It is a wonderful tribute to the game or to the dottiness of the people who play it that for some people somewhere there is no such thing as an insurmountable obstacle, an unplayable course, the wrong time of the day or year.
Interpretation
The quote highlights the indomitable spirit of individuals who view challenges as opportunities rather than obstacles.
In this quote, Alistair Cooke emphasizes the remarkable resilience and determination of certain individuals who perceive no boundaries in their pursuits, especially when faced with difficulties in a game or life. This mindset suggests that for some, obstacles are merely challenges that can be surmounted with ingenuity and spirit, reflecting a broader philosophy on the power of perseverance and a positive outlook.
In practice
In a motivational speech to a sports team when discussing overcoming challenges.
More than anything else, though, to anyone who would write about it, golf offers a four-hour drama in two acts, which becomes memorable even in the tape-recorded reminiscenses of old champs, and which - in the hands of someone like Herb Wind - can become a piece of war correspondence as artfully controlled as Alan Morehead's account of Gallipoli.
Man has an incurable habit of not fulfilling the prophecies of his fellow men.
It has been an unchallengeable American doctrine that cranberry sauce, a pink goo with overtones of sugared tomatoes, is a delectable necessity of the Thanksgiving board and that turkey is uneatable without it.
A professional is someone who can do his best work when he doesn't feel like it.
Curiosity endows the people who have it with a generosity in argument and a serenity in their own mode of life which springs from their cheerful willingness to let life take the form it will.
Liberty is the luxury of self-discipline, that those nations historically who have failed to discipline themselves have had discipline imposed by others.
So like any football or basketball coach, you always always believe you're going to win.
I don't remember as a kid wanting to do or be anything else but drive something, be a race driver.
A Winner's Blueprint for Achievement BELIEVE while others are doubting. PLAN while others are playing. STUDY while others are sleeping. DECIDE while others are delaying. PREPARE while others are daydreaming. BEGIN while others are procrastinating. WORK while others are wishing. SAVE while others are wasting. LISTEN while others are talking. SMILE while others are frowning. COMMEND while others are criticizing. PERSIST while others are quitting.
There is no shortcut to anyplace worth going.
Most people are fast to stop you before you get started but hesitate to get in the way if you're moving.
We look for people who are passionate about something. In a way, it almost doesn’t matter what you’re passionate about. What we really look for when we’re interviewing people is what they’ve shown an initiative to do on their own.
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