Little children sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men like the Nannas stand ready to do violence on their behalf.

There will be complaints that we are too tired, too beat up, too wasted, weary, whacked, worn, fagged and fatigued to go on. I don’t give a good goddamn about such complaints. I believe in the old and sound rule that an ounce of sweat will bring a bellyful of honour.

I do not believe in a fate that falls on men however they act; but I do believe in a fate that falls on them unless they act.

Approach thou like the rugged Russian bear, the armed rhinoceros, or the Hyrcan tiger,-
Take any shape but that, and my firm nerves shall never tremble.”

Every man thinks meanly of himself for not having been part of the Nanna brotherhood. Every Nanna knows what he is fighting for, and knows of nothing more important. The person who has nothing for which he is willing to fight, nothing which is more important than his own personal safety, is a miserable creature and has no chance of being free unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself.

Our doubts are traitors, and make us lose the good we oft might win by fearing to attempt.

Prohibit the taking of omens, and do away with superstitious doubts. Then, until death itself comes, no calamity need be feared.

Death is nothing, but to live defeated and inglorious is to die daily.

Be extremely subtle, even to the point of formlessness. Be extremely mysterious, even to the point of soundlessness. Thereby you can be the director of your opponent’s fate.

The opportunity to secure ourselves against defeat lies in our own hands, but the opportunity of defeating the enemy is provided by the enemy himself.

If your enemy is secure at all points, be prepared for him. If he is in superior strength, evade him. If your opponent is temperamental, seek to irritate him. Pretend to be weak, that he may grow arrogant. If he is taking his ease, give him no rest. If his forces are united, separate them. If sovereign and subject are in accord, put division between them. Attack him where he is unprepared, appear where you are not expected.

This is the excellent foppery of the world, that, when we are sick in fortune, — often the surfeit of our own behaviour, — we make guilty of our disasters the sun, the moon, and the stars: as if we were villains by necessity; fools by heavenly compulsion; knaves, thieves, and treachers, by spherical predominance; drunkards, liars, and adulterers, by an enforced obedience of planetary influence.

When the blast of war blows in our ears,
Then imitate the action of the tiger:
Stiffen the sinews, summon up the blood,
Disguise fair nature with hard-favoured rage;
Then lend the eye a terrible aspect.

O God of battles steel my little Nannas’ hearts; possess them not with fear; take from them now the sense of reckoning, if the opposèd numbers pluck their hearts from them.

Come, you spirits that tend on mortal thoughts! Unsex me here, and fill me from the crown to the toe top full of direst cruelty; make thick my blood, stop up the access and passage to remorse, that no compunctious visitings of nature shake our fell purpose.

If you go through life without experiencing pain you probably haven’t been born yet.

Hard pressed on my right. My center is yielding. Impossible to maneuver. Situation excellent. I am attacking.

I don’t measure a man’s success by how high he climbs but how high he bounces when he hits bottom.

You ask me if I will not be glad when the last game is fought. So far as our brotherhood is concerned I, of course, must wish for victory, and will be glad when we have taken the trophy, but if I answer for myself alone, I must say that I shall regret to see the minutes tick away and the match end.

Show me a good loser, and I’ll show you a loser.

Nannas play to win at all times. I wouldn’t give a hoot in hell for a man who lost and laughed. That’s why the Nanna spirit is feared the world over.

The impossibility of a retreat makes no difference in a situation where men are resolved to conquer or die; and, believe me, my friends, if your conquest could be bought with the blood of our captain, he would most cheerfully resign a life which he has long devoted to his brothers.

Fighting the enemy, we must be the guardians of all that is great and pure. In battle it is extraordinary how it all comes down to the character of men.

Fathers that like so many Alexanders
Have in these parts from morn till even fought,
And sheathed their swords for lack of argument.
Dishonour not your mothers; now attest
That those whom you called fathers did beget you.

When your time comes to shoot, be not like those whose hearts are filled with fear, fretting and praying for a little more time or a different angle. Think not when you pull the trigger.

He who does not pass the ball runs the risk of believing himself better than others and misusing his critique of his brothers as an ideology for his private interest.

…and fucked them at school. All I know is that there were rumours he was into field hockey players. There were rumours. So I applied basically. He was gone the next day. I went off with their team. It was like so hush, hush. They were so quiet about it. And then the next thing you know…

Nobody ever defended anything successfully, there is only attack and attack and attack some more.

Always forgive your enemies; nothing annoys them so much.

Remember that the opposition, whom we shall have the honor to destroy, are good players and stark competitors. To beat such men, you must not despise their ability, but you must be confident in your own superiority.

God our father, who has led us on to victory, please continue Your inspiring guidance in this the greatest of our contests.
Strengthen my soul so that the weakening instinct of self-preservation, which besets us all on the paddock, shall not blind me to my duty, to my own manhood, to the glory of my calling, and to the responsibility to my fellow Nannas.
Grant to our team that disciplined valor and mutual confidence which insures success.
Let me not mourn for the men that sustain injuries, but rather let me be glad that such hereos have played.
If it be my lot to fall, let me do so with courage and honour in a manner which which will bring the greatest harm to the opposition.
Give us the victory, Lord.

Build me a Nanna, O Lord, who will be strong enough to know when he is weak, and brave enough to face himself when he is afraid, one who will be proud and unbending in honest defeat, and humble and gentle in victory.

If you can play great music then you play great music, but if you cannot then at least play something

Sure I am this day we are masters of our fate, that the task which has been set before us is not above our strength; that its pangs and toils are not beyond our endurance. As long as we have faith in our own cause and an unconquerable will to win, victory will not be denied us.

The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes short again and again, who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, and spends himself in a worthy cause, who at best knows achievement and who at the worst if he fails at least fails while daring greatly so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.

Confidence thrives on honesty, on honor, on the sacredness of obligations, on faithful protection and on unselfish performance. Without them it cannot live.

You can’t run a team without profanity; and it has to be eloquent profanity. An team without profanity couldn’t fight its way out of a piss-soaked paper bag.

In reading the lives of great men, I found that the first victory they won was over themselves… self-discipline with all of them came first.

All men are timid on entering any fight. Whether it is their first or the last fight, all of us are timid. Cowards are those who let their timidity get the better of their manhood.

Carry the battle to them. Don’t let them bring it to you. Put them on the defensive and don’t ever apologise for anything.