Quotes on Isms

For in spite of itself any movement that thinks and acts in terms of an ‘ism becomes so involved in reaction against other ‘isms that it is unwittingly controlled by them. For it then forms its principles by reaction against them instead of by a comprehensive, constructive survey of actual needs, problems, and possibilities.

Parents and schools should place great emphasis on the idea that it is all right to be different. Racism and all the other 'isms' grow from primitive tribalism, the instinctive hostility against those of another tribe, race, religion, nationality, class or whatever. You are a lucky child if your parents taught you to accept diversity.

Baseball is ninety percent mental and the other half is physical.

It was impossible to get a conversation going, everybody was talking too much.

Little League baseball is a very good thing because it keeps the parents off the streets.

Capitalism is not an 'ism.' It is closer to being the opposite of an 'ism,' because it is simply the freedom of ordinary people to make whatever economic transactions they can mutually agree to.

If you come to a fork in the road, take it.

Western interests: imperialism, colonialism, exploitation, racism, and other negative -isms.

Congratulations. I knew the record would stand until it was broken.

Half the lies they tell about me aren't true.

The beggarly question of parentage--what is it, after all? What does it matter, when you come to think of it, whether a child is yours by blood or not? All the little ones of our time are collectively the children of us adults of the time, and entitled to our general care. That excessive regard of parents for their own children, and their dislike of other people's, is, like class-feeling, patriotism, save-your-own-soul-ism, and other virtues, a mean exclusiveness at bottom.

With all the other -isms that we deal with, that sort of nameless -ism that we have in too many of our hearts against the poor in this country is what wounds us most broadly.

If you can't imitate him, don't copy him.

If you don't set goals, you can't regret not reaching them.

If you don't know where you are currently standing, you're dead.

Hero­ism breaks its heart, and ide­al­ism its back, on the intran­si­gence of the cred­u­lous and the mediocre, manip­u­lated by the cyn­i­cal and the corrupt.

I knew I was going to take the wrong train, so I left early.

The only “ism” Hollywood believes in is plagiarism.