Journalists

"When it comes to selling stocks, it is plain that nobody can sell unless somebody wants those stocks. If you operate on a large scale you will have to bear that in mind all the time."

"the public never is independently responsive to news."

"One of the most helpful things that any body can learn is to give up trying to catch the last eighth - or the first. These two are the most expensive eighths in the world."

"There is nothing like losing all you have in the world for teaching you what not to do. And when you know what not to do in order not to lose money, you begin to learn what to do in order to win. Did you get that? You begin to learn!"

"The game taught me the game."

"A stock operator has to fight a lot of expensive enemies within himself."

"A battle goes on in the stock market and the tape is your telescope. You can depend upon it seven out of ten cases."

"Cynics and physics students put it like this:"

"I know lots of people like Albert. I might be like him myself. He was a hopeless romantic, he lived on anticipation. He was always yearning for the next thing. He was always envisioning some wonderful life with somebody else, while grimly enduring life with the woman he was with. If I think about it, I would say that that was kind of the key to his psychology, that he had the lure of the perfect situation, the perfect person. Of course if you're Einstein, you want everything that you want your way and then you want to be left alone. So you want love, and you want affection, you want a good meal, but then you don't want any interference outside of that, so you don't want any obligations interfering with your life, with your work. Which is a difficult stance to maintain in an adult relationship; it doesn't work. Everything has to be a give and take. Einstein always felt Paradise was just around the corner, but as soon as he got there, it started looking a little shabby and something better appeared. I've known a lot of people like Albert in my time, I have felt lots of shocks of recognition. I feel like I got to know Albert as a person in the course of this, and I have more respect for him as a physicist than I did when I started, I have more a sense of what he accomplished and how hard it really was to be Einstein than I did before. It's a great relief to be able to think of him as a real person. If he was around I'd love to buy him a beer ..... but I don't know if I'd introduce him to my sister."

"He was exceptionally aggressive. He said I would do anything to get on television. That's rubbish. The fact is that out of the 10 tasks we were given to do in the series I was on the winning side eight times."

"It saddens me that the game has sold its soul to television. What we see now is a televisual game, and it cannot bear the weight of its publicity."

"Hall: This is all nonsense [and] you're getting all hot under the collar about nothing. It's the Great British patois. All great truths begin as blasphemies, so why castigate [[w:Wayne Rooney|[Wayne] Rooney]], young tender sweet bud-on-the-vine Rooney. Your average ten year old can instruct you in oral and anal sex."

"O'Connell: It's been suggested [...] by teachers that live football should be shown after kids have gone to bed. Is swearing in football really such a big deal?"

"When Steve McClaren said that he wasn't in the entertainment business, I asked him what he was doing in football, because the game is all about entertainment. Fans go to watch their team win, sure, but they also want to enjoy the game while they're about it"

"His use of the English language - especially in football reporting - has made him an icon with the youth of today."

"You would have made a player [...] You're beautiful on the ball, you're creative."

"O'Connell: Let's have a break for the news so we can think about our careers."

"Hall: Give cricket a shot in the bails it needs!""

"O'Connell: Are we still on air?"

"Hall: Zimbabwe. Zimbabwe is a wonderful country - I've been there umpteen times and it is being brought to extinction by [[Robert Mugabe|[Robert] Mugabe]]. The average life expectancy is 33, so if you are not dying from AIDS, malnutrition, starvation, deprivation or stagnation, don your flannels, black up, play leather on willow. Mugabe as captain and witch doctor, imagine him out at Lord's casting a tincture of bats' tongues and gorillas' gonads."

"O'Connell: Which sporting nation would you like to see have a renaissance?"

"Hall: Swearing is endemic in our language. It's there to stay... realise it!"

"Kelly: Welcome to the last ever Fighting Talk!"

"Having failed as an NFL commentator, Limbaugh understands the power of football."

"I'm not mad at Limbaugh. He expresses no shame to the game he's been running for two decades. He's an opportunistic, race-baiting, anti-black entertainer. The popularity of the gangsta element of hip-hop music culture has allowed Limbaugh to proudly claim that his form of entertainment is mainstream."

"And here come the Left Brothers — Al "747" Sharpton and Jesse "DC 10" Jackson — barreling in for a landing on top of Goodell's dome. And this time every black person with an ounce of common sense and self-respect is riding shotgun with Jesse and Al, who have justifiably voiced their displeasure with Limbaugh's ownership bid."

"Five billion dollars a year spent on ringtones? What the?"

"An international team of psychiatrists has flown to Redmond, WA in an attempt to discover exactly what makes Bill Gates tick. And, more especially, what makes him go cuckoo every half hour."

"The Kindle is just the razor. The books are the blades — ka-ching!"

"The Kindle is the most successful electronic book-reading tablet so far, but that’s not saying much; Silicon Valley is littered with the corpses of e-book reader projects."

"You're witnessing the birth of a third major computer platform: Windows, Mac OS X, iPhone."

"People won’t start dumping Google en masse; Google is a habit."

"For the last 15 years, Microsoft’s master business plan seems to have been, "Wait until somebody else has a hit. Then copy it.""

