Excellence is achieved.
It is not stumbled
Onto in the course of
Amusing oneself.
It is built upon
Discipline and tenacity
Of purpose.

- One of Jack Wyant’s favorite quotes (he used it in his media kit). First seen on the front of a large packet of material given to us by Don Mills, junior squash coach, summer 1991.

To a Poet a Thousand Years Home

James E. Flecker (1884-1915)

I who am dead a thousand years
And wrote this sweet armchair song,
Send you my words for messengers
The way I shall not pass along.
I care not if you bridge the seas
Or ride secure the cruel sky,
Or build consummate palaces
Of metal or of masonry.
But have you wine and music still
And statues and a bright-eyed love,
And foolish thoughts of good and ill,
And prayers to them who sit alone?
O friend unseen, unborn, unknown…
Rend on my words at night alone…
Since I can never see your face
And never shake you by the hand
I send my soul through time and space
To greet you. You will understand.

Danny Boy

O Danny Boy, the pipes the pipes are calling,
From Glen to Glen and down the mountain side.
The summers gone, and all the roses dying,
Tis you tis you must go and I must bide.
But come ye back when summers in the meadow,
And all the valleys hushed and white with snow,
Tis I’ll be here in sunshine or in shadow,
O Danny Boy, O Danny Boy I love you so.
And when you come, and find the place I’m lying
And I am dead, as dead I well may be,
Then you will come and tell me that you love me
And I will hear you sweet Ava Maria
And when I hear your footsteps soft above me
Then O my grave will warmer sweeter be,
For you will come and tell me that you love me
And I shall sleep in peace until you come to me.

- A favorite poem of the Baker Boys, my Great Uncles from Toronto

Henry David Thoreau

I went to the woods because I wished
to live deliberately, to front only the essential
facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it
had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover
that I had not lived.

- Sarah Brigg’s favorite quote

AS I WALK THE TRAIL OF LIFE
OVER MOUNTAIN AND PLAIN
IN FEAR OF WIND AND RAIN
GRANT O’GREAT SPIRIT I MAY
FOREVER WALK LIKE A MAN

- Plaque hanging in our boat in Oxnard that hung for as long as I can remember over the bar in our house at 1769 Laurentian Way.

Apache Wedding Prayer

Now you will feel no rain,
For each of you will be a shelter to the other.
Now you will feel no cold,
For each of you will be warmth to the other.
Now there is no loneliness for you,
For each of you will be companion for the other.
Now you are two bodies,
But there is only one life before you.
Go now to your dwelling place
To enter into your days together.
And may your days be good
And long on the earth.

- From Derek Sulc’s and Jennifer Woodworth’s Unitarian wedding, August 12, 2000

betting on the muse

Charles Bukowski

Jimmy Foxx died an alcoholic
In a shadow hotel
Room.
Beau Jack ended up shining
Shoes,
Just where he
Began.
There are dozens, hundreds
More, maybe
Thousands more.
Being an athlete grown old is one of the cruelest of
Fates,
To be replaced by others,
To no longer hear the
Cheers and the
Plaudits,
To no longer be
Recognized,
Just to be an old man
Like other old
Men.
To almost not believe it
Yourself,
To check the scrapbook
With the yellowing
Pages.
There you are,
Smiling;
There you are,
Victorious;
There you are,
Young.
The crowd has other
Heroes.
The crowd never
Dies,
Never grows
Old
But the crowd often forgets.
Now the telephone
Doesn’t ring,
The young girls are
Gone,
The party is
Over.
That is why I chose
To be a
Writer.
If you’re worth just
Half-a-damn
You can keep your hustle going until the last minute
Of the last
Day.
You can keep getting better instead
Of worse,
You can still keep hitting them over the
Wall.
Through darkness, war,
Good and bad
Luck
You keep it going,
Hitting them out,
The flashing lightning
Of the
Word,
Beating life at life,
And death too late to
Truly win
Against
You.

First read in 1997 at Flora Skivington’s flat in New York City.

