The Abolition of Work (1985)
Context: No one can say what would result from unleashing the creative power stultified by work. Anything can happen. The tiresome debater's problem of freedom vs. necessity, with its theological overtones, resolves itself practically once the production of use-values is co-extensive with the consumption of delightful play activity. Life will become a game, or rather many games, but not—as it is now — a zero/sum game. An optimal sexual encounter is the paradigm of productive play. The participants potentiate each other's pleasures, nobody keeps score, and everybody wins. The more you give, the more you get. In the ludic life, the best of sex will diffuse into the better part of daily life. Generalized play leads to the libidinization of life. Sex, in turn, can become less urgent and desperate, more playful.
If we play our cards right, we can all get more out of life than we put into it; but only if we play for keeps.
No one should ever work.
Workers of the world... relax! </center
“We play out our days as we play out cards, taking them as they come, not knowing what they will be, hoping for a lucky card and sometimes getting one, often getting just the wrong one.”
The World, ii
The Note-Books of Samuel Butler (1912), Part I - Lord, What is Man?
Help us to complete the source, original and additional information
Samuel Butler 232
novelist 1835–1902Related quotes

Source: An Unquiet Mind: A Memoir of Moods and Madness

“One should always play fairly when one has the winning cards.”

From his 1971 World Series MVP acceptance speech, discussing his sometimes strained relationship with manager Danny Murtaugh, as quoted in "Pittsburgh's Clemente Honored"
Baseball-related, <big><big>1970s</big></big>, <big>1971</big>
“You got dealt some crappy cards. But you're the one who has to decide how to play them.”
Source: The Secret Life of CeeCee Wilkes