Quotes about play
page 26

Eminem photo

“I try to keep it positive and play it cool, shoot up the playground and tell the kids to stay in school.”

Eminem (1972) American rapper and actor

"I'm Shady" (Track 18).
1990s, The Slim Shady LP (1999)

Rachel Trachtenburg photo

“My dad wrote a song about the people in the slides. I started playing harmonica. I was only six.”

Rachel Trachtenburg (1993) American musician

Rachel on the song Mountain Trip To Japan, 1959 and how she ended up in the band.
Off & On Broadway documentary (2006)

Kurt Lewin photo

“A goal can play an essential role in the psychological situation without being clearly present in consciousness.”

Kurt Lewin (1890–1947) German-American psychologist

Source: 1930s, Principles of topological psychology, 1936, p. 19.

Dick Morris photo

“We're going to win by a landslide. It will be the biggest surprise in recent American political history. It will rekindle the whole question on why the media played this race as a nailbiter where in fact Romney's going to win by quite a bit.”

Dick Morris (1947) American political commentator and consultant

On the Record w/ Greta Van Susteren
Television
2012-11-05
Fox News, quoted in * Dick Morris Stands By Prediction: Romney Will Win 325 Electoral Votes
2012-11-05
Real Clear Politics
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2012/11/05/dick_morris_stands_by_prediction_romney_will_win_325_electoral_votes.html
President Obama won with 332 electoral votes to Mitt Romney's 206.

Johan Cruyff photo
Rex Stout photo
Chris Matthews photo
Henry Van Dyke photo
Steven Pinker photo
Eben Moglen photo

“The Entertainment Industry on Planet Earth had decided that in order to acquire Layer 7 Data Security, it was necessary to lock up layers 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 so that no technological progress could occur without their permission. This was known by the IT Industry and the Consumer Electronics Industry on the planet to be offensive nonsense, but there was no counterweight to it, and there was no organised consumer dissent sufficient to require them to stand up for technical merit and their own right to run their own businesses without dictation from companies a tenth their size. Not surprisingly, since it is part of the role we play in this political power concentrated in poverty, humility, and sanctity, we brought them to a consensus they were unable to bring themselves to - which is represented in the license by a rule which fundamentally says "If you want to experiment with locking down layer below 7 in the pursuit of data networks inside businesses that keep the business's data at home, you may do so freely, we have no objection - not only do we have no objection to you doing it, we've no objection to your using our parts to do it with. But when you use our parts to build machines which control peoples' daily lives - which provide them with education and culture, build devices which are modifiable by them to the same extent that they're modifiable by you. That's all we want. If you can modify the device after you give it to them, then they must be able to modify the device after you give it to them - that's a price for using our parts. That's a deal which has been accepted.”

Eben Moglen (1959) American law professor and free software advocate

Talk titled The Global Software Industry in Transformation: After GPLv3, Edinburgh, Scotland, June 26, 2007 http://www.archive.org/details/EbenMoglenLectureEdinburghJune2007text.

Themistocles photo

“I never learned how to tune a harp, or play upon a lute; but I know how to raise a small and inconsiderable city to glory and greatness.”

Themistocles (-524–-459 BC) Athenian statesman

As quoted by Plutarch, in Lives as translated by J. Langhorne and W. Langhorne (1836), p. 84 http://books.google.com/books?id=UFROAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA84
Variant translation: 'Tis true, I never learned how to tune a harp, or play upon a lute, but I know how to raise a small and inconsiderate city to glory and greatness.
Plutarch's Themistocles, 2:3 http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0007.tlg010.perseus-eng1:2 "...tuning the lyre and handling the harp were no accomplishments of his, but rather taking in hand a city that was small and inglorious and making it glorious and great" "...λύραν μὲν ἁρμόσασθαι καὶ μεταχειρίσασθαι ψαλτήριον οὐκ ἐπίσταται, πόλιν δὲ μικρὰν καὶ ἄδοξον παραλαβὼν ἔνδοξον καὶ μεγάλην ἀπεργάσασθαι." (at Perseus Project)

Alex Agase photo

“If you want to advise me, do it on Saturday afternoon between one and four o'clock. And you've got 25 seconds to do it, between plays. Not on Monday. I know the right thing to do on Monday.”

