Some day I'm going to have to stand before God, and if He asks me why I didn't let that [Jackie] Robinson fellow play ball, I don't think saying 'because of the color of his skin' would be a good enough answer.

Things worthwhile generally don’t just happen. Luck is a fact, but should not be a factor. Good luck is what is left over after intelligence and effort have combined at their best. Negligence or indifference are usually reviewed from an unlucky seat. The law of cause and effect and causality both work the same with inexorable exactitudes. Luck is the residue of design.

The man with the ball is responsible for what happens to the ball.

The world’s not so simple anymore, I guess it never was. We ignored it, now we can’t.

Fill in any figure you want for that boy (Mickey Mantle). Whatever the figure, it's a deal.

Thinking about the devil is worse than seeing the devil.

A great ballplayer is a player who will take a chance.