Mays Quotes & Sayings

I did work at a mall in college - I think retail/customer service is just one of the most hideous jobs in the world. So I always try to be extra nice when I go into a store. But malls are part of our culture, if you watched any teen comedy in the '80s. it's clear that malls are where we live! — Jayma Mays

Loving yourself is the most fulfilling and beautiful love that life has to offer.
Unfortunately, we're all looking to love someone else..
we're all looking to be loved by someone else, first. — Reyna Mays

Many well-meaning intelligent people have argued since the May 17, 1954, decision of the United States Supreme Court outlawing segregation in the public schools that communication between the races has broken down. — Benjamin E. Mays

I'm not the type of guy to go out and just say, 'Hey, I'm raising my fist to do this and do that.' I don't think I'm that type of guy. I wasn't a leader the way other people may have wanted me to be. — Willie Mays

It isn't more light we need, it isn't more truth, and it isn't more scientific data. It is more Christ, more courage, more spiritual insight to act on the light we have. — Benjamin E. Mays

Come on, when does it come to the point where your name can't come up in trade talks? Willie Mays got traded. Pedro Martinez got traded. So what? That's part of the game. — Eric Davis

I can't believe that Babe Ruth was a better player than Willie Mays. (Babe) Ruth is to baseball what Arnold Palmer is to golf. He got the game moving. But I can't believe he could run as well as (Willie) Mays, and I can't believe he was any better an outfielder. — Sandy Koufax

This reasoning is based on the wishful thinking that genius can only be earned through education and hard work. It denies the time-proven truth that genius can strike like a random bolt of lightning, at any time in any place, even in a humble glover's home in a small town in Elizabethan England. — Andrea Mays

Before you throw it away, let Mighty Mendit save the day. — Billy Mays

This morning I was laughing at my cat who was running up the stairs and slipped, and pretended like it didn't happen. — Jayma Mays

As much as I loved Jackie Robinson, Roy Campanella, Junior Gilliam, and Don Newcombe, I loved watching Willie Mays play more than all of them combined, even if he played for the 'bad guys!' — Cheech Marin

I'm a very lucky guy. I had so many people help me over the years that I never had many problems. If I had a problem, I could sit down with someone and they would explain the problem to me, and the problem become like a baseball game. — Willie Mays

A musical sweeps you along, like you're on a magic carpet ride of sorts. But you have to keep up. — Jefferson Mays

It isn't a calamity to die with dreams unfulfilled, but it is a calamity not to dream. — Benjamin E. Mays

Harvey and I grew up in Queens, N.Y. My brother and I shared a room for 18 years until we went away to college. When we were kids, after our father said, 'Lights out,' he also exclaimed, 'No more talking. Time for sleep.' But we'd stay up late, arguing over statistics, who the best center fielder was - Willie Mays or Mickey Mantle. — Bob Weinstein

I'm kind of a reluctant Anglophile. My mother's a children's librarian, and all of the children's literature I read was from her childhood - E. Nesbit and Dickens, which isn't children's literature at all, but I was sort of steeped in English literature. I thought I was of that world. — Jefferson Mays

They throw the ball, I hit it. They hit the ball, I catch it. — Willie Mays

If what is communicated is false, it can hardly be called communication. — Benjamin E. Mays

I don't compare 'em, I just catch 'em. — Willie Mays

I didn't teach you that. Catch the ball with your glove. — Willie Mays

When I'm not hitting, I don't hit nobody. But, when I'm hitting, I hit anybody. — Willie Mays

The greatest challenge I think is adjusting to not playing baseball. The reason for that is I had to come out of baseball and come into the business world, not being a college graduate, not being educated to come into the business world the way I should have. — Willie Mays

That's how easy baseball was for me. I'm not trying to brag or anything, but I had the knowledge before I became a professional baseball player to do all these things and know what each guy would hit. — Willie Mays

I was very blessed with a good body. Never got hurt. Never was in the hospital. The only time I was in the hospital was when I would get exhausted a little bit, and go in for a check-up or something. — Willie Mays

And my father didn't have money for me to go to college. And at that particular time they didn't have black quarterbacks, and I don't think I could have made it in basketball, because I was only 5' 11. So I just picked baseball. — Willie Mays

