The history of a species, or any natural phenomenon that requires unbroken continuity in a world of trouble, works like a batting streak. All are games of a gambler playing with a limited stake against a house with infinite resources. The gambler must eventually go bust. His aim can only be to stick around as long as possible, to have some fun while he's at it, and, if he happens to be a moral agent as well, to worry about staying the course with honor.
--
"The Streak of Streaks", pp. 186–187; originally published in The New York Review of Books (1988-08-18)Stephen Jay Gould
» Stephen Jay Gould - all quotes »
A man, a real man, must never be an agent, a tool, or a gambler—acting for himself or for others—he must employ such. A real man—a financier—was never a tool. He used tools. He created. He led.
Theodore Dreiser
The Nefertiti bust is one of the most popular art works in the world. It is printed on scarves and molded in necklace pendants and coffee-table miniatures. But never in my experience is the bust exactly reproduced. The copyist softens it, feminizes it and humanizes it. The actual bust is intolerably severe. It is too uncanny an object for domestic display. Even art books lie. The bust is usually posed in profile or at an angle, so that the missing left pupil is hidden or shadowed. What happened to the eye?
Camille Paglia
You always said the cards would never do you wrong.
The trick you said was never play the game too long.
A gambler's share.
The only risk that you would take.
The only loss you could forsake
The only bluff you couldn't fake.Bob Seger
The importance of Akhmatova's works in the Russian poetic tradition can scarcely be exaggerated. These works also hold a place of honor in the history of artistic engagement of moral responsibility.
Anna Akhmatova
He was never a stock gambler. He had no more to do with Black Friday than you had.
Jay Gould
Gould, Stephen Jay
Govorov, Leonid
A
B
C
D
E
F
G
H
I
J
K
L
M
N
O
P
Q
R
S
T
U
V
W
X
Y
Z