George Orwell famously described international sport as 'war minus the shooting'. But for all Orwell's greatness as a thinker, this was one of his least felicitous lines, analogous to 'murder minus the death' or 'life minus the breathing'.

Gideon Haigh
About This Quote

The truth is that sport, as a human activity, is not war minus the shooting. It contains a lot of the same elements - rivalry, betrayal, treachery, deceit and violence - but the sport form is different. There are no guns; there are no bombs or shells; there is no need for tanks or planes or troops. And the participants are not soldiers; they are athletes.

Some Similar Quotes
  1. There was a clatter as the basilisk fangs cascaded out of Hermione's arms. Running at Ron, she flung them around his neck and kissed him full on the mouth. Ron threw away the fangs and broomstick he was holding and responded with such enthusiasm that... - J.k. Rowling
  2. They're in love. Fuck the war. - Thomas Pynchon
  3. If I have learned anything in this long life of mine, it is this: in love we find out who we want to be; in war we find out who we are. - Kristin Hannah
  4. And when all the wars are over, a butterfly will still be beautiful. - Ruskin Bond
  5. The words ‘I Love You’ kill, and resurrect millions, in less than a second. - Aberjhani
More Quotes By Gideon Haigh
  1. George Orwell famously described international sport as 'war minus the shooting'. But for all Orwell's greatness as a thinker, this was one of his least felicitous lines, analogous to 'murder minus the death' or 'life minus the breathing'.
  2. [F]or all its reputation for conservatism, cricket in its history has demonstrated a remarkable capacity for innovation. What game has survived subjection to such extraordinary manipulations, having been prolonged to 10 days (in Durban 70 years ago), truncated to as few as 60 balls (in...
  3. One keeps looking out for innovation in IPL, but of late it hasn't been all that obvious. Lionel Richie as an opening act? Johnny Mathis must have been busy. Matthew Hayden's Mongoose? Looks a bit like Bob Willis' bat with the "flow-through holes"; Saint Peter...
  4. The IPL, involving the socialist principle of a salary cap and the protectionist mechanism of quotas, is not perhaps the best example of a market left flourishingly to its own devices and dynamics.
  5. Far from marking the end of nationalism, the IPL is the ultimate triumph of that principle: a global tournament in which the same nation always wins.
Related Topics