Quotes about gaming
page 6

Ryan C. Gordon photo
Amir Taheri photo

“When I asked Bhutto what he thought of Assad, he described the Syrian leader as “The Levanter.” Knowing that, like himself, I was a keen reader of thrillers, the Pakistani Prime Minister knew that I would get the message. However, it was only months later when, having read Eric Ambler’s 1972 novel The Levanter that I understood Bhutto’s one-word pen portrayal of Hafez Al-Assad. In The Levanter the hero, or anti-hero if you prefer, is a British businessman who, having lived in Syria for years, has almost “gone native” and become a man of uncertain identity. He is a bit of this and a bit of that, and a bit of everything else, in a region that is a mosaic of minorities. He doesn’t believe in anything and is loyal to no one. He could be your friend in the morning but betray you in the evening. He has only two goals in life: to survive and to make money… Today, Bashar Al-Assad is playing the role of the son of the Levanter, offering his services to any would-be buyer through interviews with whoever passes through the corner of Damascus where he is hiding. At first glance, the Levanter may appear attractive to those engaged in sordid games. In the end, however, the Levanter must betray his existing paymaster in order to begin serving a new one. Four years ago, Bashar switched to the Tehran-Moscow axis and is now trying to switch back to the Tel-Aviv-Washington one that he and his father served for decades. However, if the story has one lesson to teach, it is that the Levanter is always the source of the problem, rather than part of the solution. ISIS is there because almost half a century of repression by the Assads produced the conditions for its emergence. What is needed is a policy based on the truth of the situation in which both Assad and ISIS are parts of the same problem.”

Amir Taheri (1942) Iranian journalist

Opinion: Like Father, Like Son http://www.aawsat.net/2015/02/article55341622/opinion-like-father-like-son, Ashraq Al-Awsat (February 20, 2015).

Hermann Hesse photo
Algis Budrys photo
Robbie Williams photo

“I've sung some songs that were lame,
I've slept with girls on the game.”

Robbie Williams (1974) British singer and entertainer

Monsoon
Escapology (2002)

Robert Aumann photo
George Meredith photo
Gabriel Batistuta photo
C. L. R. James photo

“Thank you for many kind comments on the USA games coverage with Taylor Twellman. Very much appreciated. But stay tuned; World Cup goes on.”

Ian Darke (1950) British association football and boxing commentator

Twitter https://twitter.com/IanDarke/status/484276578189574144 (2 July 2014).
2010s, 2014, 2014 FIFA World Cup

Cyrano de Bergerac photo
Rush Limbaugh photo

“Look it, let me put it to you this way: the NFL all too often looks like a game between the Bloods and the Crips without any weapons. There, I said it.”

Rush Limbaugh (1951) U.S. radio talk show host, Commentator, author, and television personality

The Classless NFL Culture The Rush Limbaugh Show 2007-01-19 http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/daily/2007/01/19/the_classless_nfl_culture, quoted in * 2007-01-27 Hey Rush, when it comes to sports … shhh! Mike Freeman CBS SportsLine (also [Rush Limbaugh now has a Presidential Medal of Freedom. Here are just 20 of the outrageous things he's said, Jason, Silverstein, February 6, 2020, CBS News, https://www.cbsnews.com/news/rush-limbaugh-presidential-medal-of-freedom-state-of-the-union-outrageous-quotes/])

/ 2000s

Richard Bartle photo

“I'd take over World of Warcraft and I'd close it. I just want better virtual worlds. Sacrificing one of the best so its players have to seek out alternatives would be a sure-fire way to ensure that unknown gems got the chance they deserved, and that new games were developed to push back the boundaries. Er, I would get to do this anonymously, wouldn't I?”

Richard Bartle (1960) British writer

From an interview http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/games/archives/2007/07/17/id_close_world_of_warcraft_mud_creator_richard_bartle_on_the_state_of_virtual_worlds.html with Keith Stuart on Guardian Unlimited's http://www.guardian.co.uk Gamesblog
The question that prompted this was "If you could take over control of one major MMORPG - which would you choose and what would you do with it?"

