Sesame Quotes & Sayings

Love is the vital essence that pervades and permeates, from the center to the circumference, the graduating circles of all thought and action. Love is the talisman of human weal and woe
the open sesame to every soul. — Elizabeth Cady Stanton

Stoplights and love can be cruel — Sesame Street

One day the Buddha was sistting with some of his monks in the woods. They had just come back from an almsround and were ready to share a mindful lunch together. A farmer passed by, looking distraught.
He asked the Buddha, "Monks, have you seen some cows going by here?"
"What cows?" the Buddha responded.
"Well," the man said, "I have four cows and I don't know why, but this morning they all ran aay. I also have two acres of sesame. This year the insects ate the entire crop. I have lost everything: my harvest and my cows. I feel like killing myself."
The Buddha said, "Dear friend, we have been sitting here almost an hour and we have not seen any cows passing by. Maybe you should go and lookin the other direction."
When the farmer was gone, the Buddha looked at his friends and smiled knowingly. "Dear friends, you are very lucky," he said. "You don't have any cows to lose. — Thich Nhat Hanh

I really learned the power of the tube on Sesame Street and how it can influence a very young mind. — Ruth Buzzi

Parents embraced "Sesame Street" for several reasons, among them that it assuaged their guilt over the fact that they could not or would not restrict their children's access to television. "Sesame Street" appeared to justify allowing a four- or five-year-old to sit transfixed in front of a television screen for unnatural periods of time. Parents were eager to hope that television could teach their children something other than which breakfast cereal has the most crackle. At the same time, "Sesame Street" relieved them of the responsibility of teaching their pre-school children how to read - no small matter in a culture where children are apt to be considered a nuisance ... We now know that "Sesame Street" encourages children to love school only if school is like "Sesame Street." Which is to say, we now know that "Sesame Street" undermines what the traditional idea of schooling represents. — Neil Postman

The benefits kids get from watching "Sesame Street" can be as powerful as the ones children get from preschool. — Julie Roginsky

In Australia, I grew up watching 'The Mickey Mouse Club,' my son grew up watching 'Sesame Street,' my grandson's growing up watching 'Dora The Explorer.' So we are sort of saturated with American culture from the day we're born, and to those of those who do have an ear for it, it's second nature. — Jacki Weaver

I never let the worst things in life get the best of me.
So take these testes and, ummm ... open sesame. — King Sun

'Sesame Street' is awesome - not only because they teach, edify and entertain kids but because they savvily make it possible to do so with parental engagement, because the show is loaded with references for Mom and Dad. — Rachel Sklar

He stood before the door, feeling uncharacteristically nervous. Hi. Uh ... how are ya?
No, no.
Hello, Jack. I'm back.
Shit, that fuckin' rhymes. Sounds like fuckin' Sesame Street.
Hi there. Off with yer clothes.
Nothin' like gettin' right ta the point, huh? — Jane Seville

With four kids, it's hard to watch anything other than 'Sesame Street.' — Neal McDonough

I wish I could tell you that the Children's Television Workshop and Sesame Street were thanks to my genius, but it really was a lucky break. — Joan Ganz Cooney

He sat down in a corner and ordered half a pound of dumplings, which came in a white bowl with a blue rim. While he was eating, his memory was further revived and sharpened by the familiar taste of the stuffing, made of pork, leeks, cabbage, dried shrimp, ginger, sesame oil. Every bit of the memory became unmistakable now. — Ha Jin

Sustainable scallops with a mirepoix of carrots, celeriac, shallots, and bell peppers and a sesame oil dressing. The recommended accompanying beverage is pinot gris. — Graeme Simsion

I wanted to go to Sesame Street! I remember distinctly running through my neighborhood, thinking I knew how to get to Sesame Street, and then finally finding myself among some scrub trees and realizing I don't know where to go from here. I had to just mope back home. — Trenton Lee Stewart

Some people think that macrobiotic philosophy is no more than the teaching of a diet - the eating of brown rice, carrots, and gomashio (sesame salt), others imagine that it is summed up in the statement, "Don't eat cake and sugar." How far from the truth! — George Ohsawa

I'm sorry. It feels like the moment calls for some humor. You're ranting and dressed like Elmo.

The Cookie Monster.

