--- title: "1 Played Ball Quotes By Walter Dean Myers" description: "1 Played Ball quotes by Walter Dean Myers. Plus more from Walter Dean Myers and more Played Ball sayings from other authors." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/943/walter-dean-myers-2582_falling-behind_in-a-way-it-was-like-a-bunch-of-guys-in_2393267.png" --- > [“In a way it was like a bunch of guys in a game. They were falling behind every minute that passed, but they had lost interest in the score. It was as if they were just a ton behind and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walter-dean-myers/in-a-way-it-was-like-a-bunch-of-guys-in-a-game-they-were-falling/) [Walter Dean Myers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walter-dean-myers/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/943/walter-dean-myers-2582_falling-behind_in-a-way-it-was-like-a-bunch-of-guys-in_2393267.png) ## More by Walter Dean Myers > [There is a crisis involving reading in certain communities.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walter-dean-myers/there-is-a-crisis-involving-reading-in-certain-communities/) [Walter Dean Myers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walter-dean-myers/) > [When we think of war, the tendency is to picture young soldiers only in their military roles. To a large extent this dehumanizes the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walter-dean-myers/when-we-think-of-war-the-tendency-is-to-picture-young-soldiers-only/) [Walter Dean Myers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walter-dean-myers/) > [The most difficult idea to reconcile in war is the notion that anything is going to be solved by killing a stranger, or in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walter-dean-myers/the-most-difficult-idea-to-reconcile-in-war-is-the-notion-that/) [Walter Dean Myers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walter-dean-myers/) > [he was trying to convince himself that he wasn't guilty.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walter-dean-myers/he-was-trying-to-convince-himself-that-he-wasn-t-guilty/) [Walter Dean Myers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walter-dean-myers/) > [Within the black community, roughly 60 percent of children are born to single moms. Moms don't have the emotional wherewithal to deal with their…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walter-dean-myers/within-the-black-community-roughly-60-percent-of-children-are-born-to/) [Walter Dean Myers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walter-dean-myers/) > [“pain is the only real emotion. Everything else can be taken away. Love,happiness,joy can always be taken away. Even old sadness can be dissipated…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walter-dean-myers/pain-is-the-only-real-emotion-everything-else-can-be-taken-away-love/) [Walter Dean Myers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walter-dean-myers/) > [“People who want to hate you can find something in you they don't like. They have a talent for doing that.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walter-dean-myers/people-who-want-to-hate-you-can-find-something-in-you-they-don-t-like/) [Walter Dean Myers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walter-dean-myers/) > [One of the lessons learned during the Vietnam War was that the depiction of wounded soldiers, of coffins stacked higher than their living guards,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walter-dean-myers/one-of-the-lessons-learned-during-the-vietnam-war-was-that-the/) [Walter Dean Myers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walter-dean-myers/) > [I am very much interested in getting parents to read to children, and trying to get people mentoring children. If I can do both…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walter-dean-myers/i-am-very-much-interested-in-getting-parents-to-read-to-children-and/) [Walter Dean Myers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walter-dean-myers/) > [We need to tell kids flat out: reading is not optional.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walter-dean-myers/we-need-to-tell-kids-flat-out-reading-is-not-optional/) [Walter Dean Myers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walter-dean-myers/) > [We need to tell young people that America was built by men and women of all colors and that the future of this country…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walter-dean-myers/we-need-to-tell-young-people-that-america-was-built-by-men-and-women/) [Walter Dean Myers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walter-dean-myers/) > [“Sometimes everybody touches in the dark. You touch to see what you can stand to touch, what you can to feel with your fingers…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walter-dean-myers/sometimes-everybody-touches-in-the-dark-you-touch-to-see-what-you-can/) [Walter Dean Myers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walter-dean-myers/) > [Yeah, that's funny, huh?...Something hurts you real bad and you get used to it. Like being hurt becomes part of who you are.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walter-dean-myers/yeah-that-s-funny-huh-something-hurts-you-real-bad-and-you-get-used/) [Walter Dean Myers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walter-dean-myers/) > [“Love came to me, but it Just wasn't for me. It touched my heart and left it Lying on the shore, and Love smiled…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walter-dean-myers/love-came-to-me-but-it-just-wasn-t-for-me-it-touched-my-heart-and/) [Walter Dean Myers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walter-dean-myers/) > [“That night the mosquitoes ate us up. I had bites all over my body. Back home I thought mosquitoes never bit black people. Not…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walter-dean-myers/that-night-the-mosquitoes-ate-us-up-i-had-bites-all-over-my-body-back/) [Walter Dean Myers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walter-dean-myers/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "ItemList", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/played-ball/walter-dean-myers/#itemlist", "name": "1 Played Ball Quotes By Walter Dean Myers", "numberOfItems": 1, "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“In a way it was like a bunch of guys in a game. They were falling behind every minute that passed, but they had lost interest in the score. It was as if they were just a ton behind and had given up on the win. And maybe deep inside they didn't want to peep the score, maybe they knew what was happening but just didn't want to think about it anymore. I could understand that. I had played enough ball in my life, and was deep enough into my game to know I had to be in the hunt for a win or I could lose who I was. And once I lost who I was, my inner me, then all the CDs and all the iPods and all the bling in the world wasn't going to make it right. The strange thing was that everybody was feeling the same thing, that there was a huge game going on, and that the game was going to decide who was a winner and who lost. 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