"My favorite subject probably was math. I love math. Figures just intrigue me. I was really good at math. English probably was my worst subject. But I used to write a lot of poetry. I used to write poetry all the time"
About this Quote
The math lines are about control. “Figures just intrigue me” isn’t just academic preference; it’s a worldview where outcomes feel legible, solvable, accountable. For someone whose public identity is built on performance and measurable results, math becomes an extension of the scoreboard mentality: clarity, proof, precision. Then he pivots: English was his “worst,” yet he wrote poetry “all the time.” The subtext is less “I was multidimensional” than “I needed a language that school didn’t validate.” Poetry becomes a workaround for not fitting the classroom’s version of literacy, a private practice where you don’t have to win the way you do on a test.
There’s also an implicit bid for credibility beyond sports. Athletes are routinely infantilized in public discourse, reduced to bodies and sound bites. Walker’s self-portrait pushes back by showing two kinds of intelligence: the quantifiable and the expressive. The repetition - “I used to write poetry... all the time” - feels like a confession he wants to make believable, insisting on a tenderness that doesn’t square with the helmet-and-highlights persona.
Quote Details
| Topic | Poetry |
|---|---|
| Source | Help us find the source |
| Cite |
Citation Formats
APA Style (7th ed.)
Walker, Herschel. (2026, January 15). My favorite subject probably was math. I love math. Figures just intrigue me. I was really good at math. English probably was my worst subject. But I used to write a lot of poetry. I used to write poetry all the time. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/my-favorite-subject-probably-was-math-i-love-math-148550/
Chicago Style
Walker, Herschel. "My favorite subject probably was math. I love math. Figures just intrigue me. I was really good at math. English probably was my worst subject. But I used to write a lot of poetry. I used to write poetry all the time." FixQuotes. January 15, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/my-favorite-subject-probably-was-math-i-love-math-148550/.
MLA Style (9th ed.)
"My favorite subject probably was math. I love math. Figures just intrigue me. I was really good at math. English probably was my worst subject. But I used to write a lot of poetry. I used to write poetry all the time." FixQuotes, 15 Jan. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/my-favorite-subject-probably-was-math-i-love-math-148550/. Accessed 15 Feb. 2026.





