Quotes about play
page 25

Manfred F.R. Kets de Vries photo
Leszek Kolakowski photo
Kunti photo

“Play: Work that you enjoy doing for nothing.”

Evan Esar (1899–1995) American writer

Esar's Comic Dictionary

Joseph Strutt photo
John Larroquette photo

“I was a French Quarter rat from the moment I could get on a bus by myself and go to the French Quarter. I played music most of my early life and it just seemed that to entertain people was a really good thing to do.”

John Larroquette (1947) born 1947; American film, television and stage actor

Responding to the question, "When did you know that the acting thing was for you?" during an interview with Tavis Smiley, http://www.pbs.org/kcet/tavissmiley/archive/200804/20080411_larroquette.html Tavis Smiley Tonight (2008-10-18).

Henry Way Kendall photo
Allen West (politician) photo

“When the National Anthem is played, I salute because I am a black man born and raised in the inner city afforded the opportunity for greatness in my own right.”

Allen West (politician) (1961) American politician; retired United States Army officer

2010s, Message from a non-oppressed black man to Colin Kaepernick (28 August 2016)

Robert Ardrey photo
John Dolmayan photo

“Bowls is a young man's game which old men can play.”

David Bryant (bowls) (1931) bowls champion

Quoted in Colin Jarman's The Guinness Dictionary of Sports Quotations (1990)

Van Morrison photo

“Fair play to you,
Kilarney's lakes are so blue,
And the architecture I'm taking in with my mind,
So fine.”

Van Morrison (1945) Northern Irish singer-songwriter and musician

Fair Play
Song lyrics, Veedon Fleece (1974)

Johan Cruyff photo

“We showed the world you could enjoy being a footballer; you could laugh and have a fantastic time. I represent the era which proved that attractive football was enjoyable and successful, and good fun to play too.”

Johan Cruyff (1947–2016) Dutch association football player

In They said It: Johan Cruyff ( FIFA.com, 25 April 2014 http://www.fifa.com/news/y=2014/m=4/news=they-said-it-johan-cruyff-2323958.html).

Rousas John Rushdoony photo
Bill Engvall photo
Edward Albee photo

“A play is fiction — and fiction is fact distilled into truth.”

Edward Albee (1928–2016) American playwright

The New York Times (18 September 1966)

Narada Maha Thera photo
Rachel Maddow photo

“The downside of playing dumb is that you sound dumb.”

Rachel Maddow (1973) American journalist

The Rachel Maddow Show, MSNBC (April 27, 2009)

Diane Abbott photo

“White people love playing ‘divide & rule’. We should not play their game.”

Diane Abbott (1953) British Labour Party politician

Twitter post reproduced in Daily Telegraph, 5 Jan 2012 http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/labour/8994068/Diane-Abbott-White-people-love-playing-divide-and-rule.html
2010s, 2012

“I withdrew further into the World of Warcraft, neglecting my homework and spending all of my free time playing it.”

Elliot Rodger (1991–2014) American spree killer

My Twisted World (2014), Pastimes

Henry Temple, 3rd Viscount Palmerston photo
Russell Crowe photo
Ani DiFranco photo
Juan Román Riquelme photo

“I have the disgrace to play in this club”

Juan Román Riquelme (1978) Argentine footballer

Refering his own club, Boca Juniors, after losing the match with River Plate http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PQ44-u6w90I

Anil Kumble photo
Newton Lee photo
Chuck Berry photo
Joe Trohman photo
Lisa Wilcox photo
Harsha of Kashmir photo
Charles Hamilton (writer) photo

“I say you fellows, I expect to see fair play.”

Charles Hamilton (writer) (1876–1961) English writer of school stories

Bunter catchphrase
Oxford Companion to Children's Literature: "Billy Bunter" (pages 62-4)

Larry Bird photo

“You can make all the excuses you want, but if you're not mentally tough and you're not prepared to play every night, you're not going to win.”

Larry Bird (1956) basketball player and coach

Sam Smith (February 17, 1998) "Making a Run From the Border", Chicago Tribune, p. 5.