Alex Agase (1922–2007) American football player and coach, college athletics administrator

As quoted in Fortune (13 May 1985).

John Perry Barlow photo

“Everyone seems to be playing well within the boundaries of his usual rule set. I have yet to hear anyone say something that seemed likely to mitigate the idiocy of this age.”

John Perry Barlow (1947–2018) American poet and essayist

On The International Summit on Democracy, Terrorism, and Security - Personal blog http://barlow.typepad.com/ from Madrid, Spain (10 March 2005)

Jeremy Clarkson photo
John Gay photo

“Macheath: And I would love you all the day,
Polly: Every night would kiss and play,
Macheath: If with me you’d fondly stray
Polly: Over the hills and far away.”

John Gay (1685–1732) English poet and playwright

Act I, sc. xxxiii, air 16
The Beggar's Opera (1728)

Paul Bourget photo
Roberto Clemente photo

“The first hero that I have … I would say was Monte Irvin, when I was a kid. And I used to watch Monte Irvin play when I was a kid – I idolized him. I used to wait in front of the ballpark just for him to pass by so I could see him.”

Roberto Clemente (1934–1972) Puerto Rican baseball player

From A Conversation with Clemente (aired October 8, 1972); this and other excerpts were reproduced in Roberto Clemente: The Great One https://books.google.com/books?id=03XsO25A3I8C&pg=PA5 (1998) by Bruce Markusen, p. 5
Baseball-related, <big><big>1970s</big></big>, <big>1972</big>

Jascha Heifetz photo
Orson Scott Card photo

“Play to your strengths. If you’re not the “warm & fuzzy” voice, don’t waste time trying to be that. Work at what you’re naturally good at, then make it better. Challenge people to challenge you. And know when to stop talking.”

Larry Brantley (1966) American stand-up comedian

Larry Brantley – the heart (and voice) behind Wishbone! http://hollyfranklin.com/larrybrantley/ (September 17, 2016)

Richard Huelsenbeck photo
Daniel Kahneman photo
M. Balamuralikrishna photo

“Our arts, particularly music, are more livelier than any sport. I play with my `raagas.' And there is no defeat here. Only victory for everyone - singers, listeners and the music itself.”

M. Balamuralikrishna (1930–2016) Carnatic vocalist, instrumentalist and playback singer

Source: Staff Reporter, "Mangalampalli can't wait to come home"
On his singing on the occasion of an India-Pakistan cricket match.

Kenny Dalglish photo

“Of all the players I have played alongside, managed and coached in more than 40 years at Anfield, he is the most talented.”

Kenny Dalglish (1951) Scottish association football player and manager

Bob Paisley ( Source http://football-rumours.com/kennydalglish.html)
About

Neal A. Maxwell photo
Burkard Schliessmann photo
Joe Satriani photo
China Miéville photo
Koenraad Elst photo
Babe Ruth photo
Bill Engvall photo
François de La Rochefoucauld photo

“Self-interest speaks all sorts of tongues and plays all sorts of characters, even that of disinterestedness.”

L'intérêt parle toutes sortes de langues, et joue toutes sortes de personnages, même celui de désintéressé.
Maxim 39.
Reflections; or Sentences and Moral Maxims (1665–1678)

