Quotes about the game

„Greenberg and I are simply playing different games“

—  Paul K. Benedict American anthropologist, mental health professional, and linguist 1912 - 1997

Context: As I see it, Greenberg and I are simply playing different games and the contrast in our approaches reflects that basic difference. … I play one game and am intrigued by the other but I do keep wondering whether that other game has any rules or whether a computerized robot might not be rather better at it all. But long live both games!

„Love me or hate me, it's one or the other. Always has been. Hate my game, my swagger. Hate my fadeaway, my hunger. Hate that I'm a veteran. A champion. Hate that. Hate it with all your heart. And hate that I'm loved, for the exact same reasons.“

—  Kobe Bryant American basketball player 1978 - 2020

„When I get honest, I admit I am a bundle of paradoxes. I believe and I doubt, I hope and get discouraged, I love and I hate, I feel bad about feeling good, I feel guilty about not feeling guilty. I am trusting and suspicious. I am honest and I still play games. Aristotle said I am a rational animal; I say I am an angel with an incredible capacity for beer.“

—  Brennan Manning, book The Ragamuffin Gospel

p. 11 https://books.google.com/books?id=sUTZCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA11
1990s, The Ragamuffin Gospel (1990)

„I love the stuff and material of writing: words. The games you can play with them. The rhythm and lyricism in a good passage of writing. The power of a simple sentence. I also love the paradoxical bind of writing as both freedom and constraint. You start creating characters and scenes out of thin air. But if you do it well enough, that freedom constricts, because your characters are no longer inside you. They become their own people, agents on the page who need to act and think and feel in ways true to who they are…“

—  Randa Abdel-Fattah contemporary Australian writer of novels for young adults 1979

On writing as a kind of spiritual act in “Both Freedom and Constraint: An Interview with Randa Abdel-Fattah” https://www.wordswithoutborders.org/article/both-freedom-and-constraint-an-interview-with in Words Without Borders (May 2015)

„I'm a stand-up. And no one on the circuit's terribly impressed if you're on TV. I suppose I've stolen my ethos from Jay Leno. You can do all the TV in the world, but that's a team game, and anyone can be dropped from the squad. And if you haven't gigged in a while, you're not firing, you're not match fit. So I try and do it whenever I can.“

—  Jimmy Carr British comedian and humourist 1972

Ed Caesar (February 21, 2005) "Think this is a laugh? You must be joking", The Independent.

„You never win a game unless you beat the guy in front of you. The score on the board doesn’t mean a thing. That’s for the fans. You’ve got to win the war with the man in front of you. You’ve got to get your man. “

—  Vince Lombardi American football player, coach, and executive 1913 - 1970

„I've never lost a game I just ran out of time.“

—  Michael Jordan American retired professional basketball player and businessman 1963

Source: For the Love of the Game

„You can't just avoid the game by saying you don't want to play.“

—  Brandon Sanderson American fantasy writer 1975

Source: The Final Empire

„To make America the greatest is my goal,
So I beat the Russians, and I beat the Pole,
and for the USA won the medal of gold.
Italians said: "You're Greater than the Cassius of old´´.
We like your name, we like your game,
So make Rome your home if you will.
I said I appreciate your kind hospitality,
But the USA is my country still,
'Cause they're waiting to welcome me in Louisville.“

—  Muhammad Ali, book The Soul of a Butterfly

Poem written after winning the gold medal in the 1960 Olympic Summer Games in Rome, Italy, p. 35
The Soul of a Butterfly (2004)

„A finite game is played for the purpose of winning, an infinite game for the purpose of continuing the play.“

—  James P. Carse American academic

Source: Finite and Infinite Games: A Vision of Life as Play and Possibility

„p>There's nothing you can do that can't be done
Nothing you can sing that can't be sung
Nothing you can say but you can learn how to play the game
It's easy.All you need is love.</p“

—  John Lennon English singer and songwriter 1940 - 1980

"All You Need Is Love"
Lyrics

„If a player in the game of Deadman's Catch drops a skittle, he is obliged to suffer a succession of handicaps. First to catch using one hand, then to catch kneeling on one knee, then on two knees, then with one eye closed. If a player finally drops a catch with both eyes closed, then he is out and must take his place in the winding-sheet.“

—  Peter Greenaway British film director 1942

Drowning By Numbers

„I tried out that Buckethead guy. I met with him and asked him to work with me but only if he got rid of the fucking bucket. So I came back a bit later and he's wearing this green fucking Martian's-hat thing. I said, 'Look, just be yourself!' He told me his name was Brian, so I said that's what I'd call him. He says, 'No one calls me Brian except my mother.' So I said, 'Pretend I'm your mum then!' I haven't even got out of the room and I'm already playing fucking mind games with the guy. What happens if one day he's gone and there's a note saying, 'I've been beamed up?“

—  Ozzy Osbourne English heavy metal vocalist and songwriter 1948

[Laughs] Don't get me wrong, he's a great player. He plays like a motherfucker!
Revolver interview; as quoted in "Ozzy Osbourne "Says Ex-GUNS N' ROSES Guitarist Buckethead Auditioned For His Solo Band" http://www.blabbermouth.net/news/ozzy-osbourne-says-ex-guns-n-roses-guitarist-buckethead-auditioned-for-his-solo-band/, Blabbermouth.net, January 5, 2005

„It's a game. What you read is not what's happening. The whole planet is in trouble for the same reason“

—  Vangelis Greek composer of electronic, progressive, ambient, jazz, pop rock, and orchestral music 1943

2012
Context: On world economy: "I see the crisis like a theatrical play that concerns the world – not just Greece... But, I am afraid that it is not easy for any country today to decide their own future... Corruption is another way for just a few to benefit... It's a game. What you read is not what's happening. The whole planet is in trouble for the same reason... Generally speaking, yes, greed and capital. In other words, banking".

„Make sure that you are next year's big success story. Don't fall into the pit of people who have given up on making something of themselves, and make sure you make everything out of yourself. I'm getting too old for this. And when I retire someday, I'm going to want to sit down at a computer and play your games, read your stories, and watch your videos. Don't fall in with the people who have already given up on themselves. You are tomorrow's next big thing.“

—  Scott Cawthon American independent video game designer 1971

„The game which I was now playing in Auschwitz was dangerous. This sentence does not really convey the reality; in fact, I had gone far beyond what people in the real world consider dangerous.“

—  Witold Pilecki World War II concentration camp leader and resistor 1901 - 1948

Source: Lawrence W. Reed, Witold Pilecki: Bravery Beyond Measure, 23 October 2015 https://fee.org/articles/he-volunteered-to-go-to-auschwitz/

„I respect a lot of players in this league. But to me basketball is just a little aspect of my life. I enjoy the game because it's fun. But it is a game.“

—  Hakeem Olajuwon Nigerian–American basketball player 1963

Slam dunk - interview with basketball player Hakeem Olajuwon - Interview, Feb, 1994 by Spike Lee.
Sourced Quotes

„We will never be a pawn in someone else's game. We will always be Afghanistan.“

—  Ahmad Shah Massoud Afghan military leader 1953 - 2001

Attributed in Jawbreaker: The Attack on Bin Laden and Al Qaeda (2005) by Gary Berntsen and Ralph Pezzullo.

„The game is not about becoming somebody, it's about becoming nobody.“

—  Ram Dass American contemporary spiritual teacher and the author of the 1971 book Be Here Now 1931 - 2019