George Eliot photo
Michael Swanwick photo
John Perkins photo
Wilt Chamberlain photo
Willie Mays photo
Lorin Morgan-Richards photo

“A thorough understanding of game theory, should dim these greedy hopes. Knowledge of game theory does not make one a better card player, businessman or military strategist.”

Anatol Rapoport (1911–2007) Russian-born American mathematical psychologist

Source: 1960s, "The Use and Misuse of Game Theory," 1962, p. 108

Matt Dillahunty photo
Leung Chun-ying photo

“Unfortunately, there would be no live casting of the game, hence we will have to miss the game.”

Leung Chun-ying (1954) Hong Kong politician

2015
Source: http://www.ejinsight.com/20151117-fans-vow-not-to-boo-chinese-national-anthem-to-protect-hk-team/

Ben Croshaw photo
Keshia Chante photo

“The music game is more than just my love for singing, its a sport for me.”

Keshia Chante (1988) Canadian actor and musician

Inside Entertainment (2008)

PewDiePie photo
Donald J. Trump photo
Ani DiFranco photo
John Updike photo

“Late in the game as it is, you keep trying.”

Rabbit at Rest (1990)

Carlos Zambrano photo

“In the first inning, there is always something wrong. I hit somebody, I walk somebody, there's a blooper. But that's part of the game. You have to be able to control yourself and make good pitches to get yourself out of trouble.”

Carlos Zambrano (1981) Venezuelan baseball pitcher

Author Unknown, Pittsburgh 6, Chi Cubs 4 http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/recap?gid=270510116, Yahoo! Sports, Retrieved on June 16, 2007
2007

Frank Klepacki photo
Raymond Poincaré photo
Arthur Schopenhauer photo

“Dancing, the theatre, society, card-playing, games of chance, horses, women, drinking, traveling, and so on … are not enough to ward off boredom where intellectual pleasures are rendered impossible by lack of intellectual needs. Thus a peculiar characteristic of the Philistine is a dull, dry seriousness akin to that of animals.”

Ball, Theater, Gesellschaft, Kartenspiel, Hasardspiel, Pferde, Weiber, Trinken, Reisen, … reicht dies Alles gegen die Langeweile nicht aus, wo Mangel an geistigen Bedürfnissen die geistigen Genüsse unmöglich macht. Daher auch ist dem Philister ein dumpfer, trockener Ernst, der sich dem thierischen nähert, eigen und charakteristisch.
E. Payne, trans. (1974) Vol. 1, p. 344
Parerga and Paralipomena (1851), Aphorisms on the Wisdom of Life

David Gross photo

“Physics is always a gamble; it is a game of exploration. That’s the fun of it. We never know for sure what will happen. Sometimes, we theorists can anticipate, but nature is the final judge.”

David Gross (1941) American particle physicist and string theorist

"Physics is always a gamble" http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/interview/nobel-laureate-david-gross-physics-is-always-a-gamble/article7383717.ece, an interview with David Gross by Shubashree Desikan, The Hindu (2015)

Mel Gibson photo
George Bird Evans photo
Peter Greenaway photo
Slavoj Žižek photo
Bill Bryson photo
China Miéville photo
Michael Jordan photo

“I can remember a game, we were down with about 5 to 10 points, I go off about 25 points, we come back and win the game, we're walking off the floor. Tex (Winter) looks at me and says "There's no "I" in team!" I looked at Tex and say, "There's not, but there's an 'I' in win!"”

Michael Jordan (1963) American retired professional basketball player and businessman

Hall of Fame induction address, 2009 http://archives.chicagotribune.com/2009/sep/12/nation/chi-12-michael-jordan-bulls-sep12

Robin Williams photo
Richard Garriott photo
Ray Bradbury photo

“Some owners are competent, effective business people who care about the game. Many others do not share these attributes.”

Andrew Zimbalist (1947) American economist

Source: Baseball And Billions - Updated edition - (1992), Chapter 8, The Future, p. 186.

