Football offers us a sanitized spectacle of combat that has a clear resolution, which we need more and more today given our incoherent overseas "wars." Steve Almond More Quotes by Steve Almond More Quotes From Steve Almond We need books...because we are all, in the private kingdoms of our hearts, desperate for the company of a wise, true friend. Steve Almond true-friend wise book Something is funny, most of all, because it's true, and because the velocity of insight into this truth exceeds our normal standards. Something is funny because it's outside our accepted boundary of decorum. Something is funny because it defies our expectations. Something is funny because it offers a temporary reprieve from the hardship of seeing the world as it actually is. Something is funny because it is able to suggest gently that even the worst of our circumstances and sins is subject to eventual mercy. Steve Almond velocity able expectations At the end of night, before you close your eyes, be content with what you've done and be proud of who you are. Steve Almond eye done night There's an invisible army of woman and men who really don't get why we give so much of ourselves to football. And they need to SPEAK UP. Steve Almond army football men All readers come to fiction as willing accomplices to your lies. Such is the basic goodwill contract made the moment we pick up a work of fiction. Steve Almond reading writing lying Every now and then, I'll run into someone who claims not to like chocolate, and while we live in a country where everyone has the right to eat what they want, I want to say for the record that I don't trust these people, that I think something is wrong with them, and that they're probably - and this must be said - total duds in bed. Steve Almond running country thinking We are all, in the private kingdom of our hearts, desperate for the company of a wise, true friend. Someone who isn’t embarrassed by our emotions, or her own, who recognizes that life is short and all that we have to offer, in the end, is love. Steve Almond true-friend wise heart The truth is, every sport has been turned into a huge, nihilistic business. Steve Almond truth-is has-beens sports Nothing on Earth is so beautiful as the final haul on Halloween night. Steve Almond halloween beautiful night But something occurred to me as I sped through that dirty shroud of fog, something Vonnegut has been trying to explain to the rest of us for most of his life. And that is this: Despair is a form of hope. It is an acknowledgment of the distance between ourselves and our appointed happiness. At certain moments, it is reason enough to live. Steve Almond fog distance dirty Art arises from loss. I wish this weren't the case. I wish that every time I met a new woman and she rocked my world, I was inspired to write my ass off. But that is not what happens. What happens is we lie around in bed eating chocolate and screwing. Art is what happens when things don't work out, when you're licking your wounds. Art is, to a larger extent than people would like to think, a productive licking of the wounds. Steve Almond writing lying art I happen to love football so much and hate myself for loving it. Steve Almond hate-myself hate football The answer is that we don't choose our freaks, they choose us. Steve Almond freak answers life The single biggest reason I got my stories taken in various literary magazines - and I want to stress this - is because I refused to give up. Period. Steve Almond giving-up stress taken A good teacher, after all, wields the authority of a parent with none of the psychological baggage. The best of them are semi-mysterious figures whose wisdom seems boundless and whose approval helps us discover who we are. Steve Almond who-we-are parent teacher Even a hundred and fifty years ago, football was popular because it provided a manly spectacle that lots of men needed, after the industrial revolution. We went from a culture that lived out doors and expanded the frontier and fought the Indians to a bunch of guys in offices. So football provided this jolt, a kind of exalted cult of masculinity. And it still does that. Perhaps even more so today. Steve Almond doors football men But I can think of nothing on earth so beautiful as the final haul on Halloween night, which, for me, was ten to fifteen pounds of candy, a riot of colored wrappers and hopeful fonts,snub-nosed chocolate bars and SweeTARTS, the seductive rattle of Jujyfruits and Good & Plenty and lollipopsticks all akimbo, the foli ends of mini LifeSavers packs twinkling like dimes, and a thick sugary perfume rising up from the pillowcase. Steve Almond halloween beautiful night There's something incredibly liberating about a holiday that encourages children to take candy from strangers Steve Almond holiday stranger children All language is an aspiration to music. Steve Almond aspiration language It's like this when you fall hard for a musician. It's a crush with religious overtones. You listen to the songs and you memorize the words and the notes and this is a form of prayer. You attend the shows and this is the liturgy. You're interested in relics -- guitar picks, set lists, the sweaty napkin applied to His brow. You set up shrines in your room. It's not just about the music. It's about who you are when you listen to the music and who you wish to be and the way a particular song can bridge that gap, can make you feel the abrupt thrill of absolute faith. Steve Almond crush religious song