Whatever, Rashid — Rion Amilcar Scott

Believe me, I know all about bottle acoustics. I spent much of the sixth century in an old sesame oil jar, corked with wax, bobbing about in the Red Sea. No one heard my hollers. In the end an old fisherman set me free, by which time I was desperate enough to grant him several wishes. I erupted in the form of a smoking giant, did a few lightning bolts, and bent to ask him his desire. Poor old boy had dropped dead of a heart attack. There should be a moral there, but for the life of me I can't see one. — Jonathan Stroud

Then Dantes rose more agile and light than the kid among the myrtles and shrubs of these wild rocks, took his gun in one hand, his pickaxe in the other, and hastened towards the rock on which the marks he had noted terminated. "And now," he exclaimed, remembering the tale of the Arabian fisherman, which Faria had related to him, "now, open sesame! — Alexandre Dumas

You'll tell me a story and I'll spare you ? You think I don't see what you're doing ? I've read Arabian Nights."
"Call me Scheherazade, baby ! Actually, she's one tricksy bitch. Who, by the way, still owes me twenty gold pieces and a pound of sesame. — Kresley Cole

I made the transition to directing documentaries with the great help of my Co-Director on The World According to Sesame Street, Linda Hawkins Costigan. She was a gracious teacher, and a wonderful collaborator. — Linda Goldstein Knowlton

Seven Guidelines For a Healthy Diet
1. Substitute low-fat foods for high-fat foods
2. Cut down on meat-eat low on the food chain
3. Avoid salty and sugary foods
4. Cut down on sugar
5. Emphasize whole grains
6. Beware of alcohol
7. Emphasize the Healthy Five:
Raw unsalted nuts and sesame seeds
Sprouted seeds such as soybeans
Fresh raw wheat bran and wheat germ
Yogurt and kefir
Fresh fruits and vegetables — Jane Fonda

I was actually born in New York. We lived there until I was three so I grew up watching Sesame Street and hearing the accent. You are a sponge at that age, soaking everything up. — Saoirse Ronan

I grew up being educated by Sesame Street and gained a sense of humor from The Muppet Show. I'd give my right foot to be able to do a scene or two with the Muppets. — Neil Patrick Harris

Intuition,, not intellect, is the 'open sesame' of yourself. — Albert Einstein

Everyone knows you are supposed to read to young children. Well, that's what I hear when I have my kids watch Sesame Street so I can waste time on the Internet. "Read to your children." Interestingly enough, when you hear "Read to your children" on Sesame Street, they never say, "Did you hear me? Do not watch Sesame Street! Turn off the TV and read that kid a book! — Jim Gaffigan

I always wanted to be a Muppet. So when 'Sesame Street' approached me to guest star, I thought: 'I'm going to be on this!' It's pretty incredible stuff. — James Blunt

In time the whole family perked up like Sesame Street puppets, hoping that cheer, if worked at hard enough, could sugar the living and quiet the dead. — Toni Morrison

He shook his head. Just - beware of Mr. Chu. He makes Itex look like Sesame Street. — James Patterson

I don't really know what it is about vampires that makes them such a powerful symbol, metaphor, whatever in people's consciousness. But I do know they're tremendously powerful. I mean, there's a vampire on 'Sesame Street.' And Count Chocula. I don't know why it's so powerful. — Alan Ball

Work is the open sesame of every portal, the great equalizer in the world, the true philosopher's stone which transmutes all the base metal of humanity into gold. — William Osler

It would be so much easier if there were a secret password, or handshake. Netherworld,
open sesame!
Yeah, that didn't work, either. — Rachel Vincent

Tengo chopped a lot of ginger to a fine consistency. Then he sliced some celery and mushrooms into nice-sized pieces. The Chinese parsley, too, he chopped up finely. He peeled the shrimp and washed them at the sink. Spreading a paper towel, he laid the shrimp out in neat rows, like troops in formation. When the edamame were finished boiling, he drained them in a colander and left them to cool. Next he warmed a large frying pan and dribbled in some sesame oil and spread it over the bottom. He slowly fried the chopped ginger over a low flame. — Haruki Murakami

For me, the amazing thing was entering into this amazing world of 'Sesame Street.' We'd be in the kids' room, and there was a door into the soundstage that said '1-2-3 Open Sesame.' I remember pushing that door open and going into this incredible magical world of make-believe. In one episode, I was playing football with Joe Namath. — Kim Raver

It was a nephilim."
"A nephi-what?" asked Hugh, startled.
"Isn't that a character on Sesame Street?" Peter spoke up for the first time. — Richelle Mead

