Quotes about gaming
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“There is so much hurt in this game of searching for a mate, of testing, trying. And you realize suddenly that you forgot it was a game, and turn away in tears.”

Sylvia Plath (1932–1963) American poet, novelist and short story writer

Source: The Unabridged Journals of Sylvia Plath

Search, Game, Tear, Hurt

“Fighting giants was one thing. Bacchus making into a game was something else.”

Rick Riordan The Mark of Athena

Source: The Mark of Athena

Game, Fight

“For when the One Great Scorer comes
To mark against your name,
He writes - not that you won or lost -
But HOW you played the Game.

"Alumnus Football”

Grantland Rice (1880–1954) American sportswriter

Game, Football

“"Only I keep wishing I could think of a way to…to show the Capitol they don't own me. That I'm more than just a piece in their Games," says Peeta.”

Suzanne Collins The Hunger Games

Peeta Mellark to Katniss Everdeen, p. 142
Source: The Hunger Games trilogy, The Hunger Games (2008)

Way, Game, Thinking

“Life is a dream for the wise, a game for the fool, a comedy for the rich, a tragedy for the poor.”

Sholem Aleichem (1859–1916) Yiddish author and playwright

Motivational, Wise, Deep, Happy

“In the games of queens and kings, we leave our dreams at the door and we make do with what we have. Sometimes if we’re fortunate, we still manage to have a good life.”

Melina Marchetta (1965) Australian teen writer

Source: Quintana of Charyn

Life, Dreams, Game

“I burned through all of my extra lives in a matter of minutes, and my two least-favorite words appeared on the screen: GAME OVER.”

Ernest Cline book Ready Player One

Source: Ready Player One

Game, Appearance

“Hey, Fnick can I change the channel, the game's on." -Iggy

"Make yourself at home, FIGGY" -Fang”

James Patterson (1947) American author

Variant: So Fnick, can I change channel?" Iggy asked. "There's a game on."
"Make yourself at home, Figgy." Fang said.
Source: School's Out—Forever

Home, Game, Change

“Don't be a pawn in somebody's game. Find the attitude which gives you the maximum strength and the maximum dignity, no matter what else is going on”

Anne Rice (1941) American writer

Game

“Just because I tread heavily on propriety's toes doesn't mean I can't play the game when it's of use to me.”

Patrick Rothfuss book The Wise Man's Fear

Source: The Wise Man's Fear

Game

“You can't outwit fate by standing on the sidelines placing little sidebets about the outcome of life. either you wade in and risk everything you have to play the game or you don't play at all. and if u don't play u can't win.”

Judith McNaught (1944) American writer

Variant: You can't outwit fate by standing on the sidelines placing little side bets about the outcome of life. Either you wade in, risk everything you have to play the game or you don't play at all. And if you can't play, you can't win.
Source: Paradise

Life, Fate, Game

“Maybe you should go home and rest," Simon told Meg. Maybe he could go home with her and they could cuddle for a while or play a game. Or she could watch a movie with him and pet him.”

Anne Bishop book Murder of Crows

Source: Murder of Crows

Home, Game

“How do you fight someone smarter than yourself?' Rand Whispered. 'The answer is simple. You make her think that you are sitting down across the table from her, ready to play her game. Then you punch her in the face as hard as you can.”

Brandon Sanderson The Wheel of Time

Source: The Gathering Storm

Game, Thinking, Fight

“Happiness is something you lay siege to, it is a battle like a game of go. I will take hold of all the pain and snuff it out.”

Shan Sa book The Girl Who Played Go

Source: The Girl Who Played Go

Pain, Game, Happiness

“Jackson has devised a game called "Real or Not Real" to help Peeta. He mentions something he thinks happened, and they tell him if it's true or imagined, usually followed by a brief explanation.”

Suzanne Collins book Mockingjay

Source: Mockingjay

Imagination, Game, Thinking, Help

“Relationships are a battle. They are a chess game. And what did I do? I just threw all my chess pieces down on the board at once, and said, "Here! Have them all!”

Sophie Kinsella book Can You Keep a Secret?

Source: Can You Keep a Secret?

