I have a friend who has an appropriate quote for every occasion. While I am forever casting about, trying to come up with something witty and/or pithy for my Facebook status, she’s posting inspiring, funny and through-provoking quotes.
I’ve never been one to have quotes at the tip of my fingers. With the exception of two Warren Miller gems (“The family that skis together bitches at each other,” and “If you don’t do it this year, you’ll be one year older when you do”) I can’t quote movies, I seldom can quote books, and as for Bible verses, I pretty much failed Sunday school.
Still, I decided that I could redeem myself. I figured that since I write about skiing, I’d start with some good skiing quotes. I would stockpile a few quotes from famous people, great thinkers or novelists, to use at the beginning of posts, to provide inspiration and to make myself sound “learned.”
With the Internet, one would think finding good skiing quotes would be simple. It is simple to find plenty of quotes. The problem is that aside from the aforementioned Warren Miller zingers, there isn’t much left. Not much that is inspiring or even funny. Just stupid, or worse, obvious and boring. To wit, check out these less-than-memorable lines from BrainyQuote.com.
“I can ski out my backdoor.” –Merlin Olson
“It’s good to ski for fun, but I still want to win races as often as possible.” –Hermann Maier
Epicski.com asked readers to submit their favorite quotes and things improved a bit.
“Skiing is a dance, and the mountain always leads.” –Author Unknown.
“Skiing is the conquest of the useless.” — Glen Plake.
Finally, I gave up and decided to look for bicycling quotes.
“Get a bicycle. You will certainly not regret it, if you live.” –Mark Twain
“When I see an adult on a bicycle, I do not despair for the future of the human race.” –H.G. Wells
And the great bicycling quotes go on and on. Giants of literature, political figures, even a quote from Helen Keller extolling the pleasures of a ride on a tandem cycle.
Skiers! What is wrong with us? Why have we few quotable quotes? Or more to the point, why can’t I find them? Are the great quotes only in Austrian or Norwegian? Was there no one in the 19th-Century who could both ski and write? How about the 20th-Century?
I beg of you, if you know a good skiing quote, or a website with good skiing quotes, please post it here.
Thank you.
P.S. Since I first wrote this post, I came across a great website called “Quote Garden.” Finally, some intelligent and funny skiing quotes! Here are two:
“There are really only three things to learn in skiing: how to put on your skis, how to slide downhill, and how to walk along the hospital corridor.” ~Lord Mancroft, A Chinaman in the Bath, 1974
“Turn right, turn left, repeat as necessary.” ~Author Unknown
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Thanks for the link! I especially like: “When it comes to skiing, there’s a difference between what you think it’s going to be like, what it’s really like, and what you tell your friends it was like.” ~Author Unknown
And of course: “There’s no waiting for friends on a powder day.” ~Author Unknown
No matter how good you are,…you can always get better. – Scott McGee
When in trouble, do a double. – Craig Panarisi
If you can walk, you can ski. Book Title by George Joubert
It’s not that the best skiers are never out of balance, they’re just damn good at getting it back!
I’ll believe it when I ski it. – in reference to an optimistic forecast.
“It’s supposed to snow.” –Mark Hanson, Grand Targhee Ski School Director