Joseph Strutt photo

“In each of the cathedral churches there was a bishop, or an archbishop of fools, elected; and in the churches immediately dependent upon the papal see a pope of fools. These mock pontiffs had usually a proper suit of ecclesiastics who attended upon them, and assisted at the divine service, most of them attired in ridiculous dresses resembling pantomimical players and buffoons; they were accompanied by large crowds of the laity, some being disguised with masks of a monstrous fashion, and others having their faces smutted; in one instance to frighten the beholders, and in the other to excite their laughter: and some, again, assuming the habits of females, practised all the wanton airs of the loosest and most abandoned of the sex. During the divine service this motley crowd were not contended with singing of indecent songs in the choir, but some of them ate, and drank, and played at dice upon the altar, by the side of the priest who celebrated the mass. After the service they put filth into the censers, and ran about the church, leaping, dancing, laughing, singing, breaking obscene jests, and exposing themselves in the most unseemly attitudes with shameless impudence. Another part of these ridiculous ceremonies was, to shave the precentor of fools upon a stage erected before the church, in the presence of the populace; and during the operation, he amused them with lewd and vulgar discourses, accompanied by actions equally reprehensible. The bishop, or the pope of fools, performed the divine service habited in the pontifical garments, and gave his benediction to the people before they quitted the church. He was afterwards seated in an open carriage, and drawn about to the different parts of the town, attended by a large train of ecclesiastics and laymen promiscuously mingled together; and many of the most profligate of the latter assumed clerical habits in order to give their impious fooleries the greater effect; they had also with them carts filled with ordure, which they threw occasionally upon the populace assembled to see the procession. These spectacles were always exhibited at Christmas-time, or near to it, but not confined to one particular day.”

Joseph Strutt (1749–1802) British engraver, artist, antiquary and writer

pg. 345
The Sports and Pastimes of the People of England (1801), Festival of Fools

Jack White photo
Babe Ruth photo
Selman Waksman photo
Paul Ryan photo
Shannon Sharpe photo

“Watching D. Jack of the Eagles, his play is horrible; he dropped 2 TDs and several other catches, plus he's chicken and wants no part of contact. Eew.”

Shannon Sharpe (1968) Player of American football

On wide receiver DeSean Jackson, Hall Of Famer Calls DeSean Jackson 'Chicken' http://www.myfoxphilly.com/story/17541803/hall-of-famer-calls-desean-jackson-chicken

Tom Stoppard photo
Ben Harper photo

“My band is the best band in the world, period. So, I insist on every song being better then it is on the record. So by the end of the tour, we have to be playing the song better then how it’s recorded.”

Ben Harper (1969) singer-songwriter and musician

The Streets Interview with Ben Harper http://www.cmj.com/relay/?p=687, cmj.com (June 20, 2006).

Gavin Free photo

“A pig never forgets, Ryan. They actually are pretty smart, I think, pigs. They can play pong or something.”

Gavin Free (1988) English filmmaker

"Let's Play Minecraft - Episode 91 - Darwin Awards" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N3moj3zGYzk. youtube.com. February 21, 2014. Retrieved January 3, 2016.

John Barrowman photo

“It's taken me 30 years to get this way, and I don't intend to let go. I work hard, but I play hard, too, and that's the one part of me that nobody sees. But I intend to be around for a long time yet.”

John Barrowman (1967) Scottish-American actor, singer, dancer, musical theatre performer, writer and television personality

Why Torchwood star and talent show judge John Barrowman would do anything for success, Michael Hellicar, 2008-04-11, 2008-04-11, dailymail http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/showbiz/showbiznews.html?in_article_id=558746&in_page_id=1773,

Epifanio de los Santos photo
Ai Weiwei photo
John Dewey photo
Lope De Vega photo

“Since after all, it is the crowd who pays,
Why not content them when you write your plays?”

Como las paga el vulgo, es justo
hablarle en necio para darle gusto.
Arte nuevo de hacer comedias en este tiempo, line 47. (1609). Translation from Marvin A. Carlson Theories of the Theatre (Ithaca: Cornell Univ. Press, [1984] 1993) p. 62.

José Raúl Capablanca photo
Henry Adams photo
Chris Cornell photo

“Khedira plays it wide, Özil! Khedira again! Five, nil! This is utterly, beyond belief!”