Desiderata

Found in Old St. Paul’s Church, Baltimore; Dated 1692

Go placidly amid the noise and haste, and remember what peace there may be in silence. As far as possible without surrender be on good terms with all persons. Speak your truth quietly and clearly; and listen to others, even the dull and ignorant; they too have their story. ~ Avoid loud and aggressive persons, they are vexations to the spirit. If you compare yourself with others, you may become vain and bitter; for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself. Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans. ~ Keep interest in your own career, however humble; it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time. Exercise caution in your business affairs; for the world is full of trickery. But let this not blind you to what virtue there is; may persons strive for high ideals; and everywhere life is full of heroism. ~ Be yourself. Especially do not feign affection. Neither be cynical about love; fo r in the face of all aridity and disenchantment it is perennial as the grass. ~ Take kindly the counsel of the years; gracefully surrender the things of youth. Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune. But do not distress yourself with imaginings. Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness. Beyond a wholesome discipline, be gentle with yourself. ~ You are a child of the universe, no less than the trees and the stars; you have right to be here. And whether or not it is clear to you, no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should. ~ Therefore be at peace with God, whatever you conceive Him to be, and whatever your labors and aspirations, in the noisy confusion of life keep peace with your soul. ~ With all its sham drudgery and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world. Be careful. Strive to be happy. ~

Le Petit Prince

On ne voit bien qu’avec le Coeur. L’essentiel est invisible pour les yeux.

- Emily Senecal’s senior quote in the Nassau Herald

Winning Squash

Jahangir Khan

To end up as champion, you have to start. That is not quite as obvious as it seems. Starting is often the big problem – starting to win, that is. You can train, you can practise, you can compete, but none of these guarantee that you win. A match situation is totally different from any other, and you may not know quite how you will react till the situation arises. It is then that you learn something about yourself.

- Book given to me by Jari Konttinen in 1989

Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night

Dylan Thomas, 1951

Do not go gently into that good night.
Old age should born and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Though wise men at their end know dark is right,
Because their words had forked no lightening they
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright
Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,
Rage, rage, against the dying of the light.
Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,
And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Grave men, near death who see with blinding sight
Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
And you, my father, there on the sad height,
Curse, bless me know with your fierce tears, I pray.
Do no go gently into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
 

Too proud to die, broken and blind he died
The darkest way, and he did not turn away,
A cold, kind man brave in his burning pride.

The rivers of the dead moved in his poor hand I held,
I saw through his faded eyes to the roots of the sea.
Go calm to your crucified hill, I told
The air that drew away from him.

- In 1999, I sat down with Mike Way at the Toronto Racquet Club and he told me that on court I should rehearse a quote or thought that would transform me from a bad mental state to a good one. I thought about this for a month or so, and this poem is the one that came to mind and has stuck with me through tough times. Although I couldn’t remember the name of the poem, I searched for it for hours and hours in a poetry anthology in Chapters bookstore in Toronto. I suppose I first heard this poem when I watched Dead Poets Society for the first time.

Saint Crispian’s Day Speech, Henry V

Patton (1973)

George C. Scott

Be seated. Now I want you to remember that no bastard ever won a war by dying for his country. He won it by making the other poor dumb bastard die for his country. Men…all this stuff you’ve heard about America not wanting to fight…wanting to stay out of the war…is a lot of horse dung. Americans traditionally love to fight. All real Americans love the sting of battle. When you were kids, you all admired the champion marble shooter, the faster runner, the big league ball players, the toughest boxers. Americans love a winner and will not tolerate a loser. Americans play to win all the time. I wouldn’t give a hootin’ hell for a man who lost and laughed. That’s why Americans have never lost and will never lose a war. Because the very thought of losing is hateful to Americans. Now, an army is a team. It lives, eats, sleeps, fights as a team. This individuality stuff is a bunch of crap. The biggest bastards who wrote that stuff about individuality for the Saturday Evening Post don’t know anything more about real battle than they do about fornicating. Now we have the finest food and equipment, the best spirit and the best men in the world. You know, my god I actually pity those bastards we’re going up against. By god I do. We’re not just going to shoot the bastards. We’re going to cut out their living guts and use them to grease the treads of our tanks. We’re going to murder those lousy Hun bastards by the bushel. Now, some of you boys I know are wondering whether or not you’ll chicken out under fire. Don’t worry about it. I can assure you that you’ll all do your duty. The Nazis are the enemy. Wade into them. Spill their blood. Shoot them in the belly. When you put your hand into a bunch of goo that a moment before was your best friends face, you’ll know what to do. Now there’s another thing I want you to remember. I don’t want to get any messages saying that we are holding our position. We’re not holding anything. Let the Hun do that. We are advancing constantly and we’re not interested in holding on to anything except the enemy. We’re going to hold on to him by the nose and we’re going to kick him in the ass…we’re going to kick the hell out of him all the time and we’re going to go through him like crap through a goose. Now there’s one thing that you men will be able to say when you get back home…and you may thank God for it. Thirty years from now when you are sitting by your fireside with your grandson on your knee and he asks you "What did you do in the Great World War II?" you won’t have to say: "Well, I shoveled shit in Louisiana." All right, now you sons of bitches, you know how I feel. I will be proud to lead you wonderful guys into battle anytime, anywhere. That’s all.