Dapper closed his eyes and started to say something quietly - chanting. "Gaelic," Lincoln whispered in my ear, sending a shiver down my spine. After a minute or two, the living-room wall started to move toward us, the mantelpiece splitting in the middle, opening up like two massive doors. "Open sesame," Zoe said, her voice filled with awe. Spence was grinning ear to ear. "I know, right! I'm waiting for the troll to come out and ask for a magic password." I smiled at him. Griffin didn't. He smacked Spence over the head instead. Salvatore — Jessica Shirvington

He strips me to my last nakedness, that underskin of mauve, pearlized satin, like a skinned rabbit; then dresses me again in an embrace so lucid and encompassing it might be made of water. And shakes over me dead leaves as if into the stream I have become.
Sometimes the birds, at random, all singing, strike a chord.
His skin covers me entirely; we are like two halves of a seed, enclosed in the same integument. I should like to grow enormously small, so that you could swallow me, like those queens in fairy tales who conceive when they swallow a grain of corn or a sesame seed. Then I could lodge inside your body and you would bear me. — Angela Carter

The popular prophets have underestimated how strange the truth can be. The human brain, that 'perfect instrument,' that 'fabulous electronic dance,' can be our open sesame to an infinitely richer life than we have believed possible. The fluent, liberating, creative, healing attributes of the altered states can be incorporated into consciousness. We are just beginning to realize that we can truly open the doors of perception and creep out of the cavern. — Marilyn Ferguson

'Sesame Street's' genius lies in finding gentle ways to talk about hard things - death, divorce, danger - in terms that children understand and accept. — Nancy Gibbs

What I remember most about working on 'Sesame Street' is having fun in the green room with the other kids while waiting for my time to go on camera to work with the puppets. — Tyler James Williams

The Kitchen





Half a papaya and a palmful of sesame oil;
lately, your husband's mind has been elsewhere.

Honeyed dates, goat's milk;
you want to quiet the bloating of salt.

Coconut and ghee butter;
he kisses the back of your neck at the stove.

Cayenne and roasted pine nuts;
you offer him the hollow of your throat.

Saffron and rosemary;
you don't ask him her name.

Vine leaves and olives;
you let him lift you by the waist.

Cinnamon and tamarind;
lay you down on the kitchen counter.

Almonds soaked in rose water;
your husband is hungry.

Sweet mangoes and sugared lemon;
he had forgotten the way you taste.

Sour dough and cumin;
but she cannot make him eat, like you. — Warsan Shire

I was an exceptionally freaked-out child. My earliest memories are of fear, as are pretty much all the memories that come after my earliest memories.
Growing up, I was afraid not only of all the commonly recognized and legitimate childhood dangers: the dark, strangers, the deep end of the swimming pool, but I was also afraid of an extensive list of completely benign things: snow, perfectly nice babysitters, cars, playgrounds, stairs, Sesame Street, the telephone, board games, the grocery store, sharp blades of grass, any new situation whatsoever, anything that dared to move, etc., etc., etc. — Elizabeth Gilbert

We were only allowed to watch Sesame Street and Mr. Rogers and 3-2-1 Contact! — Rachael Leigh Cook

On the video monitor, they saw Ted Fielding slap the polished sphere and shout, "Open! Open Sesame! Open up, you son of a bitch!"
The sphere did not respond. — Michael Crichton

Kids use words in ways that release hidden meanings, revel the history buried in sounds. They haven't forgotten that words can be more than signs, that words have magic, the power to be things, to point to themselves and materialize. With their back-formations, archaisms, their tendency to play the music in words
rhythm, rhyme, alliteration, repetition
children peel the skin from language. Words become incantatory. Open Sesame. Abracadabra. Perhaps a child will remember the word and will bring the walls tumbling down. — John Edgar Wideman

When I got to New York, I had no place to sleep. The pay from 'Sesame Street' wasn't enough to rent an apartment. I was staying on people's couches. I stayed in the dressing room until they found out. I stayed with Jim Henson and his family for a week, and I wanted to do that permanently. I didn't dare ask, though. — Caroll Spinney

First Lady Michelle Obama appears on 'Sesame Street' to celebrate the show's 40th anniversary. It's going to be a big episode. Yes, sources say the episode gets a little tense when Ernie and Bert ask the first lady why her husband's dragging his feet on gay marriage. — Conan O'Brien

