Neverisms

because those who are discontented have the potential to infect others.RICK PITINO, in Success Is a Choice (1997)

Never surrender opportunity for security.BRANCH RICKEY, his motto

After a successful career as manager and general manager of the St. Louis Cardinals, Rickey became general manager of the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1942. He is now best remembered as the man who broke major league baseball’s color barrier by signing Jackie Robinson to a contract in 1946 and starting him in a game in 1947.

Never let the fear of striking out get in your way.GEORGE HERMAN “BABE” RUTH

Never let the failure of your last pitch affect the success of your next one.NOLAN RYAN, in Nolan Ryan’s Pitcher’s Bible (1991),

written with Tom House

Never criticize a player in public.DEAN SMITH

Smith, coach of the University of North Carolina Tarheels for thirty-six years, tried to inspire his players by posting a “Thought of the Day” in the team’s locker room. In A Coach’s Life: My Forty Years in College Basketball, (1999), he wrote this about a saying discussed in the “Classic Neverisms” chapter:

I genuinely believe in one of our Thoughts of the Day used by our team:

“Never judge your neighbor until

you have walked in his moccasins for two full moons.”

Smith also offered these two other thoughts:

Only praise behavior you want to be repeated.

Never use false praise.

Never let anyone play harder than you.

That is the part of the game you can control.

No matter what happens—never give up a hole.SAM SNEAD, in The Education of a Golfer (1962)

Snead finished this thought by saying: “In tossing in your cards after a bad beginning you also undermine your whole game, because to quit between tee and green is more habit-forming than drinking a highball before breakfast.” With his trademark straw hat and folksy demeanor, Snead appeared to have a casual approach to the game. It would, however, be hard to name a professional golfer with a more competitive spirit. In his career, he won a record eighty-two PGA Tour events, including seven “majors.” His competitive spirit also showed up in these thoughts:

Never let up.

The more you can win by, the more doubts

you put in the other players’ minds the next time out.

Keep close count of your nickels and dimes,

stay away from whiskey, and never concede a putt.

Never room a good guy with a loser.CASEY STENGEL, quoted by Billy Martin

Martin was in his first season as manager of the New York Yankees when Stengel offered him this advice about separating supportive players and bad apples on road trips. “When you make out your rooming list, always room your losers together,” he advised. He added, “Those losers who stay together will blame the manager for everything, but it won’t spread if you keep them isolated.”

Never change a winning game;

always change a losing one.BILL TILDEN, legendary American tennis player

Never give a golfer an ultimatum unless you’re prepared to lose.ABIGAIL VAN BUREN, advice to wives of golfing husbands

Never relax for a second, no matter what the score.TONY WILDING, legendary New Zealand tennis player

Wilding, the Wimbledon champ from 1910 to 1913, added: “The body will usually respond if you have the willpower, pluck, and determination to spur yourself to fresh efforts.”

Never swing at a ball you’re fooled on or have trouble hitting.TED WILLIAMS, quoted in a 1954 issue of Sport magazine

In his “advice to young batters,” Williams also said: “Hit only strikes” and “After two strikes . . . shorten up on the bat and try to put the head of the bat on the ball.”

Never complain about the officiating. It does no good.

During the game I don’t want to be fighting two opponents.JOHN WOODEN

When he died at age ninety-nine in 2010, Wooden was history’s most successful college basketball coach. Wooden’s impressive career was described at the beginning of the chapter and it seems fitting to bring the chapter to a close with some of his other favorite neverisms:

Never lose your temper.

Never discourage ambition.

Never be out-fought or out- hustled.

Never mistake activity for achievement.

Never let your emotions overrule your head.

Never allow anyone else to define your success.

Never believe you’re better than anybody else,

but remember that you’re just as good as everybody else.

(his father’s favorite saying)

Don’t worry about being better than someone else,

but never cease trying to be the best that you can become.

twelve

Never Get Caught in Bed with a Live Man or a Dead Woman

Politics & Government

Shortly after Richard M. Nixon’s death on April 22, 1994, family members began going through the former president’s effects in his Park Ridge, New Jersey, home. When they opened the center drawer of the desk in his home office, they discovered a laminated piece of paper that began with these words:A President needs a global view, a sense of proportion and a keen sense of the possible. He