I never teach until I've spoken to the fighter. I have to first determine his emotional state, get his background, to find out what I have to do, how many layers I have to keep peeling off so that I get to the core of the person so that he can recognize, as well as I, what is there.
Interpretation
Teaching should be personalized and dependent on the emotional and personal background of the learner.
This quote emphasizes the importance of understanding a student's emotional state and personal history before imparting knowledge. Cus D'Amato suggests that effective teaching involves peeling away layers to reach the core of a person, highlighting the need for empathy and personal connection in the educational process.
In practice
In a workshop about mentoring, a speaker mentioned this quote to stress the importance of connecting with mentees.
When two men step into the ring, one and only one deserves to win. When you step into the ring, you gotta know you deserve to win. You gotta know destiny owes you victory , cause you trained harder than your opponent. You sparred harder. You ran farther.
Greatness is not a measure of how great you are but how great others came to be because of you
The hero and the coward both feel exactly the same fear, only the hero confronts his fear and converts it into fire.
Every fighter that ever lived had fear. A boy comes to me and tells me that he's not afraid, if I believed him I'd say he's a liar or there's something wrong with him. I'd send him to a doctor to find out what the hell's the matter with him, because this is not a normal reaction. The fighter that's gone into the ring and hasn't experienced fear is either a liar or a psychopath.
Boxing is a contest of character and ingenuity. The boxer with more will, determination, desire, and intelligence is always the one who comes out the victor.
To see a man beaten not by a better opponent but by himself is a tragedy.
To be a teacher is my greatest work of art.
Writing is literally transformative. When we read, we are changed. When we write, we are changed. It's neurological. To me, this is a kind of magic.
From the very beginning of his education, the child should experience the joy of discovery.
Don't force your kids into sports. I never was. To this day, my dad has never asked me to go play golf. I ask him. It's the child's desire to play that matters, not the parent's desire to have the child play. Fun. Keep it fun.
The makers of dictionaries are dependent upon specialists for their definitions. A specialist's definition may be true or it may be erroneous. But its truth cannot be increased or its error diminished by its acceptance by the lexicographer. Each definition must stand on its own merits.
Education is neither Eastern nor Western, it is human.
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