Sonnet 30

Edmund Spencer

My love is like to ice, and I to fire;
How comes it then that this her cold so great
Is not dissolved through my so hot desire,
But harder grows the more I her entreat?
Or how comes it that my exceeding heat
Is not delayed by her heart- frozen cold:
But that I burn much more in boiling sweat,
And feel my flames augmented manifold?
What more miraculous thing may be told
That fire which all things melts, should harden ice:
And ice which is congealed with senseless cold,
Should kindle fire by wonderful device.
Such is the pow'r of love in gentle mind,
That it can alter all the course of kind.

Sonnet 292

Francesco Petrarch

The eyes I spoke of once in words that burn,
the arms and hands and feet and lovely face
that took me from myself for such a space
of time and marked me out from other men;

the waving hair of unmixed gold that shone,
the smile that flashed with the angelic rays
that used to make this earth a paradise,
are now a little dust, all feeling gone;

and yet I live, grief and disdain to me
left where the light I cherished never shows
in fragile bark on the tempestuous sea.

Here I let my loving song come to a close,
the vein of my accustomed art is dry,
and this, my lyre, turned at last to tears.

First Sonnet

Dante

The first three hours of night were almost spent
The time that every star shines down on us
When Love appeared to me so suddenly
That I still shudder at the memory.
Joyous Love seemed to me, the while he held
My heart within his hands, and in his arms
My lady lay asleep wrapped in a veil.
He woke her then and trembling and obedient
She ate that burning heart out of his hand;
Weeping I saw him then depart from me.

The Marriage of True Minds

William Shakespeare

Let me not to the marriage of true minds
Admit impediments.  Love is not love
Which alters when it alteration finds,
Or bends with the remover to remove:
O, no! it is an ever-fixed mark,
That looks on tempests and is never shaken;
It is the star to every wand'ring bark,
Whose worths' unknown, although his height be taken.

Love's not Time's fool, though rosy lips and cheeks
Within his bending sickles' compass come;
Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,
But hears it out even to the edge of doom: -
If this be error and upon me proved,
I never writ, nor no man ever loved.

Somebody

Depeche Mode

I want somebody to share, share the rest of my life,
Share my inner-most thoughts, know my intimate details,
Someone who'll stand by my side, and give me support
And in return she'll get my support.
She will listen to me, when I want to speak
About the world we live in and life in general.
Though my views may be wrong, they may even be perverted,
She'll hear me out and won't easily be converted
To my way of thinking, in fact she'll often disagree,
But in the end of it all, she will understand me.

I want somebody who cares for me passionately,
With every thought and every breath,
Someone who'll help me see things in a different light,
All the things I detest, I will almost like.
I don't want to be tied, to anyone's strings.
I'm carefully trying to stay clear of those things
But when I'm asleep, I want somebody who will put
their arms around me and kiss me tenderly.
Though things like this, make me sick,
In a case like this, I'll get away with it.

- my favorite song

Interesting Princeton Tidbit

In May of 1970, a University-wide anti-Vietnam War strike shut down Princeton. Classes, final exams, senior comprehensive exams, and house parties were canceled. In Biblical fashion, a massive plague of locusts (magi cicada septemdecem) invaded the 1970 commencement. An honorary degree recipient of that year, Bob Dylan H70, who was sitting on the dais next to then Dean of Students Neil Rudenstine ’56, later composed and recorded a song called "Day of the Locusts," based on his experience of that event.