I've gotten to hang out with Elmo, I'm the Fairy Shoeperson on 'Sesame Street'. So hopefully our kids will get to see and hear me as much as they're able. — Neil Patrick Harris

The coolest thing I've gotten to do in the past few years is guest star on Sesame Street. — Norah Jones

Calcium Milligrams (per 100-gram serving) Butter 20 Whole milk 118 Chickpeas 150 Collard greens 203 Parsley 203 Soybeans 226 Almonds 234 Sesame seeds 1,160 Hijiki sea vegetable 1,400 — Alicia Silverstone

Hence King's Messengers and all that. In medieval days you gave a fellow a signet ring as a sort of open sesame. 'The King's Ring! Pass, my lord!' And usually it was the other fellow who had stolen it. I always wonder why some bright lad never hit on the expedient of copying the ring - making a dozen or so, and selling them at a hundred ducats apiece. They seem to have had no initiative in the Middle Ages. — Agatha Christie

As a child I was a little bit disgusted and embarrassed to learn about the facts of life, and did not immediately connect the idea of "sex" to the feelings I got when I lay on the carpet on my stomach,idly humping a stuffed animal while watching Sesame Street. The realization that sex could be something to anticipate happily rather than to dread as another unpleasant grown-up duty came to me in a dream. Nothing overtly sexual even happened in this dream - it was a dream about lying in bed on a sunny afternoon with sun streaking the sheets, surrounded by warmth, feeling satisfied. It took life a long time for life to catch up with what this idealized version of sex could be like; it's still not like that every time, but when it is, I notice. — Emily Gould

There is nothing that 'Sesame Street' can't teach you, if you let it. — Sarah Churchwell

You're an investigator - can't nobody find stuff out like a woman. Y'all put the police to shame, make the little investigative tricks they show on CSI and Law & Order: SVU look like counting lessons on Sesame Street. — Steve Harvey

Tahini Tahini is a paste made from sesame seeds that is very popular in the Middle East. Most commercial versions use toasted sesame seeds; therefore, it is not considered raw. However, it's easy to make a raw version. Just soak 1 cup of seeds in 2 cups water for 5 hours. Drain the water and place in refrigerator for another 5 hours. Then, place the seeds in a high speed blender and puree until a smooth paste forms. — Abby Richards

This is Sesame Street. A place where people, birds, monsters all live in perfect harmony. — Phil Donahue

So, I'm on 'Sesame Street,' walking around with all these monsters, Elmo and his buddies, a whole bunch of chickens, a whole bunch of penguins and a number four dancing about. It was just pure joy, simple, ridiculous fun, stupid joy. There's no irony. 'Sesame Street' is just a crazy great place to be. — Feist

The list of oils with the highest concentration of PUFAs and that can be the most harmful are soybean oil, corn oil, safflower oil, grape seed oil, sesame seed, nut oils (peanut, walnut, almond, etc.), flaxseed, fish oil, cod liver oil, evening primrose, borage oils, and, yes, this even includes Omega-3 (EPA and DHA) and Omega-6, also known as the "essential fatty acids. — Kate Deering

I never thought I'd be on Sesame Street with Elmo and Big Bird. I'm still thrilled. I'm on a high. — Michelle Obama

I understood that without English I would never get far, so my dream was to become a receptionist, and so I started to learn English from watching 'Sesame Street.' — Anchee Min

The only nightmare I could remember was from when I was a very small child, maybe three or four years old. Cookie Monster from Sesame Street had been babysitting me and kept chasing me around the house calling me 'Cookie'. I was trying to focus on it, but at sixteen years old, it was funny to me now. — Jodi Bullock

Never been to Sesame Street but I flip a Big Bird.
And I know "stealers" and they not from Pittsburgh ... — Cam'ron

Atheists are suffering from bad PR. What if Sesame Street had an atheist character? — Dan Barker

Sesame Street is the epitome of children's television. It has continued to maintain the successful structure that was established in the beginning. Through it's amazing research department, teaching has been made fun. This, the heart and humor works for children and adults alike, that's why I'm very honored to be a part of it. — Kevin Clash

Sesame Street ... I think they were all high. With Big Bird, they had to be high. — Pauly Shore

As if this whole thing isn't confusing enough, election officials announced this week that the alphabet on the ballot will begin with the letter R, then W, then Q. You know, even Sesame Street is laughing at California now. — Jay Leno