Game

“I really can't believe what a state the Pyramids are in. I thought they had flat rendered sides, but when you get up close, you see how they are just giant boulders balanced on top of each other, like a massive game of Jenga that has got out of hand.”

Karl Pilkington (1972) English television personality, social commentator, actor, author and former radio producer

Source: An Idiot Abroad: The Travel Diaries of Karl Pilkington

Game

“This isn't a game for me. I love you, Ivy, and one day you're going to believe me.”

Elizabeth Chandler (1954) writer

Variant: This isn't some kind of game for me. I love you, Ivy Lyons, and one day you're going to believe me.

- Tristan Carruthers
Source: Kissed by an Angel

Love, Game

“The Bible looks like it started out as a game of Mad Libs.”

Bill Maher (1956) American stand-up comedian

Be More Cynical (2000)

Game, Madness

“When the game ended, Mike laid down his control paddle. "So you've met the Nordic goddess, right?"

Aria glanced up at him warily. "Excuse me?"

Mike rolled his eyes. "Klaudia, which I'm pretty sure is Scandinavian for.”

Sara Shepard (1973) Author

Source: Twisted

Game

“And here I am, strapped into a tree, a stone's throw from the biggest idiot in the games.”

Suzanne Collins The Hunger Games

Source: The Hunger Games

Game, Tree

“Of course you are. The tributes were necessary to the Games, too. Until they weren't," I say. "And then we were very disposable - right, Plutarch?”

Suzanne Collins book Mockingjay

Source: Mockingjay

Game

“Games give you a chance to excel, and if you're playing in good company you don't even mind if you lose because you had the enjoyment of the company during the course of the game.”

Gary Gygax (1938–2008) American writer and game designer

GameSpy interview by Allen Rausch, Pt. 1 (15 August 2004) http://pc.gamespy.com/articles/538/538817p2.html

Game, Chance

“No. No games. He wanted her and didn't care who knew it. He definitely and absolutely wanted her, longed for her, wanted to do more things than there were names for with her.”

Douglas Adams book So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish

Source: So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish

Game

“Because that is when you love somebody - when you see them being game in the face of the worst. Not courageous. Not heroic. Just game.”

Philip Roth book The Human Stain

Source: The Human Stain

Love, Game, Courage

“It’s not so important who starts the game but who finishes it.”

Sara Shepard (1973) Author

Source: Stunning

Game

“Couldn't help but make me feel ashamed to live in a land, where justice is a game.”

Bob Dylan (1941) American singer-songwriter, musician, author, and artist

Song lyrics, Desire (1976), Hurricane

Justice, Feeling, Game, Help

“Gambling is not a vice, it is an expression of our humanness. We gamble. Some do it at the gaming table, some do not. You play, you win, you play, you lose, you play.”

Jeanette Winterson book The Passion

Source: The Passion (1987), p.73

Game

“Kevin was a shell game in which all three cups were empty.”

Lionel Shriver book We Need to Talk About Kevin

Source: We Need to Talk About Kevin

Game

“Nolan Bushnell, the creator of the Atari video game system, once stated, ‘Everyone who’s ever taken a shower has had an idea, It’s the person who gets out of the shower, dries off, and does something about it who makes a difference.”

Mark Batterson (1969) American pastor and writer

Source: Draw the Circle: The 40 Day Prayer Challenge

Game, Idea, Personality

“She fell, she hurt, she felt. She lived. And for all the tumble of her experiences, she still had hope. Maybe this next time would do the trick. Or maybe not. But unless you stepped into the game, you would never know.”

Sarah Dessen book This Lullaby

Source: This Lullaby

Hope, Game, Time, Hurt

“Play on, when you're losing the game. Play on, cuz you're going to make mistakes. It's always worth the sacrifice, even when you think you're wrong.”

Carrie Underwood (1983) American country music singer

Game, Thinking

“I don't recognize myself. I don't know who I am anymore."
And it's all fun and games until someone loses an I.”

Don Winslow book Savages

Source: Savages

Game

“Love is no game! It is no flowery softness! It is hard work- It demands everything from you- especially the truth. Only then does it yield results.”

Rick Riordan book The House of Hades

Source: The House of Hades

Love, Truth, Game

“Riggedy riggedy white
Come and spend the night
We'll play some games
Some wild some tame
Cause if you will, you might.

