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Faith & Spirit Quote by Barry Zito

"Some people pray to a totem pole, some people pray to a sun, some people pray to a god. It all works for them. It all comes back to what you think"

About this Quote

Zito’s line has the calm cadence of a veteran explaining something he’s learned the hard way: when the stakes are high and the outcome is uncertain, humans reach for ritual. By stacking “totem pole,” “sun,” and “a god” in one breath, he collapses the hierarchy people usually build around belief. It’s not a theological argument so much as a clubhouse truth: different routines, same need for grounding.

The intent feels practical, almost athletic. Pitching is a job built on failure you can’t fully control; you can execute a perfect pitch and still watch it land in the seats. In that world, “prayer” becomes shorthand for any practice that steadies the mind. Zito’s “It all works for them” isn’t a claim about supernatural causality; it’s an endorsement of psychological utility. If a person’s faith or ritual helps them show up, breathe, and compete, it’s real enough in its effects.

The subtext is both tolerant and slightly disenchanted. He avoids saying any one system is true, emphasizing instead the believer’s experience: “what you think.” That’s a quiet relocation of power from the heavens to the head. Coming from an athlete associated with focus, mechanics, and mental toughness, it reads like a bridge between spirituality and performance psychology: belief as a tool, meaning as a method, and certainty as something you manufacture when the world won’t give it to you.

Quote Details

TopicFaith
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Citation Formats

APA Style (7th ed.)
Zito, Barry. (2026, January 16). Some people pray to a totem pole, some people pray to a sun, some people pray to a god. It all works for them. It all comes back to what you think. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/some-people-pray-to-a-totem-pole-some-people-pray-100873/

Chicago Style
Zito, Barry. "Some people pray to a totem pole, some people pray to a sun, some people pray to a god. It all works for them. It all comes back to what you think." FixQuotes. January 16, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/some-people-pray-to-a-totem-pole-some-people-pray-100873/.

MLA Style (9th ed.)
"Some people pray to a totem pole, some people pray to a sun, some people pray to a god. It all works for them. It all comes back to what you think." FixQuotes, 16 Jan. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/some-people-pray-to-a-totem-pole-some-people-pray-100873/. Accessed 25 Feb. 2026.

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Belief as Practice: Barry Zito on Rituals and Resilience
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About the Author

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Barry Zito (born May 13, 1978) is a Athlete from USA.

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