My siblings and I, we were raised on TV and films. Not a day went by that we weren't watching one of three movies - 'Caddyshack,' 'Animal House,' 'Beverly Hills Cop' - on rotation. Our comedy, our personalities were set watching 'Sesame Street': these really sort of wacky, Jim Henson-y characters. — Teddy Sears

When I did '1,2,3,4' on 'Sesame Street' they'd rewritten the song and made it about counting. At first, I balked. I was like, 'Counting to four? That's where we're going with this?' Then they sent me appearances by other people like James Blunt doing 'You're Beautiful' as 'My Triangle.' — Feist

Open sesame,' I joked. Silence. Apparently, the Reapers weren't in a joking mood. — Jennifer Estep

Some make their worlds without knowing it. Their universes are just sesame seeds and three-day weekends and dial tones and skinned knees and physics and driftwood and emerald earrings and books dropped in bathtubs and holes in guitars and plastic and empathy and hardwood and heavy water and high black stockings and the history of the Vikings and brass and obsolescence and burnt hair and collapsed souffles and the impossibility of not falling in love in an art museum with the person standing next to you looking at the same painting and all the other things that just happen and are. — Jonathan Safran Foer

Take bean sprouts and put them in boiling water and boil for FIVE TO SIX min then drain properly well and bring it back to pan. Blend in salt, then blend in sesame seeds, then blend in sesame oil, then blend in garlic, then blend in cayenne and then blend in green onions and allow to simmer for 120 seconds. — Charlene W. Howard

"Sesame Street" was really the first kid's show that my dad did. He did a couple of TV specials that were targeted for kids before "Sesame Street," but really, it was, it's kind of going back to our roots, when we start to get adult. This show gets very adult sometimes, and that's because of the audience. — Brian Henson

Set the basketball on the kitchen table. Open a cupboard, get out a bottle of sesame seeds, and place a single seed beside the basketball. If you were to reduce the Earth to the size of a basketball, all the fresh surface water on the planet - all those rivers and lakes and ponds and streams - would fit inside that one tiny sesame seed. Add a second sesame seed; now you have all the usable underground water as well. Is fresh water a scarce resource? — William Ashworth

I was coming down off the last painkiller left in my dresser drawer after Autumn tossed my stash. In that moment I was so groggy and happy I would have accepted a date with Oscar the Grouch - and planned to do some serious feeling up on the green furry beast too. Yeah, stooping to pharmaceutical-inspired sex fantasies about garbage can Sesame Street characters - that had to be the best Just Say No drug lecture a girl in a leg cast could ever receive to make her go cold turkey off the meds. — Rachel Cohn

Call me a sucker for a man who had a great ass who knows how to bake a macaroni casserole and can tolerate six hours of Sesame Street a day. — Seanan McGuire

In each of the separate sections Mother would put a different treat - sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, watermelon seeds, sesame cookies, and peanuts. — Katherine Paterson

I expect a zombie to show up on 'Sesame Street' soon, teaching kids to count. — George A. Romero

In L.A., I get a meal delivery service called Diet Designs. I like a nice butter lettuce salad with some avocado, fresh grapefruit, shredded chicken breast and raw almond slices with a sesame vinaigrette dressing. I also love juicing and am kind of obsessed with it. — Fergie

There's the man with his cart who sold me rolls sprinkled with thyme and sesame every morning and then saluted me like a soldier. — Diana Abu-Jaber

My first day of high school, I wore brown boys' corduroys that my mom had sewn Sesame Street elastic into - they were my coolest pants - and a lime green Patagonia fleece that my mom found at Goodwill. I loved fleece. — Cameron Russell

'Sesame Street' was a pioneering educational T.V. show, intended to help underprivileged children. But even those of us middle-class kids spoilt for pedagogical choice couldn't get enough of it. — Sarah Churchwell

The person I enjoyed interviewing the most was Elmo from Sesame Street because he is so unpredictable and he is always eating my hair and my face. — Katie Couric

Sesame oil is probably my favorite condiment, period. — Ted Allen

I was a TV junkie as a kid. I am the Sesame Street generation. — Darren Aronofsky

Other than the 'Sesame Street' soundtrack, which I was obsessed with, the first artist I really felt I'd discovered on my own was Amy Winehouse. She was the first female artist I wanted to write like and sing like and be like. — Alessia Cara

The word that identified what we did not possess was "money," . . . The other word was "votes," so that together "money votes" was "open sesame" to the deep caverns of the American political system. — Viet Thanh Nguyen