"Incredibly, Apple has persuaded Disney, which owns ABC, to make available all episodes of five TV series, including "Lost," "Desperate Housewives" and "That's So Raven." Each show costs $1.99 — an easy impulse buy if you missed an episode. They play back beautifully, with no network logo in the corner, no yearlong wait for the DVD, and no commercials. (One 43-minute "hour" of TV takes 12 minutes to download with my cable modem, and about two minutes to transfer to the iPod over its U.S.B. 2.0 cable.) ...That Mr. Jobs persuaded Disney to dip its pinky toe into these waters is an impressive development — and a very promising sign."

"Microsoft, as you may have noticed, hasn't exactly been hitting home runs lately. Only a fraction of the population upgraded to Windows 95; much of cor­porate America, having finally got the kinks out of Windows 3.1, has no inten­tion of budging. Suppose, then, that the air gradually begins leaking out of Microsoft's tires. Subsequent Windows versions become absolute monstrosities, laughable bloat­ware that requires 128MB of RAM."

"In a public figure, if he tries to put himself out as a man of great virtue then it is justified in exposing him. If he has a little mistress tucked away or frequents massage parlours, then it's his business. But if he in addition preaches morality then I think he should be exposed."

"Another expression of this tendency is the induction of Muslim divines into Sikh history, e.g. the by now widespread story that the foundation stone of the Hari Mandir was laid by the Sufi pîr Mian Mir. After this story was repeated again and again in his weekly column by Khushwant Singh, Sita Ram Goel wrote a detailed survey of the oldest and modernst sources pertaining to the construction of the Hari Mandir, found no trace of Mian Mir there, and concluded: "I request you to ... stop propping up a blatant forgery simply because it has become popular and is being patronised by those who control the neo-Sikh establishment." Khushwant Singh never mentioned Mian Mir again."

"At long last, shortly before he would turn 100, Khushwant Singh has gone. India loses a pleasant writer and frequently humorous political and social commentator. He was a forthright spokesman of the Nehruvian English-speaking elite, at one time even the direct press chief of Jawaharlal Nehru himself... But he had the virtue of being able to take a laugh at himself, much in contrast to the pompousness and self-importance of most secularists."

"In this eclectic and deeply personal collection, India’s grand old man of letters brings together precepts, prayers and practical advice by prophets, poets and philosophers, and his favourite passages from the seminal texts of the world’s major faiths. The Bible and the Granth Sahib speak to us from these pages, as do the Quran and the Vedas. The songs of mystics and saints like Kabir, Rumi and Teresa of vila mix with the verse of poets like Ghalib, Tagore and Keats. In the final section of "The Freethinker’s Prayer Book by Khushwant Singh", he shares some of his own life codes and those of the rebels and mavericks he most admires."

"Full of spirit, wit and good sense and as free of humbug as the man himself, The Freethinker’s Prayer Book by Khushwant Singh, is a book of inspiration, comfort and entertainment for every discerning reader."

"Penguin Books India has had a long and wonderful association with Khushwant Singh. He has delighted generations of readers, and we are immensely proud to present 'Khushwantnama: The Lessons of My Life' on his 98th birthday,""

"I couldn't give a damn, [he said]. Writing is where I succeeded. I was a flop in everything else."

"I am trying hardest to see no one, because I find it tiresome. I have people descending on me and flattering me. I fall for flattery."

"I have to teach myself to do nothing. In the last phase of a man's life, according to the Hindu tradition, you're meant to be a forest dweller."

"I think humour can be a very lethal weapon.You make somebody a laughing stock and you kill him. But most journalists don't do it. They get angry, which doesn't serve the purpose."

"I write what I believe in and don't care a damn about the consequences."

"...but religion I think should be completely separated (from journalism). I have no grievance against people who believe in God, go to places of worship and waste a lot of time in prayer. It's their business, if they get something out of it, they are welcome. But institutionalised religion is a breeding ground for prejudice and hatred without exception and therefore I have very little use for it and I criticise insitutionalising religion and fatwas and hukumnamas and things like that. I think they should be banned if the government has the courage to say: mind your own business and don't stick your nose into things that don't concern you strictly.That is possible in the kind of society we have in India."

"Indians have sex more often in their brains and not where it should be. Sex is an elemental passion. It's an integral part of our life. All human relationship is based on the desire to have sex. It's human to have desire for sex and when it is not fulfilled, it comes out in *******ed forms. That is why celibacy does not work. The desire to have multiple partners is also normal. Married people commit adultery in their mind - happy married life is a façade. I have a collection of sex jokes, which I hope will be published posthumously."

"I base my opinion on historical evidence. After Guru Gobind Singh's death, Sikh peasantry rose in arms under Banda Bahadur. Then Jats in the Sikh Misl [armed groups] fought all through the 18th century to establish Khalsa raj [rule]. Out of the 12 Sikh misls, 9 were headed by Jat chiefs. In this struggle, they made tremendous sacrifices. If one generation was wiped out, the next generation took up arms. Finally, they emerged victorious at the end of the century."

"Why not all three? I have worked hard on each (stated with pride and an endearing smile)."