“The fact that the mean recurrence time is infinite implies that the chance fluctuations in an individual prolonged coin-tossing game are far removed from the familiar pattern governed by the normal distribution.”

William Feller (1906–1970) Croatian-American mathematician

Source: An Introduction To Probability Theory And Its Applications (Third Edition), Chapter XIII, Recurrent Events. Renewal Theory. p. 314.

Chester W. Nimitz photo

“The enemy of our games was always Japan, and the courses were so thorough that after the start of World War II, nothing that happened in the Pacific was strange or unexpected.”

Chester W. Nimitz (1885–1966) United States Navy fleet admiral

On his training for warfare in the Pacific at the Naval War college in 1922, as quoted at The American Experience (PBS) http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/macarthur/peopleevents/pandeAMEX90.html

Cormac McCarthy photo
Maurice Glasman, Baron Glasman photo
Lionel Richie photo

“We played the games that people play
We made our mistakes along the way.
Somehow I know deep in my heart
You needed me.”

Lionel Richie (1949) American singer-songwriter, musician, record producer and actor

Still (1979).
Song lyrics, With the Commodores

Conor McGregor photo

“This is the game. We win some, we lose some but I will never shy away from a challenge.”

Conor McGregor (1988) Irish mixed martial artist and boxer

"UFC 196 post-event press conference" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tfu31-vEwgo (March 2016), Ultimate Fighting Championship, Zuffa, LLC
2010s, 2016

William Gibson photo
Louis Brandeis photo
Orson Scott Card photo
Peter L. Berger photo

“I shall admit frankly that, among the academic diversions available today, I consider sociology as a sort of 'royal game.”

Peter L. Berger (1929–2017) Austrian-born American sociologist

Preface
Invitation to Sociology (1963)

Bill Maher photo

“Is it really a sport if you have all the equipment and your opponent doesn't know a game is going on?”

Bill Maher (1956) American stand-up comedian

On hunting; at PETA's "Stand-Up for Animals" show http://www.peta.org/blog/bill-maher-top-comics-stand-up-for-animals/ (Los Angeles' Comedy Store, 15 June 2014)

Roberto Clemente photo
Phil Brown (footballer) photo

“Thirty minutes into the game, I was quite comfortable. Then they […] got two goals back-to-back which certainly turned the game in their favour.”

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

02-Mar-2009, Hull City OWS
No kidding!

Akira Toriyama photo
Suzanne Collins photo
Bill Bryson photo
Wilt Chamberlain photo
Snoop Dogg photo

“I had to shake the spot cause the game got crowded
I'm devoted and quote it, I'm rowdy and bout it
A No Limit Soldier, and happy to shout it.”

Snoop Dogg (1971) American rapper, singer-songwriter, record producer, and actor

"Get Bout It & Rowdy", Da Game Is To Be Sold, Not To Be Told (1998).

Alan Rusbridger photo
Larry the Cable Guy photo

“Have you noticed lately how video games are getting way more sexually explicit and violent? I really gotta buy me one of them games!”

Larry the Cable Guy (1963) American stand-up comedian, actor, country music artist, voice artist

Source: Git-R-Done (book), p. 197

Lionel Richie photo

“You are the sun,
You are the rain
That makes my life this foolish game.
You need to know
I love you so.
And I'd do it all again and again.”

Lionel Richie (1949) American singer-songwriter, musician, record producer and actor

You Are, co-written with Brenda Harvey Richie.
Song lyrics, Lionel Richie (1982)