Discourses

René Descartes

Good sense is the most evenly distributed commodity in the world, for each of us considers himself to be so well endowed therewith that even those who are the most difficult to please in all other matters are not wont to desire more of it than they have. It is not likely that anyone is mistaken about this fact. Rather, it provides evidence that the power of judging rightly and of distinguishing the true from the false (which, properly speaking, is what people call good sense) is naturally equal in all men. Thus the diversity of our opinions does not arise from the fact that some people are more reasonable than others, but simple from the fact that we conduct our thoughts along different lines and do not consider the same thing. For it is not enough to have a good mind; the main thing is to use it well. The greatest souls are capable of the greatest vices as well of the greatest virtues. And if they always follow the correct path, those who move forward only very slowly can make much greater progress than do those who run and stray from it.

may i feel said he

e.e. cummings

may i feel said he
(i'll squeal said she
just once said he)
it's fun said she

(may i touch said he
how much said she
a lot said he)
why not said she

(let's go said he
not too fair said she
what's too far said he
where you are said she)

may i stay said he
(which way said she
like this said he
if you kiss said she

may i move said he
is it love said she)
if you're willing said he
(but you're killing said she

but it's life said he
but your wife said she
now said he)
ow said she

(tiptop said he
don't stop said she
oh no said he)
go slow said she

(ccome? said he
ummm said she)
you're divine! said he
(you are mine said she)

If

— Rudyard Kipling (1865-1936)

If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you
But make allowance for their doubting too,
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise:

If you can dream—and not make dreams your master,
If you can think—and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with worn-out tools:

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breathe a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on!"

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with kings—nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you;
If all men count with you, but none too much,
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And—which is more—you'll be a Man, my son!

Success

To laugh often and much; to win the respect of
intelligent people and affection of children; to learn the
appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of
false friends; to appreciate beauty; to find the best in
others; to leave the world a little bit better, whether by
a healhty child, a garden patch, or a redeemed social
condition; to know even one life has breathed easier
because you have lived.  This is to have succeeded.

Friendship Quotes

Travel Quotes

The traveler see what he sees; the tripper sees what he has come to see. - G.K. Chesterton ♠ The only aspect of our travels that is guaranteed to hold an audience is disaster. - Martha Gellman ♠ The traveler must be born again on the road, and earn a passport from the elements. - Henry David Thoreau ♠ On a long journey even a straw weighs heavy. - Spanish Proverb ♠ Someone said to Socrates that a certain man had grown no better by his travels. "I should think not," he said; "He took himself along with him. - Mich de Montaigne ♠ Travel is the most private of pleasures. There is no greater bore than the travel bore. We do not in the least want to hear what he has seen in Hong Kong. - Vita Sackville-West ♠ Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness. - Mark Twain ♠ Most of my treasured memories of travel are recollections of sitting. - Robert Thomas Allen ♠ I was once asked if I’d like to meet the president of a certain country. I said, "No. But I’d love to meet some sheepherders." The sheepherders, farmers and taxi drivers are often the most fascinating people. - James Michener ♠ A traveler. I love his title. A traveler is to be reverenced as such. His profession is the best symbol of our life. Going from – toward; it is the history of every one of us. - Henry David Thoreau ♠