“The presence of the kings of Islam is a great blessing from Allah… You should know that the country of Hindustan is a large land. In olden days, the kings of Islam had struggled hard and for long in order to conquer this foreign country. They could do it only in several turns…
Every (Muslim) king got mosques erected in his territory, and created madrasas. Muslims of Arabia and Ajam (non-Arab Muslim lands) migrated from their own lands and arrived in these territories. They became agents for the publicity and spread of Islam here. Uptil now their descendants are firm in the ways of Islam…Among the non-Muslim communities, one is that of the Marhatah (Maratha). They have a chief. For some time past, this community has been raising its head, and has become influential all over Hindustan…
…It is easy to defeat the Marhatah community, provided the ghãzîs of Islam gird up their loins and show courage…
In the countryside between Delhi and Agra, the Jat community used to till the land. In the reign of Shahjahan, this community had been ordered not to ride on horses, or keep muskets with them, or build fortresses for themselves. The kings that came later became careless, and this community has used the opportunity for building many forts, and collecting muskets…
In the reign of Muhammad Shah, the impudence of this community crossed all limits. And Surajmal, the cousin of Churaman, became its leader. He took to rebellion. Therefore, the city of Bayana which was an ancient seat of Islam, and where the Ulama and the Sufis had lived for seven hundred years, has been occupied by force and terror, and Muslims have been turned out of it with humiliation and hurt…
…Whatever influence and prestige is left with the kingship at present, is wielded by the Hindus. For no one except them is there in the ranks of managers and officials. Their houses are full of wealth of all varieties. Muslims live in a state of utter poverty and deprivation. The story is long and cannot be summarised. What I mean to say is that the country of Hindustan has passed under the power of non-Muslims. In this age, except your majesty, there is no other king who is powerful and great, who can defeat the enemies, and who is farsighted and experienced in war. It is your majesty’s bounden duty (farz-i-ain) to invade Hindustan, to destroy the power of the Marhatahs, and to free the down-and-out Muslims from the clutches of non-Muslims. Allah forbid, if the power of the infidels remains in its present position, Muslims will renounce Islam and not even a brief period will pass before Muslims become such a community as will no more know how to distinguish between Islam and non-Islam. This will be a great tragedy. Due to the grace of Allah, no one except your majesty has the capacity for preventing this tragedy from taking place.
We who are the servants of Allah and who recognise the Prophet as our saviour, appeal to you in the name of Allah that you should turn your holy attention to this direction and face the enemies, so that a great merit is added to the roll of your deeds in the house of Allah, and your name is included in the list of mujãhidîn fi Sabîlallah (warriors in the service of Allah). May you acquire plunder beyond measure, and may the Muslims be freed from the stranglehold of the infidels. I seek refuge in Allah when I say that you should not act like Nadir Shah who oppressed and suppressed the Muslims, and went away leaving the Marhatahs and the Jats whole and prosperous.
The enemies have become more powerful after Nadir Shah, the army of Islam has disintegrated, and the empire of Delhi has become childrens’ play. Allah forbid, if the infidels continue as at present, and Muslims get (further) weakened, the very name of Islam will get wiped out.
…When your fearsome army reaches a place where Muslims and non-Muslims live together, your administrators must take particular care. They must be instructed that those weak Muslims who live in the countryside should be taken to towns and cities. Next, some such administrators should be appointed in towns and cities as would see to it that the properties of Muslims are not plundered, and the honour of no Muslim is compromised.”

Shah Waliullah Dehlawi (1703–1762) Indian muslim scholar

Letter to Ahmad Shah Abdali, Ruler of Afghanistan. Translated from the Urdu version of K.A. Nizami, Shãh Walîullah Dehlvî ke Siyãsî Maktûbãt, Second Edition, Delhi, 1969, p.83 ff.
From his letters

Jacob Bronowski photo

“When a child begins to play games… he enters the gateway to reason and imagination together.”

Jacob Bronowski (1908–1974) Polish-born British mathematician

"The Reach of Imagination" (1967)

“No one ever wanted to see it as anything other than a boring play about a middle-aged man having a mid-life crisis. I think it’s about rather more than that - or maybe it’s not. Maybe that’s exactly what it is about.”

Patrick Marber (1964) English comedian, actor and screenwriter

Of his play Howard Katz.
Interview in Jewish Chronicle, 26 September 2007 http://thejc.com/home.aspx?AId55759&ATypeId1&searchtrue2&srchstrpatrick%20marber&srchtxt1&srchhead1&srchauthor1&srchsandp1&scsrch0

Roberto Clemente photo

“Writers used to say, "You don't drive in 100 runs," burt they forget I played for the worst team in baseball from 1955 to 1960. I didn't drive in runs because there was no one to drive in.”

Roberto Clemente (1934–1972) Puerto Rican baseball player

As quoted in "Clemente Changes Batting Title Tune" https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=d9weAAAAIBAJ&sjid=OVAEAAAAIBAJ&pg=7121,5291429 by Phil Musick, in The Pittsburgh Press (Thursday, August 14, 1969), p. 38
Baseball-related, <big><big>1960s</big></big>, <big>1969</big>

“You don't ever get a chance to play what you really do; and if you do, you notice that you can't play, because you haven't been. And often I'd be asked to play like somebody else, like Joe Sample. I'd say, "I can't play like him. He's an original." I'd be asked to try and the producers would love it, but I'd feel rotten. Then one time I ran into Joe and he told me, "Man, I'm tired of people asking me to play like you."”