By, Laberge”

D.J. MacHale (1955) American television director and producer

Game, Night

“Coyote never loses. Because I change the rules of the games my enemies play. What are the rules of your game?”

Patricia Briggs book Frost Burned

Source: Frost Burned

Game, Change

“He settled his hat back into position. She was a rookie in her first big game, and he’d never let her see how close she’d come to unseating a champion”

Susan Elizabeth Phillips (1948) American writer

Source: Heaven, Texas

Game

“This is not some silly game… This is life and death Angels and demons.”

Melissa de la Cruz (1971) American writer

Life, Death, Angels, Game

“This is ridiculous. I look like the Games Workshop version of a Jedi Knight.”

Jim Butcher book Changes

Source: Changes

Game

“A curse on this game. How can you stick at a game when the rules keep on changing? I shall call myself Alice and play croquet with the flamingos. In Wonderland everyone cheats and love is Wonderland, isn't it?”

Jeanette Winterson (1959) English writer

Source: Written on the Body

Love, Game, Change, Cheating

“This is a touch game. There are times when you've got to play hurt when you've got to block out the pain.”

Sherry Argov (1977) American writer

Source: Why Men Marry Bitches: A Woman's Guide to Winning Her Man's Heart

Pain, Game, Time, Hurt

“Riding a horse is not a gentle hobby, to be picked up and laid down like a game of solitaire. It is a grand passion. It seizes a person whole and once it has done so, he/she will have to accept that his life will be radically changed.”

Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882) American philosopher, essayist, and poet

Life, Game, Passion, Change

“If I want to play mind games, I'd buy a Rubik's cube. ~ Acheron, a character.”

Sherrilyn Kenyon (1965) Novelist

Variant: If I wanted to play mind games, I'd buy a Rubik's cube
Source: Acheron

Game

“Winning the Games will make you famous, losing will mean death.”

Suzanne Collins (1962) American television writer and novelist

Death, Game

“But didn't you say you were satisfied with your life?"

"Word games," I dismissed. "Every army needs a flag.”

Haruki Murakami book Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World

Source: Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World

Life, Game

“They say that life's a game, & then they take the board away.”

Alan Moore V for Vendetta

Source: V for Vendetta

Life, Game

“The truth is that, no matter what kind of game you find yourself in, no matter how good or bad the luck, you can change your life completely with a single thought or a single act of love”

Gregory David Roberts book Shantaram

Source: Shantaram

Love, Life, Truth, Game

“Life seemed even more of a guessing game than usual.”

Julian Barnes book The Sense of an Ending

Source: The Sense of an Ending

Life, Game

“Deception is mostly a game we play with ourselves.”

Terry Brooks book The Black Unicorn

Source: The Black Unicorn

Game

“Arguing with anonymous strangers on the Internet is a sucker's game because they almost always turn out to be—or to be indistinguishable from—self-righteous sixteen-year-olds possessing infinite amounts of free time.”

Neal Stephenson book Cryptonomicon

Source: Cryptonomicon

Game, Time

“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.”

Sidney Sheldon Master of the Game

Source: Master of the Game

Game, Business, Learning

“Is this a game? We just blurt out whatever word comes next to mind? In that case mine's 'genuphobia'. It means an unreasonable fear of knees."
"What's the word for a perfectly reasonable fear of annoying idiots?" inqired Jessamine.”

Cassandra Clare book Clockwork Prince

Source: Clockwork Prince

Fear, Game

“The complexity embedded in the different levels of meaning that go along with the words "I love you" ought to be a whole mindfuck of a video game”

Rachel Cohn (1968) American writer

Source: Naomi and Ely's No Kiss List

Love, Game

“You have to start over. That's what they say. But life is not a board game, and losing a loved one is never really "starting over." More like "continuing without.”

Mitch Albom (1958) American author

Source: The First Phone Call from Heaven

Love, Life, Game

“Some parents let their young kids win at games, but mine never did.

I don't think it was because they were particularly competitive, they just wanted to teach me a valuable lesson.

Life is mostly just learning how to lose.”