Ian Darke (1950) British association football and boxing commentator

Brazil v. Germany https://web.archive.org/web/20140709072936/http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/johncassidy/2014/07/brazil-world-cup-humiliation.html (8 July 2014).
2010s, 2014, 2014 FIFA World Cup
Context: Look at this, again! Khedira plays it wide, Özil! Khedira again! Five, nil! This is utterly, beyond belief! Where is this goal scoring going to end? Well, if this was boxing? The referee would be stopping it, to save Brazil from further punishment. Five goals in the first twenty-nine minutes from a rampant Germany; Brazil have simply unraveled. Fred, here's Luiz Gustavo. Marcelo. Just need something, anything. To lift their confidence, but.

Viswanathan Anand photo
Donald J. Trump photo

“I'm going to be working for you. I'm not going to have time to go play golf.”

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

Trump used to have a slightly different opinion of presidents playing golf https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/politics/wp/2017/02/13/trump-used-to-have-a-slightly-different-opinion-of-presidents-playing-golf/?utm_term=.d2f026a42e9c by Phillip Bump, Washington Post, August 8 Virginia rally (August 20, 2016)
2010s, 2016, August

John Salley photo
Roger Moore photo

“I played it slightly tongue-in-cheek because I never quite believed that James Bond was a spy because everybody knew him, they all knew what he drank. He’d walk into a bar and it would always be, "Ah, Commander Bond, martini, shaken not stirred."”

Roger Moore (1927–2017) British actor

Spies are faceless people.
Roger Moore interview: 'I was never very confident with girls' http://www.telegraph.co.uk/films/0/roger-moore-interview-never-confident-girls/ (22 November 2016)

Chris Cornell photo
Thornton Wilder photo

“Many plays — certainly mine — are like blank checks. The actors and directors put their own signatures on them.”

Thornton Wilder (1897–1975) American playwright and novelist

The New York Mirror (13 July 1956)

Helen Hayes photo
Norman Tebbit photo
Joe Zawinul photo
Thomas Friedman photo
Sarah Palin photo

“Mr. President, in honor of Martin Luther King, Jr. and all who commit to ending any racial divide, no more playing the race card.”

Sarah Palin (1964) American politician

Facebook https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10152172510828588&set=a.10150723283643588.424640.24718773587&type=1&stream_ref=10, , quoted in * 2014-01-20
Robin Abcarian
On MLK Day, tone-deaf Sarah Palin says Obama plays the race card
The Takeaway
LA Times
http://www.latimes.com/local/abcarian/la-me-ra-on-mlk-day-tonedeaf-sarah-palin-says-obama-plays-the-race-card-20140120,0,3099194.story
2014

Josh Homme photo

“Dave (Catching) played lap steel, a little guitar, keys and did a lot of drinking.”

Josh Homme (1973) American musician

Over the Years and Through the Woods, "The Bronze" commentary footage (2005)
Over the Years and Through the Woods

Roger Ebert photo

“I was noodling around Rotten Tomatoes, trying to determine who played the bank's security chief, and noticed the movie had not yet been reviewed by anybody. Hold on! In the "Forum" section for this movie, "islandhome" wrote at 7:58 a. m. Jan. 8: "review of this movie … tonight i'll post." At 11:19 a. m. Jan. 10, "islandhome" was finally back with the promised review. It is written without capital letters, flush left like a poem, and I quote it verbatim, spelling and all:
:hello sorry i slept when i got back
:well it was kinda fun
:it could never happen in the way it was portraid
:but what ever its a movie
:for the girls most will like it
:and the men will not mind it much
:i thought it was going to be kinda like how to beat the high cost of living
:kinda the same them but not as much fun
:ill give it a 4 0ut of 10
I read this twice, three times. I had been testing out various first sentences for my own review, but somehow the purity and directness of islandhome's review undercut me. It is so final. "for the girls most will like it/and the men will not mind it much."”

Roger Ebert (1942–2013) American film critic, author, journalist, and TV presenter

How can you improve on that? It's worthy of Charles Bukowski. ...The bottom line is some girls will like it, the men not so much, and I give it 1½ stars out of 4.
Review http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/mad-money-2008 of Mad Money (17 January 2008)
Reviews, One-and-a-half star reviews

Ian McDiarmid photo
Syd Barrett photo

“That's all I wanted to do as a kid. Play a guitar properly and jump around. But too many people got in the way.”