Clare Fischer (1928–2012) American keyboardist, composer, arranger, and bandleader

My jaw dropped. Then I found out this is a common practice.
On his years in the studio, playing on films, TV shows and jingles, as quoted in "He Arranges, Composes, Performs: Fischer, A Renaissance Man Of Music" http://articles.latimes.com/1987-05-14/entertainment/ca-8949_1_clare-fischer

Derren Brown photo
Russell Crowe photo
Akira Toriyama photo
Richard Serra photo
Huey P. Newton photo

“For me, poetry is the colour of Elizabeth Taylor's eyes, or the pauses in Pinter's plays - only the pauses, not the words.”

Roger Lewis (1960) Welsh academic and biographer

Evening Standard, Mon 31 Oct 2011, p16

“In life it’s always a bit of a challenge to be ethically motivated, and it’s not very different in this career. In the play I use all fake leather and no animal products on my face, hair or body. It’s up to me to put in the effort in life to make the most compassionate impact on the world around me without being rude or inconsiderate to others.”

Persia White (1972) American actress and singer

"Exclusive: Ecorazzi Gets Our Green On With Actress And Musician Persia White", interview with Ecorazzi (5 August 2009) http://www.ecorazzi.com/2009/08/05/exclusive-ecorazzi-gets-our-green-on-with-actress-and-musician-persia-white/.

Claude Debussy photo

“Music expresses the motion of the waters, the play of curves described by changing breezes.”

Claude Debussy (1862–1918) French composer

As quoted in The Twentieth Century (1972) by Caroline Farrar Ware, p. 222
Variant translation: Music is the expression of the movement of the waters, the play of curves described by changing breezes.

W. Richard Scott photo
Haruo Nakajima photo

“Mr. Kurosawa would spend an entire day filming one shot. None of the other directors with whom I worked would do that. Working with Mr. Kurosawa was like working on a play instead of a movie. We would spend a great deal of time rehearsing. It was torturous.”

Haruo Nakajima (1929–2017) Japanese actor

As quoted by David Milner, "Haruo Nakajima Interview" http://www.davmil.org/www.kaijuconversations.com/nakajima.htm, Kaiju Conversations (March 1995)

Patrick Stump photo
Oliver Stone photo
Alexander Ovechkin photo

“I don't want to play for a no-good team. I want to win. I want to be on a good team like we see right now. We have great young guys. We have great experienced guys. Everything goes up.”

Alexander Ovechkin (1985) Russian ice hockey player

Bill Beacon (January 29, 2008) "Backstrom, Ovechkin combination promises bright future for Capitals", The Canadian Press.

Brandon Boyd photo
Aldo Leopold photo

“Bread and beauty grow best together. Their harmonious integration can make farming not only a business but an art; the land not only a food-factory but an instrument for self-expression, on which each can play music to his own choosing.”

Aldo Leopold (1887–1948) American writer and scientist

"The Conservation Ethic" [1933]; Published in The River of the Mother of God and Other Essays by Aldo Leopold, Susan L. Flader and J. Baird Callicott (eds.) 1991, p. 191.
1930s

Hunter S. Thompson photo

“A nervous blonde nymphet who thought that politics was some kind of game played by old people, like bridge.”

Hunter S. Thompson (1937–2005) American journalist and author

1970s, Fear and Loathing: On the Campaign Trail '72 (1973)

Josh Waitzkin photo
Satoru Iwata photo
Maggie Gyllenhaal photo
Horace Walpole photo
Max von Laue photo
Amanda Lear photo

“I knew nothing when I first met him. He taught me to see things through his eyes. Dalí was my teacher. He let me use his brushes, his paint and his canvas, so that I could play around while he was painting for hours and hours in the same studio. Surrealism was a good school for me. Listening to Dalí talk was better than going to any art school.”

