in its pursuit.
There never has been a man in the game who could put mind and muscle together quicker and with better judgment than Robinson.
Things worthwhile generally donβt just happen. Luck is a fact, but should not be a factor. Good luck is what is left over after intelligence and effort have combined at their best. Negligence or indifference are usually reviewed from an unlucky seat. The law of cause and effect and causality both work the same with inexorable exactitudes. Luck is the residue of design.
Luck is the residue of opportunity and design.
It (a baseball box score) doesn't tell how big you are, what church you attend, what color you are, or how your father voted in the last election. It just tells what kind of baseball player you were on that particular day.
Some day I'm going to have to stand before God, and if He asks me why I didn't let that [Jackie] Robinson fellow play ball, I don't think saying 'because of the color of his skin' would be a good enough answer.
Other people salted away money for their old age, but Nanny preferred to accumulate memories.
We all have to find our own ways to say good-bye.
I find myself thinking more about the past as I get older... maybe because there's just more of it to think about. At the same time, I'm less haunted by it than I was as a younger person. I guess that's probably the ideal: to reach a point where you have access to all of your memories, but you don't feel victimized by them.
People everywhere brag and whimper about the woes of their early years, but nothing can compare with the Irish version: the poverty; the shiftless loquacious father; the pious defeated mother moaning by the fire; pompous priests; bullying school masters; the English and the terrible things they did to us for eight hundred long years. Above all -- we were wet.
No woman can call herself free who does not own and control her body. No woman can call herself free until she can choose consciously whether she will or will not be a mother.
I have never heard anyone say This is it. I know right now is the high point of my life. It will never get any better. Only in retrospect do we recognize the best times and of course then it is too late.
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