Category: Other Books

I recently read “The Chicago Cubs: Story of a Curse” by Rich Cohen. Below are the quotes I found most interesting. If you like them, buy the book here.

“What you want is always out of reach. Sometimes it’s miles out of reach, sometimes you can almost touch it. If you do touch it, you will realize, after a week or two, that it’s not really what you want, that what you really want is still out of reach.” (3)

“Being a Cubs fan has created my cast of mind. I am not unhappy; I am fatalistic. I know how to live in the moment. I know how to enjoy what I can while I can because I know that disaster is coming.” (7)

“A Cubs fan will have a diminished life determined by low expectations. Look at me. I know I am going to succeed. Yo know why? Because I’m a Yankees fan. We win and expert to win. But a Cubs fan knows he will lose. He’s sitting there, waiting for it to happen. He’ll settle for less as a result. His team has taught him that all human endeavor ends in failure. That team will screw up your life.” (8)

“A good player is prized, but a good player with a great story is beloved.” (29)

“He had the good cheer and the infuriating wisdom of the self-made man.” (52)

“The Cubs faced the Tigers in the World Series. Asked to predict the outcome, the Chicago sportswriter Warren Brown said, “Neither team is good enough to win it.” (83)

“Yankee stadium, thought unsightly, was made beautiful by winning, whereas Wrigley Field, though beautiful, was disfigured by loss.” (95)

“You always have a choice. I choose to be hopeful.” (105)

“Whatever you look for [in life], you find. If you look for a curse, you’ll be cursed.” (127)

“I sat in a TV studio, staring at a black screen, listening on headphones as six guys in another studio called me an idiot. Which I am. I’d only suggest that everyone else is an idiot too. We’re all idiots.” (170)

“Gonzalez, a Gold Glove infielder who’d turned that play dozens of times, should have been the goat, but the fans had already fixed on one of their own – on themselves. It was self-hate, psychosis: They expected to lose, even needed to lose to make sense of their suffering. Because we blamed ourselves, because deep down we knew we deserved it, we needed a fan to take the blame for all fans – a scapegoat.” (172)

“You can read all the articles and books in the world, and it still won’t help you understand what you have to do to make a team better. Nothing prepares you for doing it but doing it. So I [Ricketts] came in with eyes open and tried to learn as much as I could in the first couple of years.” (182)

“You have to build a team that’s not just good enough to get to the postseason but good enough to get there again and again. Because once you’re in, it’s luck.” (183)

“Number one, he doesn’t have to be defensive because he’s had such success. Number two is, if you know why you make a decision, you can know which assumption fell through if it goes wrong. You can say, ‘This is what we assumed would happen, this is what actually happened.’” (185)

“It helps explain why Theo was able to defeat not one but two historic curses. Because what’s a curse? It’s a story. How do you change a story? You write a better one.” (187)

“You are busy making sure next year’s team has a chance. It means lack of long-term planning, focus on the short term, focus on the optics. The Red Sox were like that too: always focused on the next day’s sports section. It’s hard to execute any sort of plan when the focus is on everything except what defines a healthy baseball operation.” (188)

“IF you have a chance to win the World Series but don’t take that final step because it doesn’t add up, that’s bullshit and not fair. If you don’t make that investment, that can put dents in trust and wreck the culture that you’ve been so careful to build. We went around and asked a lot of our players. They all wanted to go for it.” (213)

Like the quotes? Buy the book here.

I recently read “Machers and Rockers: Chess Records and the Business of Rock & Roll” by Rich Cohen. Below are the quotes I found most interesting. If you like them, buy the book here.

“Chickagou” is an Indian word that means “the place with the bad smell.” (26)

“Leonard saw them not as artists – artists are a dime a dozen – but something infinitely more rare and illusive: a market. A legion of transplants who felt lost in the frozen North, who wanted a taste and comfort from home and would pay for it. Anyone can spot an artist; only a genius can spot a market where others have seen only a horde.” (33)

“Herzl’s dream of Zionism, which, he said, would be a success only when “Jewish police are chasing Jewish criminals.” (34)

“The Arons had the company and the experience, but Leonard had access to the talent. In other words, a great musical empire grew out of the old immigrant sensibility: Schmucko! Why do for others what you can do for yourself? If you spend a buck, make sure you get back a buck and a half!” (47)

“And yes, it’s funny, how this Polish immigrant, this kid who did not even learn English until he was in school, winds up at a company called Aristocrat. But that’s America: no past, no pedigree, the great ones give birth to themselves.” (63)

