#crucial

Too often we only identify the crucial points in our lives in retrospect. At the time we are too absorbed in the fetid detail of the moment to spot where it is leading us. But not this time. I was experiencing one of my dad’s deafening moments. If my life could be understood as a meal of many courses (and let’s be honest, much of it actually was), then I had finished the starters and I was limbering up for the main event. So far, of course, I had made a stinking mess of it. I had spilled the wine. I had dropped my cutlery on the floor and sprayed the fine white linen with sauce. I had even spat out some of my food because I didn’t like the taste of it. “But it doesn’t matter because, look, here come the waiters. They are scraping away the debris with their little horn and steel blades, pulled with studied grace from the hidden pockets of their white aprons. They are laying new tablecloths, arranging new cutlery, placing before me great domed wine glasses, newly polished to a sparkle. There are more dishes to come, more flavors to try, and this time I will not spill or spit or drop or splash. I will not push the plate away from me, the food only half eaten. I am ready for everything they are preparing to serve me. Be in no doubt; it will all be fine.” (pp.115-6) ↗

— Jay Rayner

#apron #courses #crucial-points #cutlery #deafening-moments

Exeter was, I suspect, more crucial in my life than in the lives of most members of my class, and conceivably, than in the lives of almost anyone else who ever attended the school. ↗

— John Knowles

#anyone #attended #class #conceivably #crucial

We found out tonight how important and how crucial momentum swings can be. I thought we were playing very well. We were doing a lot of positive things but then we lost the puck two times in our zone and things swung their way. You can't afford to give teams momentum. ↗

— Saku Koivu

#crucial #doing #found #give #how

Governor Romney has said nothing about preschool. I think that giving the poorest kids in America wonderful preschool, and three years of it, starting when they are two-and-a-half, is absolutely crucial. ↗

— Jonathan Kozol

#absolutely #america #crucial #giving #governor

What is crucial is there be laws. ↗

— Andre Weil

#laws

As I've always said, preproduction is so important. When you cast the actors, you've done much of the work. Now, you may need to guide them a little, take it up or down, have them go faster or slower, but the casting process is crucial. ↗

— Robert Wise

#cast #casting #crucial #done #down

What's invisible to us is also crucial for our own well-being. ↗

— Jeanette Winterson

#crucial #invisible #our #own #us

Of all the creative work produced by humans anywhere, a tiny fraction has continuing commercial value. For that tiny fraction, the copyright is a crucially important legal device. ↗

— Lawrence Lessig

#commercial #continuing #copyright #creative #creative work

Promoting the interaction of orders remains one of the most difficult, but crucially important, challenges we face concerning our national market system. ↗

— Arthur Levitt

#concerning #crucially #difficult #face #important

Coaches do so much research about a referee because they believe refereeing is such a crucial part of the game that the result may hinge on what we say or do. They probably know more about me than I know myself! ↗

— Alan Lewis

#because #believe #coaches #crucial #game