Quotes about gaming
page 16

Geoffrey Chaucer photo
Charles Hard Townes photo

“I feel that very rarely have I done any work in my life. I have a good time. I'm exploring. I'm playing a game, solving puzzles, and having fun, and for some reason people have been willing to pay me for it. Officially, I was supposed to retire years ago, but retire from what? Why stop having a good time?”

Charles Hard Townes (1915–2015) American Physicist

As quoted in Charles Townes, Inventor of the Laser, Nobel Laureate, Believer http://www.aleteia.org/en/technology/article/charles-townes-inventor-of-the-laser-nobel-laureate-believer-5848255028002816 (2015)

Roberto Clemente photo

“In Puerto Rico, we like to laugh and talk before a game. Then we go out and play as hard as we can to win. Afterwards, we laugh and talk again. But in America, baseball is much more of a business. Play well and you get pats on the back and congratulations. Play bad and no pats and maybe nobody talks to you.”

Roberto Clemente (1934–1972) Puerto Rican baseball player

As quoted in "Roberto Clementeː Pounder from Puerto Rico" by John Devaney, in Baseball Stars of 1964 (1964), edited by Ray Robinson, p. 149
Baseball-related, <big><big>1960s</big></big>, <big>1964</big>

James Clerk Maxwell photo

“We may find illustrations of the highest doctrines of science in games and gymnastics, in travelling by land and by water, in storms of the air and of the sea, and wherever there is matter in motion.”

James Clerk Maxwell (1831–1879) Scottish physicist

Introductory Lecture on Experimental Physics held at Cambridge in October 1871, re-edited by W. D. Niven (2003) in Volume 2 of The Scientific Papers of James Clerk Maxwell, Courier Dover Publications, p. 243.

Babe Ruth photo

“I'm glad that I've played every position on the team, because I feel that I know more about the game and what to expect of the other fellows. Lots of times I hear men being roasted for not doing this or that when I know, from my all round experience, that they couldn't have been expected to do it. It's a pity some of our critics hadn't learned the game from every position.”

Babe Ruth (1895–1948) American baseball player

From "Learn Every Job On Team, Babe's Tip to Success—And Marry" http://archives.chicagotribune.com/1920/08/24/page/11/ by Ruth (as told to Pegler), in The Chicago Tribune (August 24,1920), p. 11; reprinted as "The Game I Enjoyed Most" https://books.google.com/books?id=SAAlxi-0EZYC&pg=PA79 in Playing the Game: My Early Years in Baseball, p. 79

Ricky Williams photo

“[Vegetarianism] changed my game, and it changed my body. I had tons of energy.”

Ricky Williams (1977) All-American college football players, professional football players, running back

"Going Vegan in the NFL" by Kevin Gray, Men's Journal (December 2012) https://web.archive.org/web/20130126012240/http://www.mensjournal.com/magazine/going-vegan-in-the-nfl-20130123.

David Morrison photo
Lawrence Taylor photo

“There are a lot of people who can make tackles, but I always seemed to look for the big play. The big play got noticed, the big play was the one that changed the game…I have always wanted to be the one who made those plays.”

Lawrence Taylor (1959) All-American college football player, professional football player, linebacker, Pro Football Hall of Fame member

Source: The Michael Jordan of Football http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/football/nfl/news/1999/01/29/lawrence_taylor/, sportsillustrated.cnn.com, accessed April 2, 2007.

Nigel Farage photo

“It's the last thing I want to see. It's not a game of the best of three.”

Nigel Farage (1964) British politician and former commodity broker

Interviewed by the Mirror after the EU referendum result http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/nigel-farage-says-brexit-referendum-8283500, commenting on the petition to the UK Parliament for a second referendum https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/131215 (25 June 2016)
2016

Babe Ruth photo
Peter Gabriel photo

“Dressing up in costumes, playing silly games
Hiding out in tree-tops shouting out rude names
— whistling tunes we hide in the dunes by the seaside
— whistling tunes we piss on the goons in the jungle.
It’s a knockout.”

Peter Gabriel (1950) English singer-songwriter, record producer and humanitarian

Games Without Frontiers
Song lyrics, Peter Gabriel (III) (1980)

Dennis Kucinich photo

“You're looking at a guy who believes he can beat a rigged game.”

Dennis Kucinich (1946) Ohio politician

Interview with Will Dana, Rolling Stone (22 October 2003) http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/5938705/waiting_for_lefty/.