“To be discovered is to be authentic; to search for fame is to be phony. So goes the logic of the aficionado. When it comes to the Blues, I have my own rule: if an artist believes what he is signing, he is authentic; if he does not believe what he is singing, even if he thinks it the prettiest idea in the world, he is not authentic.” (94)

“Chicago is one of the places where the Jewish character and the American character bleed into one, this rootlessness, this urge to roam: how can you tell you are moving if the scenery doesn’t change?” (96)

“Leonard was no genius. He did not dazzle into the big score. He instead had to work for it, fake it, steal it, copy it, shuffle and fight. He was smart and tough in the way of the hard worker, the long-distance runner, the gambler who wins on stamina. In business, and probably in art too, such men have the advantage over the genius, who depends on the great big nothing, a fluky, unpredictable freak. One day it’s there and one day it’s gone back to whatever nowhere it came from, and you are like the card sharp who bets on instinct when his luck runs out, with no way to fake your way back into the game. But for the hard worker, it is a fake from the beginning, and so he’s developed a million tricks and bluffs to get through.” (99)

“Joe Smith told me, ‘Assume the human brain is made of chips like a computer. And those chips govern behavior. Well, these musicians can take a sheet of paper and put notes on it and go into a studio and translate it into music and perform that music in front of millions. We can’t do that. They got chips we don’t. But to make room for those chips, other chips fall out. Sanity, reason, logic, gratitude. Anything like that is gone. So if you understand they are not like you and I, then you’re okay.’” (124)

“The executives feel superior to artists, but also envious – of the freedom, the talent, the lifestyle, the girls, girls, girls, the sprees, the benders, the crowds.” (124)

“Asked by a nephew why, when he had accomplished so much and was already quite wealthy, he continued to strive, spoke the words that best get at his soul. “It’s not the money, it’s the game.”” (138)

“All right, kid, you got something to show me, come inside. This is the quality that kept Leonard in the game long after most of the old-time record men had bailed: a never-ending-willingness to hear the kid from the street. To be impressed, to be amazed.” (159)

“Past forty, most music executives lose patience, discover their fathers were right, and so turn the gut-check decisions over to an army of kids, new eyes, new ears, explaining, to anyone who might ask, It’s a young man’s game. After hearing a demo, such men turn to one of these kids and ask, Do I like it? But Leonard never lost touch with the street, never moved to an office in the Loop. Even in the roughest years of city life, his door was open to anyone who had a new slant on the old script.” (160)

“Only once in a very great while does someone actually create something new. The rest of us, even the most brilliant, spend our time just working out the implications.” (160)

“Leonard knew it was time to get out – it’s what made him a great businessman. He had seen a market where others had seen only a horde, and now he could see a mob where others continued to see a market.” (187)

Liked the quotes? Buy the book here.

I recently read “A Gentleman In Moscow” by Amor Towles. Here’s the quotes I found most interesting. If you like them, buy the book.

“A king fortifies himself with a castle,” observed the Count, “a gentleman with a desk.” (12)

“The Countess expressed a measure of sympathy: “There is nothing pleasant to be said about losing,” she began, “and the Obolensky boy is a pill. But, Sasha, my dear, why on earth would you give him the satisfaction?” (14)

“Imaging what might happen if one’s circumstances were different was the only sure route to madness.” (20)

“A man must master his circumstances or otherwise be mastered by them.” (28)

“Yes, exile was as old as mankind. But the Russians were the first people to master the notion of sending a man into exile at home.”  (164)

“As early as the eighteen century, the Tsars stopped kicking their enemies out of the country, opting instead to send them to Siberia. Why? Because they had determined that to exile a man from Russia as God had exiled Adam from Eden was insufficient as punishment; for in another country, a man might immerse himself in his labors, build a house, raise a family. That is, he might begin his life anew.

But when you exile a man into his own country, there is no beginning anew. For the exile at home – whether he be sent to Siberia or subject to the Minus Six – the love for his country will not become vague or shrouded by the mists of time. In fact, because we have evolved as species to pay the utmost attention to that which is just beyond our reach, these men are likely to dwell on the splendors of Moscow more than any Muscovite who is at liberty to enjoy them.” (164)

“History is the business of identifying momentous events from the comfort of a high-back chair.” (173)

“Like the Freemasons, the Confederacy of the Humbled is a closeknit brotherhood whose members travel with no outward markings, but two know each other at a glance. For having fallen suddenly from grace, those in the Confederacy share a certain perspective. Knowing beauty, influence, fame, and privilege to be borrowed rather than bestowed, they are not easily impressed. They are not quick to envy or take offense. They certainly do not scour the papers in search of their own names. They remain committed to living among their peers, but they greet adulation with caution, ambition with sympathy, and condescension with an inward smile.” 

