“Why should we make account of time, or of magnitude, or of figure? The soul knows how to play with them as a young child plays with graybeards and in churches.”

— Ralph Waldo Emerson

1840s, Essays: First Series (1841), History

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Ralph Waldo Emerson 727

American philosopher, essayist, and poet 1803–1882

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“The Geschick of being: a child that plays… Why does it play, the great child of the world-play Heraclitus brought into view in the aiôn? It plays, because it plays. The "because" withers away in the play. The play is without "why."”

Martin Heidegger (1889–1976) German philosopher

The Principle of Reason (1955–1956) as translated by Reginald Lilly (1991) 
Context: The Geschick of being: a child that plays... Why does it play, the great child of the world-play Heraclitus brought into view in the aiôn? It plays, because it plays. The "because" withers away in the play. The play is without "why." It plays since it plays. It simply remains a play: the most elevated and the most profound. But this "simply" is everything, the one, the only... The question remains whether and how we, hearing the movements of this play, play along and accommodate ourselves to the play.

“We are now visiting and playing with several planets as a child plays with his toys.”

Mwanandeke Kindembo (1996) Congolese author

“Since the beginning of time, children have not liked to study. They would much rather play, and if you have their interests at heart, you will let them learn while they play; they will find that what they have mastered is child's play.”

Carl Orff (1895–1982) German composer

As quoted in a review of Langley Schools Music Project : Innocence and Despair (2001) http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/4685-innocence-and-despair/ by Dominique Leone (6 January 2002)

“[P]ain is a marvelous purifier... It is not necessary to beat the child into submission; a little bit of pain goes a long way for a young child. However, the spanking should be of sufficient magnitude to cause the child to cry genuinely.”

James Dobson (1936) Evangelical Christian psychologist, author, and radio broadcaster.

From Dare to Discipline, pages 6 and 7
1970s

“Eternity is a child playing, playing checkers; the kingdom belongs to a child.”

Heraclitus (-535) pre-Socratic Greek philosopher

Quoted by Hippolytus, Refutation of all heresies, IX, 9, 4 (Fragment 52), as translated in Reality (1994), by Carl Avren Levenson and Jonathan Westphal, p. 10
Variants:
History is a child building a sand-castle by the sea, and that child is the whole majesty of man’s power in the world.
As quoted in Contemporary Literature in Translation (1976), p. 21
A lifetime is a child playing, playing checkers; the kingdom belongs to a child.
As quoted in The Beginning of All Wisdom: Timeless Advice from the Ancient Greeks (2003) by Steven Stavropoulos, p. 95
Time is a game played beautifully by children.
As quoted in Fragments (2001) translated by Brooks Haxton
Lifetime is a child at play, moving pieces in a game. Kingship belongs to the child.
As quoted in The Art and Thought of Heraclitus (1979) translated by Charles H. Kahn

“At times discretion should be thrown aside, and with the foolish we should play the fool.”

Menander (-342–-291 BC) Athenian playwright of New Comedy

Those Offered for Sale, fragment 421.

“We don't play with action figures at the Palace Of Wisdom.”

John Hennigan (1979) American professional wrestler

The Palace Of Wisdom
Variant: We don't like snakes in the Palace of Wisdom.

“The concentration of a small child at play is analogous to the concentration of the artist of any discipline. In real play, which is real concentration, the child is not only outside time, he is outside himself.”

Madeleine L'Engle (1918–2007) American writer

Section 1.3 
The Crosswicks Journal, A Circle of Quiet (1972)
Context: The concentration of a small child at play is analogous to the concentration of the artist of any discipline. In real play, which is real concentration, the child is not only outside time, he is outside himself. He has thrown himself completely into whatever it is he is doing. A child playing a game, building a sand castle, painting a picture, is completely in what he is doing. His self-consciousness is gone; his consciousness is wholly focused outside himself.

“When I played drunks I had to remain sober because I didn't know how to play them when I was drunk.”

Richard Burton (1925–1984) Welsh actor

In Mark Pollman Bottled Wisdom: Over 1,000 Spirited Quotations & Anecdotes http://books.google.com/books?id=fM3CO-2nW7sC&pg=PA146, Wildstone Media, 1 January 1998, p. 146,

“Since religion is not a child’s play, it has got the power to arouse the minds of all the people, young and old alike.”

Mwanandeke Kindembo (1996) Congolese author

“Why should we make account of time, or of magnitude, or of figure? The soul knows how to play with them as a young child plays with graybeards and in churches.”

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Ralph Waldo Emerson 727

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