I wanted to have a global company, so I chose a global name. Alibaba is easy to spell, and people everywhere associate that with "Open, Sesame," the command that Ali Baba used to open doors to hidden treasures in One Thousand and One Nights. — Jack Ma

Getting a degree, being on Sesame Street ... those were like real accomplishments to me. — Chaka Khan

Most people don't hold a job for 45 years. They pass on or want to retire. I don't want to retire. My real goal is to do 50 years on 'Sesame Street,' and I only got 4-and-a-half years to go. — Caroll Spinney

Even though I had a great deal of respect for children's TV and theatre, it wasn't my intent to specialize solely in that area. I did indeed want to work on shows like "Sesame Street" and I am honored to be even a small part of that legacy, but I also wanted to do characters that had wider vocabulary and satirical humor. — Stephanie D'Abruzzo

Through love arises a sense of respect. And respect gives way to fear. But this fear is different from the fear we normally experience. Fear arising out of love is fear in its most divine form. If love brings people together, its fear that keeps them from falling apart. It is what makes them responsible to each other. In this sense love and fear are but the same thing. — Siddhartha Choudhary

Personal matters have diverted attention away from the important work Sesame Street is doing, and I cannot allow it to go on any longer. I am deeply sorry to be leaving and am looking forward to resolving these personal matters privately. — Kevin Clash

Today's 'Sesame Street' will NOT be brought to you by the number 34 or the letter D. — Russell Brand

Admiral Leonard H. "Bones" McCoy: How old do you think I am, anyway?
Lt. Commander Data: 137 years, Admiral, according to Starfleet records.
Admiral Leonard H. "Bones" McCoy: Explain how you remember that so exactly!
Lt. Commander Data: I remember every fact I am exposed to, sir.
Admiral Leonard H. "Bones" McCoy: [looking at both sides of Data's head] I don't see no points on your ears, boy, but you sound like a Vulcan.
Lt. Commander Data: No, sir. I am an android.
Admiral Leonard H. "Bones" McCoy: Hmph. Almost as bad.'
'Data: [uses a device in his arm to open a door] Open sesame! You could say I have a magnetic personality.
[laughs at his joke]
Data: Humor! I love it!'
'Lt. Commander Data: Spot, you are disrupting my ability to work.
[he puts Spot to the floor, but she jumps back on Data's desk]
Spot: Meow.
Lt. Commander Data: Vamoose, ye little varmint! — Star Trek The Next Generation

The parrot holds its food for prim consumption as daintily as any debutante, [with] a predilection for pot roast, hashed-brown potatoes, duck skin, butter, hoisin sauce, sesame seed oil, bananas and human thumb. — Alexander Theroux

Though I wondered what she ever made of my professed love for and intentions to marry Big Bird, the hottie of Sesame Street. — Wendy Delsol

After 'Sesame Street,' it's a hyper-familiar world to me and I have this childlike ability to ignore the fact that I'm talking to scraps of cloth. Every country I go to, I see posters promoting the film in different languages. 'Los Muppets' - I love that! — Feist

Children believe what we tell them. They have complete faith in us. They believe that a rose plucked from a garden can plunge a family into conflict. They believe that the hands of a human beast will smoke when he slays a victim, and that this will cause him shame when a young maiden takes up residence in his home. They believe a thousand other simple things.
I ask of you a little of this childlike sympathy and, to bring us luck, let me speak four truly magic words, childhood's "Open Sesame":
Once upon a time ... — Jean Cocteau

She's always getting into trouble because she gets bored really really easily. [ ... ]
My mum says it's because Celia has an attention span the size of a sesame seed.
Celia's mum says it's because Celia's identity is unfurling itself slowly, like a tulip bud, and it's a breathtakingly beautiful thing to see. — Jaclyn Moriarty

Soccer's appeal lay in its opposition to the other popular sports. For children of the sixties, there was something abhorrent about enrolling kids in American football, a game where violence wasn't just incidental but inherent. They didn't want to teach the acceptability of violence, let alone subject their precious children to the risk of physical maiming. Baseball, where each batter must stand center stage four or five times a game, entailed too many stressful, potentially ego-deflating encounters. Basketball, before Larry Bird's prime, still had the taint of the ghetto.
But soccer represented something very different. It was a tabula rasa, a sport onto which a generation of parents could project their values. Quickly, soccer came to represent the fundamental tenets of yuppie parenting, the spirit of Sesame Street and Dr. Benjamin Spock. — Franklin Foer