Syd Barrett (1946–2006) English musician

Rolling Stone, December 1971

Ashlee Simpson photo

“As long as there are girls, we need guy bands. However, in this day, it is not good enough to just sing great. You have to write, sing and play. We want it all.”

Ashlee Simpson (1984) American singer, actress, dancer

Quoted in: Billboard. Vol. 117, nr. 37 (10 September 2005), p. 64

Jack Lambert photo

“How lucky I was to have played for the Pittsburgh Steelers fans. A proud, hard-working people, who loves their football, and their players.”

Jack Lambert (1952) American football player

In his Hall of Fame induction speech. http://www.profootballhof.com/multimedia/inductions/2010/7/6/jack-lamberts-enshrinement-speech/

Bruce Djite photo

“I never wanted to play for any other country but Australia. I learned my football in Australia. I'm Australian.”

Bruce Djite (1987) Australian soccer player

Bruce Djite (Australia national football team and Adelaide United professional footballer) – Bruce Djite is a Young Socceroo with a difference http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/djite-strikes-out-on-his-own-and-kicks-career-goal/story-e6frg7s6-1111112430089, TheAustralian.com.au, October 28, 2006.

Abraham Cowley photo
Henning von Tresckow photo
Arnold Schoenberg photo

“My music is not modern, it is merely badly played”

Arnold Schoenberg (1874–1951) Austrian-American composer

Genette, Gérard. 1997. Immanence and Transcendence, translated by G. M. Goshgarian. p. 102
Undated

Bill Gates photo

“Robots will play an important role in providing physical assistance and even companionship for the elderly.”

Bill Gates (1955) American business magnate and philanthropist

Watchtower ONLINE LIBRARY http://wol.jw.org/en/wol/d/r1/lp-e/102008326?q=bill+gates&p=par and i am gay
2000s

Bill Engvall photo
Neil Gaiman photo
Lee Kuan Yew photo
Pink (singer) photo

“A Broadway play is so much an event, designed down to the bit parts to explode in your face on one particular night, that it is hard to judge any one of them fairly from the scrawny instructions known as a script.”

Wilfrid Sheed (1930–2011) English-American novelist and essayist

Clare Boothe Luce http://books.google.com/books?id=mVYfAQAAMAAJ&q=%22A+Broadway+play+is+so+much+an+event+designed+down+to+the+bit+parts+to+explode+in+your+face+on+one+particular+night+that+it+is+hard+to+judge+any+one+of+them+fairly+from+the+scrawny+instructions+known+as+a+script%22&pg=PA69#v=onepage (1982)

Robert Silverberg photo

“My life was in crisis. All my values were becoming meaningless. I was discovering that my chosen profession was empty, foolish, as useless as—as playing chess.”

Robert Silverberg (1935) American speculative fiction writer and editor

Short fiction, Schwartz Between the Galaxies (1974)

Sherilyn Fenn photo
Charles Bukowski photo
Roy Campanella photo

“You gotta be a man to play baseball for a living, but you gotta have a lot of little boy in you, too.”

Roy Campanella (1921–1993) baseball player; born 19 November 1921 Philadelphia Pa; Baltimore Elite Giants Negro National League (NNL);…

Quoted in the New York Journal-American (12 April 1957) http://books.google.com/books?id=ck6bXqt5shkC&q=%22You+gotta+be+a+man+to+play+baseball+for+a+living+but+you+gotta+have+a+lot+of+little+boy+in+you+too%22&pg=PA128#v=onepage

Julia Gillard photo
John Gray photo
Babe Ruth photo
Vince Lombardi photo

“We shall play every game to the hilt with every ounce of fiber we have in our bodies.”

Vince Lombardi (1913–1970) American football player, coach, and executive

reported in Donald T. Phillips, Run To Win: Vince Lombardi on Coaching and Leadership (2001), p. 16.

Anu Garg photo

“There are exotic species of words jumping out inviting me to play. I weave them into a theme, a garland of words.”

Anu Garg (1967) Indian author

2000-12-01
Smithsonian
WARNING: Log-o-phil-ia is Addictive
Rudolph
Chelminski

Paul Klee photo