The universe of mortgage lending has gotten to the point where there is a place in it for everybody. — Joe Mays

It is born in mind that the tragedy of life does not lie in not reaching the goal. The tragedy of life lies in having no goal to reach. — Benjamin E. Mays

I don't know what we did without Velcro in the American theater. It's a miracle substance! People had long intermissions, probably. — Jefferson Mays

Congratulations to Alex Rodriguez on his 660th home run, milestones in baseball are meant to be broken and I wish him continued success throughout his career. — Willie Mays

He who starts behind in the great race of life must forever remain behind or run faster than the man in front. — Benjamin E. Mays

I believe everyone is born into the world to do something unique and distinctive. — Benjamin E. Mays

For, I think, when I woke up today, with a dream of yesterday still in my eyes,I felt tired in life. And thinking of the little blond girl of Mays & Junes long gone by,I felt strange looking on a field of wheat, and I thought, in a moment I was God and so was she, and this field was us too. So long gone, she goes. But I am still her, whether she comes and goes like all of life, or she stays awhile.
Once, a man of physics told me, matter cannot be created or destroyed. And on
another occasion he said everything came from one point, in the beginning.
So we are all flowers and rivers and trees. That was all of us together. Every one of the past, present, and future. — Derek Keck

We, today, stand on the shoulders of our predecessors who have gone before us. We, as their successors, must catch the torch of freedom and liberty passed on to us by our ancestors. We cannot lose in this battle. — Benjamin E. Mays

I love hats. I've always loved hats. — Jefferson Mays

I understood that my family was rich in love but would probably never own the land my father, John, dreamed of owning. My mother, Willie Ella Mays Clarke, was a washerwoman for poor white folks in the area of Columbus, Georgia where the writer Carson McCullers once lived. — John Henrik Clarke

I always enjoyed playing ball, and it didn't matter to me whether I played with white kids or black. I never understood why an issue was made of who I played with, and I never felt comfortable, when I grew up, telling other people how to act. — Willie Mays

I don't remember my dreams. I'm one of those weird people. I know there are tricks and things you can do, but I never remember my dreams. — Jayma Mays

I was a baseball player, I taught baseball, and all of a sudden I was in the business world. Now I used the baseball world to talk about their product. Not too much, just enough to keep going. Just be yourself and you'll never have a problem. That's what I did. — Willie Mays

It isn't a disgrace not to reach the stars, but it is a disgrace to have no stars to reach for. — Benjamin E. Mays

Failure isn't in not reaching your goal but in having no goal to reach. — Benjamin E. Mays

I think I was the best baseball player I ever saw. — Willie Mays

Man is what his dreams are. — Benjamin E. Mays

The tragedy of life is not found in failure but complacency. Not in you doing too much, but doing too little. Not in you living above your means, but below your capacity. It's not failure but aiming too low, that is life's greatest tragedy. — Benjamin E. Mays

When so much is lost, heroes are found. — Lydia Criss Mays

Is it demonstratable? Does it have that wow factor? Is it easy to use? Is it priced right? — Billy Mays

Maybe I was born to play ball. Maybe I truly was. — Willie Mays

If you can do that - if you run, hit, run the bases, hit with power, field, throw and do all other things that are part of the game - then you're a good ballplayer. — Willie Mays

I'm not sure what the hell charisma is, but I get the feeling it's Willie Mays. — Ted Kluszewski

People talk about that catch and, I've said this many times, that I've made better catches than that many times in regular season. But of course in my time, you didn't have a lot of television during the regular season. A lot of people didn't see me do a lot of things. — Willie Mays

I feel really content in my 30s actually. I don't feel like the wisest person in the world but I definitely don't worry or stress like I used to. — Jayma Mays

Whatever you do,strive to do it so well that no man living and no man dead and no man yet to be born could do it any better. — Benjamin E. Mays

Defense to me is the key to playing baseball. — Willie Mays

Broken! Busted! Everybody has something to repair. Before buying new, let Mighty Putty fix it for you. — Billy Mays

I was really across-the-board, like a nutcase. I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life, so I just did everything. I was even part of FHA, Future Homemakers of America. How lost was I? — Jayma Mays

Willie Mays was the best baseball player I ever saw. He could do anything. — Doug Harvey