James Taylor photo
Peter Greenaway photo
Kanō Jigorō photo

“Generally speaking, if we look at sports we find that their strong point is that because they are competitive they are interesting, and young people are likely to be attracted to them. No matter how valuable the method of physical education, if it is not put into practice, it will serve no purpose — therein lies the advantage of sports. But, in this regard there are matters to which we must also give a great deal of consideration. First, so-called sports were not created for the purpose of physical education; one competes for another purpose, namely, to win. Accordingly, the muscles are not necessarily developed in a balanced way, and in some cases the body is pushed too far or even injured. For that reason, while there is no doubt that sports are a good thing, serious consideration must be given to the selection of the sport and the training method. Sports must not be undertaken carelessly, over-zealously, or without restraint. However, it is safe to say that competitive sports are a form of physical education that should be promoted with this advice in mind. The reason I have worked to popularize sports for more than twenty years and that I have strived to bring the Olympic Games to Japan is entirely because I recognize these merits. However, in times like these, when many people are enthusiastic about sports, I would like to remind them of the adverse effects of sports as well. I also urge them to keep in mind the goals of physical education—to develop a sound body that is useful to you in your daily life — and be sure to consider whether or not the method of training is in keeping with the concept of”

Kanō Jigorō (1860–1938) Japanese educator and judoka

http://www.judoinfo.com/seiryoku2.htm seiryoku zenyo
"Judo and Physical Training" in Mind Over Muscle : Writings from the Founder of Judo (2006) edited by Naoki Murata, p. 57

Gwendolyn Brooks photo
Wilt Chamberlain photo
B.K.S. Iyengar photo

“All games are meaningless if you do not know the rules.”

B.K.S. Iyengar (1918–2014) Indian yoga teacher and scholar

Source: Light on Life: The Yoga Journey to Wholeness, Inner Peace, and Ultimate Freedom, p. 83

Geoffrey Howe photo
Jim Gaffigan photo

“Of course what makes breakfast in bed so special is you're lying down and eating bacon, the most beautiful thing on Earth. Bacon's the best, even the frying of bacon sounds like an applause. (sizzling sounds) YEAAAA BACON!!!! You wanna hear how good bacon is? To improve other food they wrap it in bacon. If it wasn't for bacon we wouldn't even know what a water chestnut is. "Thank you bacon. Sincerely, Water Chestnut the third". And those bits of bacon, bits of bacon are like the fairy dust of the food community. "you don't want this baked potato," bbbrrriinnnggg! it's now your favorite part of the meal. "not interested in a salad?" bippady boppidy bacon! Just turned it into an entre. And once you put bacon into a salad it's no longer a salad, it just becomes a game of find the bacon in the lettuce. It's like you're panning for gold, hmmmmm, EUREKA! bacon! not many ways to prepare bacon, you can either fry it or get botulism. It's amazing the shrinkage that occurs. You start with a pound you end up with a book mark. You know the only bad part about bacon is it makes you thirsty… for more bacon! I never feel like I get enough bacon. at breakfast it's like they're rationalizing it. "Here's your two strips of bacon." "But I want more! More bacon!" Whenever you're at a brunch buffet and you see that metal tray filled with the four thousand strips of bacon, don't you almost expect a rainbow to be coming out of it? "I found it I found the source of all bacon!"”

Jim Gaffigan (1966) comedian, actor, author

That bacon tray is always at the end of the buffet, you always regret all the stuff on your plate. "What am I doing with all this worthless fruit? I should have waited! If I had known you were here I would've waited...."
King Baby

Mr. T photo

“Well, maybe Mr. T hacked the game and created a Mohawk class! Maybe, Mr. T's pretty handy with computers! Had that occurred to you, Mr. "Condescending" Director?!”

Mr. T (1952) American actor and retired professional wrestler

World of Warcraft Advert (2007)

John Maynard Smith photo
Marilyn Manson photo
Donald J. Trump photo

“Money was never a big motivation for me, except as a way to keep score. The real excitement is playing the game.”