Finley Peter Dunne photo

“Sure, politics ain't bean-bag. 'Tis a man's game, an' women, childer, cripples an' prohybitionists 'd do well to keep out iv it.”

Finley Peter Dunne (1867–1936) author

Chicago Evening Post, October 5, 1895. Excerpted in Finley Peter Dunne and Mr. Dooley: The Chicago Years https://books.google.com/books?id=sbgfBgAAQBAJ&lpg=PA125&dq=%22politics%20ain't%20bean-bag%22&pg=PA125#v=onepage&q=%22politics%20ain't%20bean-bag%22&f=false by Charles Fanning (1978).

R. Scott Bakker photo
Jay-Z photo
Thomas Babington Macaulay, 1st Baron Macaulay photo
Bill Gates photo
Raúl González photo
Andrea Dworkin photo
Francis Escudero photo
Garry Kasparov photo
Jim Butcher photo
Georg Simmel photo

“The social game has a deeper double meaning—that it is played not only in a society as its outward bearer but that with its help people actually "play" "society."”

Georg Simmel (1858–1918) German sociologist, philosopher, and critic

"Sociability" (1910) in On Individuality and Social Forms (1971), p. 134

TotalBiscuit photo
Sarada Devi photo
Bill Engvall photo
Subhash Kak photo

“The world is a game of information and paradox.”

Subhash Kak (1947) Indian computer scientist

The Secrets of Ishbar (1996)

Conor McGregor photo

“I love proving people wrong and proving my supporters right. This is all fun and games to me. I love it. I love my job. I whoop people for truckloads of cash. How could I hate this life? I love it so much. I’m grateful every single day.”

Conor McGregor (1988) Irish mixed martial artist and boxer

UFC 178 post-event press conference https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zAAC34JzxS0 (September 2014), Ultimate Fighting Championship, Zuffa, LLC
2010s, 2014

Hermann Hesse photo

“For a long time one school of players favored the technique of stating side by side, developing in counterpoint, and finally harmoniously combining two hostile themes or ideas, such as law and freedom, individual and community. In such a Game the goal was to develop both themes or theses with complete equality and impartiality, to evolve out of thesis and antithesis the purest possible synthesis. In general, aside from certain brilliant exceptions, Games with discordant, negative, or skeptical conclusions were unpopular and at times actually forbidden. This followed directly from the meaning the Game had acquired at its height for the players. It represented an elite, symbolic form of seeking for perfection, a sublime alchemy, an approach to that Mind which beyond all images and multiplicities is one within itself — in other words, to God. Pious thinkers of earlier times had represented the life of creatures, say, as a mode of motion toward God, and had considered that the variety of the phenomenal world reached perfection and ultimate cognition only in the divine Unity. Similarly, the symbols and formulas of the Glass Bead Game combined structurally, musically, and philosophically within the framework of a universal language, were nourished by all the sciences and arts, and strove in play to achieve perfection, pure being, the fullness of reality. ”

The Glass Bead Game (1943)

Phil Brown (footballer) photo

“The way the game is, players come to a football club with baggage. Whether that's positive or negative, they come to a new club with some luggage. Tony's baggage over the last four or five years has been not playing so many games at Tottenham.”

Phil Brown (footballer) (1959) English association football player and manager

6-Feb-2009, Hull Daily Mail
Anthony Gardner's suitcase struggled to break into the Tottenham first team.

Robert Sheckley photo
Adolf Hitler photo

“I will tolerate no opposition. We recognize only subordination – authority downwards and responsibility upwards. You just tell the German bourgeoisie that I shall be finished with them far quicker than I shall with marxism… When once the conservative forces in Germany realize that only I and my party can win the German proletariat over to the State and that no parliamentary games can be played with marxist parties, then Germany will be saved for all time, then we can found a German Peoples State.”

Adolf Hitler (1889–1945) Führer and Reich Chancellor of Germany, Leader of the Nazi Party

Hitler's interview with Richard Breiting, 1931, published in Edouard Calic, ed., “First Interview with Hitler,4 May 1931,” Secret Conversations with Hitler: The Two Newly-Discovered 1931 Interviews, New York: John Day Co., 1971, pp. 36-37. Also published under the title Unmasked: Two Confidential Interviews with Hitler in 1931 published by Chatto & Windus in 1971
1930s

David Allen photo

“Clearing the deck is great, but sailing adventurous waters is the real game. (Just can't do it w/out a clear deck.)”