Inspirational Quotes

Somewhere in the world someone is training when you are not.  When you play him, he will win. ♣ All international athletes wake up in the morning feeling tired and go to bed feeling very tired. ♣ Records are made to be broken. ♣ The human body can do so much.  Then the heart and spirit must take over. ♣ I just want to make sure it's living hell for anyone out there who's going to beat me. ♣ Believe in yourself, know yourself, deny yourself, and be humble. ♣ Serious sport has nothing to do with fair play. It is bound up with hatred, jealousy, boastfulness, disregard of al rules and sadistic pleasure in witnessing violence: in other words it is war minus the shooting. - George Orwell ♣ Sweat plus sacrifice equals success – Charlie Finley ♣ Other people may not have had high expectations for me…but I had high expectations for myself – Shannon Miller ♣ I’ll always be Number 1 to myself – Moses Malone ♣ Success is a journey not a destination. The doing is usually more important than the outcome. Not everyone can be Number 1 – Arthur Ashe ♣ The man who can drive himself further once the effort gets painful is the man who will win – Roger Bannister ♣ In concentrating you have to wipe everything out of your mind but…the ball. Nothing but the ball. Glue your eyes to it. Marry it. Don’t let it get out of your sight. Never mind your opponent, the weather, or anything. Nothing but the ball. Make that ball an obsession. If you can get yourself into that trance, pressure won’t intrude. It’s just you and the ball – Rod Laver ♣ The principle [is] competing against yourself. It’s about self-improvement, about being better than you were the day before. – Steve Young ♣ Every athletic career, no matter how modest or lofty, is a journey. – Dan Millman ♣ Part of being a champ is acting like a champ. You have to learn how to win and not run away when you lose…Everyone has bad stretches and real successes. Either way, you have to be careful not to lose your confidence or get too confident. – Nancy Kerrigan ♣ To go beyond is as wrong as to fall short. – Confucius ♣ I go into the locker room and find a corner by myself and just sit there. I try to achieve a peaceful state of nothingness that will carry over onto the golf course. If I get that feeling of quiet and obliviousness within myself, I feel I can’t lose. – Jane Blalock ♣ Sports do not build character. They reveal it. – Heywood Hale Broun ♣ We all have dreams. But in order to make dreams into reality, it takes an awful lot of determination, dedication, self-discipline, and effort. – Jesse Owens ♣ When anyone tells me I can’t do anything…I’m just not listening any more. – Florence Griffith Joyner ♣ Desire! That’s the one secret of every man’s career. Not education. Not being born with hidden talents. Desire. – Bobby Unser ♣ I remember when I was in college, people told me I couldn’t play in the NBA. There’s always somebody saying you can’t do it, and those people have to be ignored. – Bill Cartwright ♣ I am willing to put myself through anything; temporary pain or discomfort means nothing to me as long as I can see that the experience will take me to a new level. I am interested in the unknown, and the only path to the unknown is through breaking barriers, an often-painful process. - Diana Nyad ♣ I have never given up, even when people told me I’d never make it. – Bob Wickman ♣ If you want to achieve a high goal, you’re going to have to take some chances…Is taking the risk worth it? That depends on your philosophy of life. You realize that striving and giving it your all, but falling a bit short, is going to help you more than never having taken that risk. – Alberto Salazar ♣ You have to expect things of yourself before you can do them. – Michael Jordan ♣ I train myself with visualization. The morning of a tournament, before I put my feet on the floor, I visualize making perfect runs with emphasis on technique, all the way through to what my personal best is in practice…The more you work with this type of visualization, especially when you do it on a day-to-day basis, you’ll actually begin to feel your muscles contracting at the appropriate times. – Camille Duvall ♣ There is a difference between conceit and confidence…Conceit is bragging about yourself. Confidence means you believe you can get the job done. – Johnny Unitas ♣ I honestly believed I would make it. I had the desire. A lot of people have the ability, but they don’t put forth the effort. – Joe Carter ♣ Games lubricate the body and the mind. – Benjamin Franklin ♣ Winning has a joy and discrete purity to it that cannot be replaced by anything else. Winning is important to any man’s or woman’s sense of satisfaction and well-being. Winning is not everything; but it is something powerful, indeed beautiful, in itself, something as necessary to the strong spirit as striving is necessary to the healthy character. – A. Bartlett Giamatti ♣ There’s always the motivation of wanting to win. Everybody has that. But a champion needs, in his attitude, a motivation above and beyond winning. – Pat Riley ♣ I can’t concern myself with what’s going on with the club or what the media is writing. If you pay attention to those things, that’s when you get yourself into trouble. – Don Mattingly ♣ In sport, mental imagery is used primarily to help you get the best out of yourself in training and competition. The developing athletes who make the fastest progress and those who ultimately become their best make extensive use of mental imagery. They use it daily as a means of directing what will happen in training, and as a way of pre-experiencing their best competition performances. – Terry Orlick ♣