Donald J. Trump (1946) 45th President of the United States of America

Source: 1980s, Trump: The Art of the Deal (1987), p. 63

Babe Ruth photo

“Yesterday's home runs don't win today's games”

Babe Ruth (1895–1948) American baseball player

The earliest quotes similar to this are presented as unattributed folk wisdom, such as this example from 1959:
As Brother Allen of Newsweek indicated, it has been fun, but don't try to rest on your laurels. Always remember, “YESTERDAY’S HOME-RUN DOESN’T COUNT IN TODAY’S GAME,” and today’s game is well under way.
The quote does not begin to be attributed to Babe Ruth until the 1980s, nearly 30 years after its first appearance.
Disputed
Source: F. N. Abbott, "On Your Marks", in [The Palm, vol lxxix, no. 1 (February 1959), Harry L., Bird (ed.), 1959, Champaign, IL, Alpha Tau Omega, 17, http://hdl.handle.net/2027/uiuc.1744313v0079?urlappend=%3Bseq=19]
Source: https://books.google.com/books?id=cQsKAQAAMAAJ&dq=%22Yesterday%27s+home+runs%22&focus=searchwithinvolume&q=Ruth

Herm Edwards photo
Henry David Thoreau photo

“The Athenians made mistakes. Which governmental system has not? The familiar game of condemning Athens for not having lived to some ideal of perfection is a stultifying approach.”

Moses I. Finley (1912–1986) American historian

Source: Democracy Ancient And Modern (Second Edition) (1985), Chapter 1, Leaders and Followers, p. 33

Reggie Fils-Aimé photo
Arsène Wenger photo

“I was surprised by the resources they find. They are amazing. It doesn't get any worse than losing a Champions League game the way we did, but I felt the way they responded was absolutely magnificent.”

Arsène Wenger (1949) French footballer and manager

Arsenal 4-2 Liverpool (9 April 2004) http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/a/arsenal/3606745.stm
Interviews

Siegbert Tarrasch photo

“To acquire a reputation of being a dashing player at the cost of losing a game.”

Siegbert Tarrasch (1862–1934) German chess player, chess writer, and chess theoretician

Response to a question as to What was the object of playing a gambit opening, as quoted in The Treasury of Chess Lore (1959) by Fred Reinfeld

Walt Whitman photo

“In our sun-down perambulations, of late, through the outer parts of Brooklyn, we have observed several parties of youngsters playing "base", a certain game of ball … Let us go forth awhile, and get better air in our lungs. Let us leave our close rooms … the game of ball is glorious.”

Walt Whitman (1819–1892) American poet, essayist and journalist

Comments on baseball in the Brooklyn Daily Eagle (23 July 1846), as quoted in Walt Whitman Looks at the Schools (1950) by Florence Bernstein Freedman, p. 126-127 http://books.google.com/books?id=M34nK8SaiMcC&dq=Walt+Whitman+schools&lr=&source=gbs_summary_s&cad=0

Daniel Suarez photo

“Cricket is quite a gentle, harmless game, but he is a lucky man who has not to sweat some blood before he's done with it.”

John Snaith (1876–1936) British cricketer (1876-)

Willow the King (1899)

Brian K. Vaughan photo

“"Writer's block" is just another word for video games. If you want to be a writer, get writing, you lazy bastards.”

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

MySpace blog, 09 April 2007

Pat Sajak photo

“A celebrity has just as much right to speak out as people who hold real jobs. This is America, after all, and you should not be precluded from voicing your opinions just because you sing songs, mouth other peoples' words on a sitcom or, for that matter, spin a giant multi-colored wheel on a game show.”

Pat Sajak (1946) American television host

2005 column about celebrities and politics, cited in: " Sajak says... http://ex-donkey.new.mu.nu/?page=111," at ;;ex-donkey.new. posted by: Gary at 04:33 PM.
2000s

“I have been saying this for some time, but customers are not interested in grand games with higher-quality graphics and sound and epic stories. Only people who do not know the videogame business would advocate the release of next-generation machines when people are not interested in cutting-edge technologies.”

Hiroshi Yamauchi (1927–2013) Japanese businessman

Prior to the announcement of the Nintendo Revolution "Top 10 Tuesday: Wildest Statements Made by Industry Veterans" ign.com http://www.ign.com/articles/2006/03/14/top-10-tuesday-wildest-statements-made-by-industry-veteransquote-

Gary Gygax photo