“Quite simply, the Count’s father had believed that while a man should attend closely to life, he should not attend too closely to the clock. A student of both the Stoics and Montagne, the Count’s father believed that our Creator had set aside the morning hours for industry. That is, if a man woke no later than six, engaged in a light repast, and then applied himself without interruption, by the hour of noon he should have accomplished a full day’s labor.

Thus in his father’s view, the toll of twelve was a moment of reckoning. When the noon bell sounded, the diligent man could take pride in having made good use of the morning and sit down to his lunch with a clear conscience. But when it sounded for the frivolous man – the man who had squandered his morning in  ed, or on breakfast with three papers, or on idle chatter in the sitting room – he had no choice but to ask for his Lord’s forgiveness.” (244-245)

“There is not a single country in the civilized world where less attention is paid to philosophy than in the United States.” (259)

“I suppose a room is the summation of all that has happened inside it.”

“Yes, I think it is,” agreed the Count. “And though I’m not exactly sure what has come of all the intermingling in this particular room, I am fairly certain that the world has been a better place because of it.” (331)

“One must make ends meet, or meet one’s end.” (333)

“I’ll tell you what is convenient. To sleep until noon an have someone bring you your breakfast on a tray. To cancel an appointment at the very last minute. To keep a carriage waiting at the door of one party, so that on a moment’s notice it can whisk you away to another. To sidestep marriage in your youth and put off having children altogether. These are the greatest of conveniences, Anushka – and at one time, I had them all. But in the end, it has been the inconvenience that have mattered to me most.” (352)

“Fifteen years younger, they would not have been asleep. Having stumbled back from a late dinner in the Arbat at which they had ordered two bottles of wine, they would now be in each other’s arms. Fifteen years older, they would be tossing and turning, getting up twice a night to visit the loo. But at forty? They had enough appetite to eat well, rough temperance to drink in moderation, and enough wisdom to celebrate the absence of their children by getting a good night’s sleep.” (429)

Liked the quotes? Buy the book here.

I recently read “Close Your Eyes, Get Free: Use self-hypnosis to reduce stress, quit bad habits, and achieve greater relaxation and focus” by Grace Smith. Below are the quotes I found most interesting. If you like the quotes, buy the book here.

“There’s a connection in my brain that I no longer want to have. It was built through repetition (or shock or trauma), and it can be unbuilt.” (36)

“Approximately one-third of our developed habits are a direct rebellion against our parents (guardian or most dominant authority figure in our life), and two thirds of our developed habits are a result of mimicking our parents. We either rebel or mimic, and our subconscious mind doesn’t know any different path than to either be the same as our parents or to be the exact opposite of them.” (44)

“A fantasy mechanism to benign gently shifting our thoughts is to add “every day in every way, I am ___ more and more.” This way the subconscious just has to believe that we are learning to love ourself, we are learning to be proud of ourself and so on.” (55)

“The number one reason why personal transformation often doesn’t last is that nearly everyone is trying to make subconscious change from conscious efforts.” (149)

“When you focus on living your best life instead of fixing everyone else, you end up making a lasting contribution to this world. It’s a benefit to everyone who spends time with you.” (165)

“Stress gives us tunnel vision. It takes an already egomaniacal society and makes it even more about “me, me, me.” I’m stressed, so the barista had better make my coffee now, faster, faster. I’m stressed, so I can be mean and say things I don’t mean to my assistant/spouse/friend/stranger and take them back later.” (210)

“Somehow, we manage to believe our stress is more important than that of everyone around us. The truth is, we use stress as a way to express in desperation, “I’m important,” and this, in turn, becomes an excuse for poor behavior. This is the opposite of taking responsibility.” (211)

“Think about things you just don’t like to do and write them down on a piece of paper.

Circle any of those where you remember having had a bad or embarrassing experience as a child.

Ask yourself, could this experience have anything to do with why you don’t like the other items on the list?

In what ways has the avoidance of each of these items impacted your life?” (214)

“For just one day, love yourself as much as you love your dog (or cat or your favorite sports team – whatever floats your boat).

Do what makes your tail wag! Feed yourself only the best out of love. Forgive and forget in the same instant. Go for the ball, and wag your tail when you miss. Wag your tail when you catch it, and take a nap because they’re great.” (218)

“To show your bright, clean, sparkling emerald in this world of dusty blocks of concrete is your sole charge.” (245)

Liked the quotes? Buy the book here.