I meant what I said, Mays. I love you. So damn much. And you'll wake up in the morning and realize you threw away something fucking perfect for NOTHING! — A Meredith Walters

This. I can't keep doing this. I can't keep pretending that I don't want you. That I can handle seeing other guys watch you and look at you. Jesus, Mays, I wanted to beat the shit out of Gio! And I would have! I see fucking red when another guy even breathes in your direction! I can't keep lying to myself that I don't care about you. Because I do. SO damn much. — A Meredith Walters

The tragedy of life is often not in our failure, but rather in our complacency; not in our doing too much, but rather in our doing too little; not in our living above our ability, but rather in our living below our capacities. — Benjamin E. Mays

I was a big fan of 'The Smurfs' growing up, even though by default - my mom used to force me to watch because she was a 'Smurfs' fan. — Jayma Mays

It matters to me, Mays. It matters a lot. I don't like seeing some other guy touching you. Not when it should be me touching you — A Meredith Walters

In this perilous world, if a black boy wanted to live a halfway normal life and die a natural death he had to learn early the art of how to get along with white folks. — Benjamin E. Mays

I don't know what Joe (DiMaggio)
wanted (in regards to being called 'the greatest living ballplayer'), but I don't have a problem, if he wanted to do that. He was my hero. Joe
was the best all-around player. Joe
was the best. I only played against him once, in the '51 Series. — Willie Mays

Since baseball time is measured only in outs, all you have to do is succeed utterly; keep hitting, keep the rally alive, and you have defeated time. You remain forever young. Sitting in the stands, we sense this, if only dimly. The players below us - Mays, DiMaggio, Ruth, Snodgrass - swim and blur in memory, the ball floats over to Terry Turner, and the end of this game may never come. — Roger Angell

They invented the All-Star game for Willie Mays. — Ted Williams

Vic Wertz once hit a ball rather famously that was later described as such: 'It would have been a home run in any other park - including Yellowstone.' Instead, he's remembered as the guy who got robbed by Willie Mays' spectacular catch during the 1954 World Series between the Indians and the Giants, a play that remains one of the game's all-time greatest defensive efforts. What people often forget about Wertz is that his greatest battle wasn't that one at bat, and that one out never defined his career. He was stricken with polio in 1955, and after 74 games his season was over and his career was hanging in the balance. 'The Catch' by Willie Mays couldn't keep him down, and neither could polio - he came back in 1956, and despite playing in only 136 games he belted 32 home runs with 106 RBIs. — Tucker Elliot

It is not your environment, it is you- the quality of your mind, the integrity of your soul and the determination of your will that will decide your future and shape your life. — Benjamin E. Mays

The terror and the consternation of the Presidential couple may be imagined by anyone who has ever lived a child, and suffered that dread intimation common to all parents, that Fate may not hold that life in as high a regard, and may dispose of it at will.
- In "Selected Civil War Letters of Edwine Willow", edited by Constance Mays — George Saunders

I try to inhabit each of the characters as fully as I can, however short-lived they are. But most of my show happens offstage. — Jefferson Mays

The beauty of performance for me is finding details with which to betray character. — Jefferson Mays

I played with Willie Mays and against Hank Aaron. They were tremendous players, but they were no Josh Gibson. — Monte Irvin

Willie Mays could throw better, and Hank Aaron could hit more home runs. But I've got enthusiasm. I've got desire. I've got hustle. Those are God-given talents, too. — Pete Rose

Robinson was important to all blacks. To make it into the majors and to take all the name calling, he had to be something special. He had to take all this for years, not just for Jackie Robinson, but for the nation. — Willie Mays

I have to give Mays one edge, durability. Mickey isn't sound and Willie is. Otherwise, if I had a chance to trade for either player, I'd pick Mantle. — Gabe Paul

I've done well for myself. — Billy Mays

Life's a pitch, then you buy. — Billy Mays

Long live your laundry! — Billy Mays

What you are thinking, what shape your mind is in, is what makes the biggest difference of all. — Willie Mays

With the Giants I broadcast the debut of Hall of Famer Willie Mays. — Ernie Harwell

Writing fiction isn't about lying through your teeth, but more like, fibbing with a little class. — Anthony Mays