Brian K. Vaughan (1976) American screenwriter, comic book creator

Source: Saga, Vol. 3

Life, Game, Thinking, Parent

“You’re the one who unleashed him. (Savitar)
Yeah, well, let’s move on from the blame game. I was having suicidal thoughts and it seemed like a good idea at the time. In retrospect, not so much. (Stryker)”

Sherrilyn Kenyon (1965) Novelist

Source: One Silent Night

Game, Idea, Suicide, Time

“I would certainly end up forever crying the blues into a
coffee cup in a park for old men playing
chess or silly games of some sort.”

Charles Bukowski book The People Look Like Flowers at Last

Source: The People Look Like Flowers at Last

Men, Game, Coffee, Cry

“My name is Katniss Everdeen. I am seventeen years old. My home is District 12. I was in the Hunger Games. I escaped. The Capitol hates me……..”

Suzanne Collins book Mockingjay

Katniss (pp. 8)
Source: The Hunger Games trilogy, Mockingjay (2010)
Context: My Name is Katniss Everdeen. I am seventeen years old. My home is District 12. I was in The Hunger Games. I escaped. The Capitol hates me. Peeta was taken prisoner. He is thought to be dead. Most likely he is dead. It is probably best if he is dead...

Hunger, Hate, Home, Game

“I went to a fight the other night, and a hockey game broke out.”

Rodney Dangerfield (1921–2004) American actor and comedian

Game, Fight, Night, Hockey

“You have to give 100 percent in the first half of the game. If that isn't enough, in the second half, you have to give what's left.”

Yogi Berra (1925–2015) American baseball player, manager, coach

Game

“You and me Haymitch. Very cozy. Picnics, birthdays, long winter nights sitting around the fire retelling old Hunger Games tale.
-Peeta Mellark”

Suzanne Collins book Catching Fire

Source: Catching Fire

Hunger, Game, Birthday, Winter

“There's a difference between playing and playing games. The former is an act of joy, the latter — an act.”

Vera Nazarian (1966) American writer

Source: The Perpetual Calendar of Inspiration

Game, Joy

“I mean, five gods in one stomach—dang. That's enough for doubles tennis, including a ref. They'd been down there so long, they were probably hoping Kronos would swallow down a deck of cards or a Monopoly game.”

Rick Riordan (1964) American writer

Source: Percy Jackson's Greek Gods

God, Hope, Game

“If it's true, why do they leave us to live like this? With the hunger and the killings and the Games?" And suddenly I hate this imaginary underground city of District 13 and those who sit by, watching us die. They're no better than the Capitol.”

Suzanne Collins book Catching Fire

Source: Catching Fire

Hunger, Hate, Game

“Jean-Luc glanced at the coach. "Who is that man? What is that machine?"
"It's a dunking booth."
"Ah, I understand." Jean-Luc nodded. "If he dose not drown, then he is a witch"
"No, he's just a creep. It's a game.”

Kerrelyn Sparks (1955) American writer

Source: The Undead Next Door

Game, Understanding

“Football is an incredible game. Sometimes it's so incredible, it's unbelievable.”

Tom Landry (1924–2000) Coach of the Dallas Cowboys

Game, Football

“He thought each memory recalled must do some violence to its origins. As in a party game. Say the words and pass it on. So be sparing. What you alter in the remembering has yet a reality, known or not.”

Cormac McCarthy book The Road

Source: The Road

Game, Reality, Memory

“Desi, babe. Still playing your little games, I see. Now why don't you be a good Daimon and show yourself to me? (Kyrian)”

Sherrilyn Kenyon book Night Pleasures

Source: Night Pleasures

Game

“We're all in this game together.”

William Styron (1925–2006) American novelist and essayist

Game

“Gabe scratched his double chin. "Maybe if you hurry with the seven-layer dip… And maybe if the kid apologizes for interrupting my poker game."
Maybe if I kick you in your soft spot, I thought. And make you sing Soprano for a week.”

Rick Riordan book The Lightning Thief

Source: The Lightning Thief

Game, Singing

“Know all the Questions, but not the Answers
Look for the Different, instead of the Same
Never Walk where there's room for Running
Don't do anything that can't be a Game”

Zilpha Keatley Snyder book The Changeling

Source: The Changeling

Game, Question

“Don’t play that game with me, Acheron. Tell me what I need to know! (Xypher)
Nice tone. We should rent you out to record Halloween albums. (Acheron)”

Sherrilyn Kenyon (1965) Novelist

Source: Dream Chaser

Game

“Well, let me tell you, gentlemen, the games of the devil are not restricted to those confined to hell. Others can play them.”

