Beat Quotes - page 68
Her hands came out of her sleeves. There was a rod of blinding silver in each. Before I could stir she had brought the rods together, crossing them before her smiling face. At the intersection forces of tremendous power blazed into an instant's being, forces that streamed from the poles of the world and could touch only for the beat of a second if that world were not to be shaken into fragments. I felt the building reel below me.
I felt the gateway open.
Henry Kuttner
'Satchel' Paige, pitcher for the Bismark, N.D., team which is in the tournament, is one of the greatest flingers, Wagner thinks. Wagner has seen him play. "The only trouble they will have about Paige is getting a catcher to hold him. Boy-that fellow has a speed ball that goes in there like a bullet. I've seen it go right through a catcher and into the stands. It takes a great backstop to stand up to his fastball. Quite often, Paige has that trouble-a catcher who just can't hold him. Then he has to ease down and when he eases down you can beat him. That colored boy is tall, slender and has good shoulders and arms. He looks like 'Dizzy' Dean and pitches much like him."
Satchel Paige
What does it mean to say, "Alright, I can be Black and not be Black American and still be in solidarity with Black Americans.” Recognize perhaps we have similarities, but also, like in supporting you, you might have differences. You might have things that you have going on because you generationally lived in this country that I may not understand. So I can stand here and be like, "I am Black, too, but I will be quiet because right now, this is a different beat. I can learn here.”.
Elizabeth Acevedo
I wake up feeling invincible. I don't check the time because I don't want anything to shatter my survivor spirit. In my head, I'm already in another day. I have beat Death-Cast's prediction, the first person in history to do so. I put my glasses back on, kiss Rufus' forehead, and watch him resting. Nervous, I reach for his heart, and I'm relieved it is still beating: he's invincible too. I climb over Rufus and I bet he would kill me himself if he caught me leaving our safe island, but I want to introduce him to Dad. I leave the room and go to the kitchen to prepare tea for us. I set the pot over the stove's burner and check the cabinets for tea selections and decide on peppermint. When I switch on the burner, my chest sinks with regret. Even when you know death is coming, the blaze of it all is still sudden.
Adam Silvera
There's a knock at the door, and Valentino and Dr. Emeterio enter. This is it. Suspense really isn't good for someone with my condition, and every second of silence is brutal. "What's up?" I ask, wanting to get this over with, one way or the other. "It's nice that something good will come out of this," Valentino says, pressing his hand to his chest. My heart skips a beat, two, ten, a hundred, a thousand, a million, and somehow, I don't die on the spot. In fact, I'm going to live. I'm going to live, live, liv, live, live, live, live, live, live, live, live, live.
But first, he has to die.
Adam Silvera
He'd come up with a big hit in the eighth or ninth inning to beat me 2-1 or 3-2 with a double. He had that knack. He beat a lot of people, but when the Cubs faced Pittsburgh-and I would get five or six starts against them-I just knew psychologically Pittsburgh was the team we had to beat, and unfortunately, I didn't have a winning record against them. I can remember a game against the Pirates I was winning 1-0 in Chicago – a short fly ball was hit to right field, Johnny Callison misjudged it, and then Clemente came up and hit a home run. I can see it like yesterday.
Roberto Clemente
Roberto Clemente was such an awesome hitter. I never knew how to pitch him. You could throw the ball a foot inside and he'd hit a line drive down the left field line. Throw it a foot outside and he'd hit a home run over the right field fence. Dick Selma was pitching in Forbes Field one time and it was a tight spot late in the game. Roberto was up with a chance to beat us, and Westrum came out to the mound. He knew that if you threw the ball inside or outside, Roberto could still hurt you. So he said, "Throw one right down the middle of the plate, letter high. He won't be looking for it there.” Sure enough, Roberto hit it 400 feet, but he hit to dead center field for an out.
