“The judge smiled. Men are born for games. Nothing else. Every child knows that play is nobler than work. He knows too that the worth or merit of a game is not inherent in the game itself but rather in the value of that which is put at hazard. Games of chance require a wager to have meaning at all. Games of sport involve the skill and strength of the opponents and the humiliation of defeat and the pride of victory are in themselves sufficient stake because they inhere in the worth of the principals and define them. But the trial of chance or trial of worth all games aspire to the condition of war for here that which is wagered swallows up game, player, all.”

“Games develop personal techniques and skills necessary for the game itself, through playing. Skills are developed at the very moment a person is having all the fun and excitement playing a game has to offer--this is the exact time one is truly open to receive them.”

“Power is a game, and in games you do not judge your opponents by their intentions but by the effects of their actions.”

“Life is a thing to be lived, not spent; to be faced, not ordered. Life is not a game of chess, the victory to the most knowing; it is a game of cards, one's hand by skill to be made the best of.”

“Through your thoughts, you create your own games, and you win your own games because perhaps you have forgotten how to play the real game. What is the real game? It is the game in which the heart is entertained, the game in which you are entertained. It is the game that you will win.”

“Please may this not be a game. Please may this not be a game. Because if it’s a game, I know I’m going to lose.”

“Since when do we even play games?”

“Since when don’t we play games? Games of life, games of death. Games of love, of hope, of chance, of despair, and of all the myriad wonders in between.”

I rolled my eyes at the newcomer. “Hello, Carter.”

“Business is a game, played for fantastic stakes, and you're in competition with experts. If you want to win, you have to learn to be a master of the game.”

““Do you play games of chance?”
“Emphatically yes. The process of living is a game of chance. To avoid chance is insanity.””

“I'm not afraid of death. It's the stake one puts up in order to play the game of life.”