David Allen (1945) American productivity consultant and author

10 March 2010 https://twitter.com/gtdguy/status/10288329405
Official Twitter profile (@gtdguy) https://twitter.com/gtdguy

Walter Wick photo

“I had so many other interests at the time: drawing, tinkering, building, inventing, games, sports, climbing trees. It took me through high school, and then college to settle on photography. But a half-century later, I'm still staging my shots.”

Walter Wick (1953) American photographer and creator of children's books

My First Roll Of Film http://www.walterwick.com/blog/2016/3/2/my-first-roll-of-film-1 (March 2, 2016)

Rand Paul photo
Britney Spears photo

“Oops!…I did it again
I played with your heart
got lost in the game
Oh baby baby”

Britney Spears (1981) American singer, dancer and actress

Lyrics, "<i>Oops!...I did it again</i>" (2000)

“I'm a games player by nature. Don't get me wrong. Nothing that involves movement. Like leaving my chair.”

Maureen Lipman (1946) British actress, columnist and comedienne

How Was it For You?

Ron Reagan photo
John Ruskin photo
Charles Krauthammer photo
Phil Brown (footballer) photo

“We've got 8 points from 4 games. That's automatic promotion form.”

Phil Brown (footballer) (1959) English association football player and manager

15-Dec-2005, Radio Derby
An optimistic extrapolation.

Chris Anderson photo

“The world of shelf space is a zero-sum game: One product displaces another.”

Source: The Long Tail: Why the Future of Business Is Selling Less of More (2006), Ch. 2, p. 40

Manisha Koirala photo

“People appreciating my performance is good enough for me. I don't care much for awards and have never given it much thought. And anyway, I can't play the games people play to win awards.”

Manisha Koirala (1970) Nepalese actress, UNFPA Goodwill Ambassador and social activist

Manish Koirala on Pyara.com http://www.pyara.com/stars/manisha/biography.cfm

Margaret Sullivan (journalist) photo
George Bird Evans photo
Arjuna Ranatunga photo
Jesper Kyd photo
Charlie Brooker photo

“There was no democracy neither in Lithuania's, nor in Ukraine's elections - rules of the game were dictated by those, who had most money.”

Mindaugas Murza (1973) Lithuanian politician

Quoted in Murza supports dictator http://www.lt24.lt/lt/content/viewitem/1371/

“There is no game in which you cannot cheat.”

Carlos Gershenson (1978) Mexican researcher

Zire Notes (May 2004 - December 2006)

Robert E. Howard photo
Jermain Defoe photo
Andy Kessler photo

“But the stock market is not 1:1-it is not a zero sum game. So those deaf, dumb and blind economists can't find the capital flows.”

Andy Kessler (1958) American writer

Part VII, The Margin Surplus, Wealth How?, p. 261.
Running Money (2004) First Edition

Scott Moir photo

“I don’t think revenge is enough to fuel the fire it takes to go to an Olympic Games and be successful.”

Scott Moir (1987) Canadian figure skater

Interview with Kristina Rutherford for Sportsnet.ca (January 2018)

Ryan C. Gordon photo
Alexander Ovechkin photo

“He's getting wrapped up before the game and iced down after it. And you see that and you might have an injury, but you are like, 'Well, if Ovie can go out there and skate as hard as he does, I can go out there.”

Alexander Ovechkin (1985) Russian ice hockey player

That rubs off on guys a lot, too.
Sami Lepisto, interview in Harlan Goode (October 5, 2008) "The Capitals' star attraction: Ovechkin charms fans with energy, humbleness", The Washington Times, News World Communications. p. M08.
About

Mahendra Chaudhry photo

“At carefree times in early boyhood I chose to believe that life was a kind of ball game, but with a mix of years and perception I learned better.”

Roger Kahn (1927–2020) American baseball writer

Source: The Boys Of Summer, Chapter 1, The Trolley Car That Ran By Ebbets Field, p. 43

Annie Proulx photo
Joseph Strutt photo
John Wooden photo

“You control the terms of the conflict. Make them play your game. Don’t try to play theirs.
reported by Bill Walton”

John Wooden (1910–2010) American basketball coach

Interview on Charlie Rose https://archive.org/details/WHUT_20100614_130000_Charlie_Rose (2000)

Gloria Estefan photo
Jacques Plante photo

“Hockey is an art. It requires speed, precision, and strength like other sports, but it also demands an extraordinary intelligence to develop a logical sequence of movements, a technique which is smooth, graceful and in rhythm with the rest of the game.”