The catch off Bobby Morgan
(a backhanded grab of the Brooklyn Dodger's line drive in September 1951 at Ebbets Field) in Brooklyn was the best catch I ever made. Jackie Robinson
and (Giants manager) Leo Durocher
were the first people I saw when I opened my eyes — Willie Mays

I never dreamed about being President, I wanted to be Willie Mays. — George W. Bush

My mom was a big 'Smurfs' fan, so she would force me to watch every Saturday morning. I had no choice in the matter. I would jump downstairs on Saturday morning, 'Hurray, cartoons!' and she would say, 'Smurfs! That's what you're watching.' — Jayma Mays

Youngsters of Little League can survive undercoaching a lot better than overcoaching. — Willie Mays

Hey, Mays," Jordan yelled from behind me. I grudgingly turned back around, my back straight and my face blank.
"Yeah?"
Jordan cocked his head to the side, his eyes burning into mine. "Jaz may be pretty, but you're fucking gorgeous," he called out loud enough for me to hear over the thumping base of the band. He grinned at me and the freaking winked. I hated and loved it when he did that. — A Meredith Walters

I like my friends to be the hitters. The pitchers, they all have the same brain as I do. The hitters see the game from a different perspective. — Joe Mays

I don't take on a product unless I believe in it. I use everything that I sell. — Billy Mays

I was very fortunate to play sports. All the anger in me went out. I had to do what I had to do. If you stay angry all the time, then you really don't have a good life. — Willie Mays

The circumference of life cannot be rightly drawn until the center is set. — Benjamin E. Mays

There was a lot of playing by myself, wearing last year's Halloween costume and wandering around the yard talking to myself - which may account for my fondness for doing different voices. — Jefferson Mays

What's tough is being good every day. — Willie Mays

In order to excel, you must be completely dedicated to your chosen sport. You must also be prepared to work hard and be willing to accept constructive criticism. Without one-hundred percent dedication, you won't be able to do this. — Willie Mays

I had some great role models along the way. My on-field heroes were the great Ernie Banks, Billy Williams, and Willie Mays. I wanted to be like them on the field, and I am so damn proud to join them in the Hall of Fame. — Allan Ray

The great edifice of variety and choice that is an American supermarket turns out to rest on a remarkably narrow biological foundation comprised of a tiny group of plants that is dominated by a single species: Zea mays, a giant tropical grass most Americans know as corn ...
Read the ingredients on the label of any processed food and, provided you know the chemical name it travels under, corn is what you will find. For modified or unmodified starch, for glucose syrup and maltodextrin, for crystalline fructose and ascorbic acid, for lecithin and dextrose, lactic acid and lysine, for maltose and HFCS, for MSG and polyols, for the caramel color and xanthan gum, read: corn ... There are some forty-five thousand items in the average American supermarket and more than a quarter of them now contain corn. This goes for the nonfood items as well ...
And us? — Michael Pollan

Tell me not here, it needs not saying, What tune the enchantress plays In aftermaths of soft September Or under blanching mays, For she and I were long acquainted And I knew all her ways. — A.E. Housman

Leo Durocher was our manager and he brought Willie up to me and said, 'This is Willie Mays and he's your new roommate.' You could see right away that this young man was a natural. He had those real big hands, great power and speed and would catch everything hit in his direction. He's the best center fielder that ever lived, no question. — Monte Irvin

There have only been two geniuses in the world - Willie Mays and Willie Shakespeare. — Tallulah Bankhead

It must be borne in mind that the tragedy of life doesn't lie in not reaching your goal. The tragedy lies in having no goals to reach. — Benjamin E. Mays

The tragedy of life doesn't lie in not reaching your goal. The tragedy lies in having no goal to reach. It isn't a calamity to die with dreams unfulfilled, but it is a calamity not to dream ... It is not a disgrace not to reach the stars, but it is a disgrace to have no stars to reach for. Not failure, but low aim is sin. — Benjamin E. Mays

I enjoy what I do. I think it shows. — Billy Mays

I remember the last season I played. I went home after a ballgame one day, lay down on my bed, and tears came to my eyes. How can you explain that? It's like crying for your mother after she's gone. You cry because you love her. I cried, I guess, because I loved baseball, and I knew I had to leave it. — Willie Mays