Robert Ludlum book The Bourne Ultimatum

Source: The Bourne Ultimatum

Game, Hell

“Oh the places you'll go! There is fun to be done! There are points to be scored. There are games to be won. And the magical things you can do with that ball will make you the winning-est winner of all.”

Dr. Seuss (1904–1991) American children's writer and illustrator, co-founder of Beginner Books

Source: Oh, The Places You’ll Go!

Game

“You play games with people's lives.(…) You forget that they are fragile.”

Patricia Briggs (1965) American writer

Source: Dragon Blood

People, Game, Forgetting

“I really do think that if for one week in the United States we saw the true face of war, we saw people's limbs sheared off, we saw kids blown apart, for one week, war would be eradicated. Instead, what we see in the U. S. media is the video war game.”

Amy Goodman (1957) American broadcast journalist, syndicated columnist, investigative reporter and author

War, People, Game, Thinking

“You know you're going to get burned from time to time. It's just part of the game. So when it happens you have to pick yourself up, dust yourself off and forget about it because they're about to snap the ball again.”

Michael Connelly book The Fifth Witness

Source: The Fifth Witness

Game, Time, Parting, Forgetting

“That’s what I like about sports. No matter if everyone playing the game speaks completely different languages, on the field, or the court, wherever they are playing, the language of moves and passes and scores is all the same. Universal.”

Rachel Cohn (1968) American writer

Source: Dash & Lily's Book of Dares

Game, Sport, Universe

“It's not fair."

"It's not. But then, that's the game. It makes life great. The fact that it ends when we don't want it to. The ending gives it meaning.”

Marisha Pessl (1977) American writer

Source: Night Film

Life, Game

“All it takes,” said Crake, “is the elimination of one generation. One generation of anything. Beetles, trees, microbes, scientists, speakers of French, whatever. Break the link in time between one generation and the next, and it’s game over forever.”

Margaret Atwood book Oryx and Crake

Source: Oryx and Crake

Game, Tree, Time

“Leo's biggest surprise: One look from Jason, and all three of them knew the game plan. When had that happened, that they could read each other so well?”

Rick Riordan book The Lost Hero

Source: The Lost Hero

Game, Reading

“There are only three sports: bullfighting, motor racing, and mountaineering; all the rest are merely games.”

Ernest Hemingway (1899–1961) American author and journalist

Based on a 1957 Ken Purdy quote, first mentioned in a posthumously published interview with Alfonso de Portago: note: :“I have a quotation in a story, a piece of fiction that won't be published until this summer,” I told Portago, “something that I thought at the time I wrote it you might have said: that of all sports, only bull fighting and mountain-climbing and motor-racing really tried a man, that all the rest are mere recreations. Would you have said that?” <br class="br">I tend to agree with Hemingway who said something to the effect that only mountain climbing, bull fighting and automobile racing were sports and that everything else was a game. <br class="br">Source: Ken W. Purdy (August 1957) "Portaro; The real story of the sizzling Spaniard" https://archive.org/details/sim_car-and-driver_1957-08_3/page/n70 Sports Cars Illustrated (Ziff-Davis: New York) vol. 3 no. 2 p. 63 note: :“There are three sports that try a man,” she remembered Helmut Ovden saying, “bullfighting, motor racing, mountain climbing. All the rest are recreations.” <br class="br">Source: Ken W. Purdy (27 July 1957) "Blood Sport" https://archive.org/details/sim_saturday-evening-post_1957-07-27_230_4/page/92 The Saturday Evening Post (Curtis: Philadelphia) vol. 230 no. 4 p. 92 <br class="br">Source: An early attribution to Hemingway is the essay "Why" by Gene Hill, published in Guns & Ammo and reprinted in 1972 in A Hunter's Fireside Book: Tales of Dogs, Ducks, Birds and Guns (Winchester Press: New York) ISBN 0876910762 p. 96

Mountain, Game, Sport