Jacques Plante (1929–1986) Canadian ice hockey player

Quoted in Kevin Shea, "One on One with Jacques Plante," http://www.legendsofhockey.net/html/spot_oneononep197802.htm Legends of Hockey.net (2005-05-24)

Anton Chekhov photo
Herm Edwards photo
Andy Bathgate photo

“When I first started playing, everything was outdoors. They were home-made community rinks. I played one game a year indoors. That would be the championship.”

Andy Bathgate (1932–2016) Canadian ice hockey player

Quoted in Kevin Shea, "One on One with Andy Bathgate," http://www.legendsofhockey.net/html/spot_oneononep197801.htm Legends of Hockey.net (2004-04-20)

John D. Carmack photo
Ann Coulter photo
John Steinbeck photo
David Graeber photo

“Honor is a zero sum game.”

David Graeber (1961) American anthropologist and anarchist

Source: Debt: The First 5,000 Years (2011), Chapter Seven, "Honor and Degradation", p. 175

Antoni Tàpies photo

“The material presence of the work only serves as a conveyer launching an invitation to the observer to take part of the comprehensive game of the thousand and one emotions and visions.”

Antoni Tàpies (1923–2012) Catalan painter, sculptor and art theorist

Source: undated quotes, Tàpies, Werke auf Papier 1943 – 2003,' (2004), p. 26.

Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson photo
Warren Farrell photo
Joe Buck photo

“The Boston Red Sox, and the fans through New England, will tell you they were 5 outs away, in the 8th inning, leading by 3 as Boone hits it to deep left! That might send the Yankees to the World Series! Boone, a hero in game 7!”

Joe Buck (1969) American sportscaster

Calling Aaron Boone's dramatic walk-off, series clinching home run in Game 7 of the 2003 American League Championship Series, one of the most iconic moments in the Yankees-Red Sox rivalry.
2000s

Phil Brown (footballer) photo

“It was his elbow. He landed on his elbow. I've just had a little joke with Andy. He went on and pulled off the best two headers of the game with an injured shoulder, arm, whatever it was.”

Phil Brown (footballer) (1959) English association football player and manager

26-Dec-2005, Radio Derby
Phil gives a definitive answer to which part of Andrew Davies' anatomy was injured - then talks himself out of it.

Joe Biden photo
Satoru Iwata photo
Roberto Clemente photo

“We play too many games with too much traveling. We should stay in one city longer and have a day off now and then. It would be beneficial for the teams, keep them in top physical shape more.”

Roberto Clemente (1934–1972) Puerto Rican baseball player

As quoted in "Clemente Says Hitting Does Not Come Easy"
Baseball-related, <big><big>1960s</big></big>, <big>1968</big>

“This is the way things are, and the Game has been so successful that, like everything, it will get more and more successful until it stops being successful.”

George Goodman (1930–2014) American author and economics commentator

Source: The Money Game (1968), Chapter 8, Where The Money Is, p. 102

Edward O. Wilson photo

“The game minus slow bowling is like bread without butter or, even worse, French cuisine without the sauces.”

Trevor Bailey (1923–2011) England Test cricketer, cricket writer and broadcaster

The Spinners' Web (1988).

Stephen King photo
George Herbert photo

“534. At the game's end we shall see who gaines.”

George Herbert (1593–1633) Welsh-born English poet, orator and Anglican priest

Jacula Prudentum (1651)

Theodore Kaczynski photo
Olly Blackburn photo

“Blackburn also took an interest in the dynamics of friendships between men and the psychological games that can become part of this.”

Olly Blackburn Film director and screenwriter

[Film4, Channel Four Television Corporation, http://www.film4.com/features/article/olly-blackburn-and-david-bloom-on-donkey-punch, 23 February 2012, Olly Blackburn and David Bloom on Donkey Punch, 2008]
About

Babe Ruth photo
Jean Piaget photo
Zach Galifianakis photo

“The only good time to say I have diarrhea is during a game of Scrabble, because it's worth a shitload of points.”

Zach Galifianakis (1969) American actor and comedian

Live at the Purple Onion (2007)