Roberto Clemente
When you come down to it, all depends on the final score whether you're a hero or a bum. Roberto Clemente, the toast of the town, disobeyed his manager's frantic signals Wednesday night to stop at third base. Instead, he kept on rock and rolling homeward for an inside-the-park grand-slam home run to beat the Chicago Cubs. Had he been cut down at the plate, the Puerto Rican flash would have been the roast of the town. Unquestionably, Bobby Bragan would have slapped him with one of his patented $25 fines. But Roberto got away with it. He scored the winning run in the face of an obvious skull. Fine him? Heck, no! You don't reprimand or fine a man who wins a ball game for you. No, sir. That's what Bragan said after the victory. We wonder what will happen to the next fellow who pulls the same stunt and costs the Pirates a ball game. Fine him? Heck, yes!
Roberto Clemente
Everybody knows what kind of player Bobby was, but I'll miss him most as a man. He was probably the best friend I ever had in this game. On the buses and planes, in the clubhouse, he was a joy to be around, so happy all the time, always looking for something to laugh about. He had something going on with each player. It's kind of unique in baseball when a person – especially a superstar like him – can get along so well with twenty-five different players. I've never heard anybody talk about Clemente being aloof. Any time a guy would be going bad – say, Oliver or Cash – next day you'd see Clemente sitting by his locker, talkin' to him. Nobody else around – just real quiet talk. Players on other teams used to come to Clemente and ask, "What am I doing wrong?" He'd tell 'em no matter what it cost our club – that guy could beat us a ball game – but none of our players felt bad when he tried to help somebody. That's the way he was.
Roberto Clemente
Now, I do not use that word, "slavery" lightly. It evokes obviously one of the most painful chapters in our nation's history. But around the world, there's no denying the awful reality. When a man, desperate for work, finds himself in a factory or on a fishing boat or in a field, working, toiling, for little or no pay, and beaten if he tries to escape -- that is slavery. When a woman is locked in a sweatshop, or trapped in a home as a domestic servant, alone and abused and incapable of leaving -- that's slavery. When a little boy is kidnapped, turned into a child soldier, forced to kill or be killed -- that's slavery. When a little girl is sold by her impoverished family -- girls my daughters' age -- runs away from home, or is lured by the false promises of a better life, and then imprisoned in a brothel and tortured if she resists -- that's slavery. It is barbaric, and it is evil, and it has no place in a civilized world.
Barack Obama
I get levers and mattocks to demolish the two houses, and train myself to be capable of working like Hercules, and when every thing is ready and in my power, I find the will to lift a slate off either roof has vanished! My old enemies have not beaten me - now would be the precise time to revenge myself on their representatives. I could do it, and none could hinder me; but where is the use? I don't care for striking - I can't take the trouble to raise my hand! That sounds as if I had been labouring the whole time only to exhibit a fine trait of magnanimity. It is far from being the case. I have lost the faculty of enjoying their destruction, and I am too idle to destroy for nothing.
Emily Brontë
My heart was beat, beat, beating. No one, except my mother, had ever looked at me or spoken to me like this. "You are the most sensitive and beautiful man I've ever met,” she said with tears coming to her eyes. I took a big, deep breath. This was just too much. I couldn't believe it. I'd been called stupid and ugly for so long that this was really tough to hear. Once, I'll never forget, two seniors at the Academy had stopped me and ordered me to attention, and I'd snapped to, as we underclassmen were supposed to do. They'd walked around me, carefully inspecting my uniform, and one of them then said, "Is this the cadet?” "Yes,” said the other one. "I agree with you; you're right,” said the first one. "This is the ugliest cadet in the school!”.
Victor Villaseñor
...Little Richard had that confidence because of the toughness of his early life. He used to talk about how his dad [a deacon who ran a nightclub] used to treat him [his father disapproved of his sexuality and beat him] and how he kept his head up. He was torn between rock'n'roll and the gospel all his life and he talked about that too – it affected him a lot and it was a battle that couldn't be won...
Little Richard
As he was going around [the bases], I was applauding into my glove. [...] I have never seen anything like that in a championship game situation. He beat us singlehandedly. And actually that's exactly what he did. He knocked in five runs and we only scored four. I sure wish I'd had a chance to talk to him at first base. But he didn't stay there long enough for conversation.
Reggie Jackson