Amanda Lear (1939) singer, lyricist, composer, painter, television presenter, actress, model

http://www.3d-dali.com/centennial-magazine/e-9-muse.htm, Salvador Dali Centennial Magazine – Amanda Lear, 15 June 2004, 3d-dali.com, 15 July 2018

Richard Stallman photo
Sarah Chang photo
Keith Ellison photo
Václav Havel photo

“If you want to see your plays performed the way you wrote them, become President.”

Václav Havel (1936–2011) playwright, essayist, poet, dissident and 1st President of the Czech Republic

Address to the Institute of Contemporary Arts, London quoted in The Independent, London (24 March 1990)

Jerry Glanville photo

“If you think you're tougher than we are, we're going to run a play called 32 Cut, and I don't care if we gain a yard, we're going to knock somebody down.”

Jerry Glanville (1941) American former football player and sports coach

David Albright, Glanville looking for a little more action at Portland State http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/preview07/columns/story?id=2967161, ESPN.com, August 9, 2007.

Joe Trohman photo
Adolf Eichmann photo

“I loved playing an open hand against all the Jewish political functionaries … For me, 'open hand' is a winged word.”

Adolf Eichmann (1906–1962) German Nazi SS-Obersturmbannführer

As quoted in Eichmann Before Jerusalem by Bettina Stangneth (2015).

Nigel Cumberland photo

“Start each day badly and you wave success goodbye. How you start anything plays a key part in how successful you will be. This is true for how you begin each day. Everyone knows the adage about ‘getting out of bed on the wrong side’ – it may not be literally true but metaphorically it is 100-per-cent correct.”

Nigel Cumberland (1967) British author and leadership coach

Your Job-Hunt Ltd – Advice from an Award-Winning Asian Headhunter (2003), Successful Recruitment in a Week (2012) https://books.google.ae/books?idp24GkAsgjGEC&printsecfrontcover&dqnigel+cumberland&hlen&saX&ved0ahUKEwjF75Xw0IHNAhULLcAKHazACBMQ6AEIGjAA#vonepage&qnigel%20cumberland&ffalse, 100 Things Successful People Do: Little Exercises for Successful Living (2016) https://books.google.ae/books?idnu0lCwAAQBAJ&dqnigel+cumberland&hlen&saX&ved0ahUKEwjF75Xw0IHNAhULLcAKHazACBMQ6AEIMjAE

Thomas Friedman photo
Charles Bernstein photo
Tim Hawkins photo
African Spir photo
Barry Eichengreen photo
Mary McCarthy photo
Waheeda Rehman photo
Ellen Kushner photo
Dorothy Parker photo

“The play holds the season’s record, thus far, with a run of four evening performances and one matinée. By an odd coincidence, it ran just five performances too many. p. 121”

Dorothy Parker (1893–1967) American poet, short story writer, critic and satirist

Dorothy Parker: Complete Broadway, 1918–1923 (2014) https://openlibrary.org/books/OL25758762M/Dorothy_Parker_Complete_Broadway_1918-1923, Chapter 3: 1920

Allen C. Guelzo photo
Henri Matisse photo
Robert Burns photo

“O Life! how pleasant is thy morning,
Young Fancy's rays the hills adorning!
Cold-pausing Caution's lesson scorning,
We frisk away,
Like schoolboys at th' expected warning,
To joy and play.”

Robert Burns (1759–1796) Scottish poet and lyricist

Epistle to James Smith.
Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919)

Dean Acheson photo
Hermann Hesse photo
Joanna MacGregor photo
Arnold J. Toynbee photo

“The supreme accomplishment is to blur the line between work and play.”

Arnold J. Toynbee (1889–1975) British historian, author of A Study of History

Statement of 1964, as quoted in Mindfulness edited by Ellen J. Langer, p. 133; also in Social Creativity Vol. 2 (1999) edited by Alfonso Montuori and Ronald E. Purser.

Richard Rodríguez photo
Fred Trueman photo

“He is possibly the only bowler to have played in a Test series as an automatic choice without taking a wicket.”

Fred Trueman (1931–2006) English cricketer

Of John Emburey) The Spinner's Web (1988

Antoni Tàpies photo
Mr. T photo

“It takes a smart guy to play dumb.”

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

Response to the question "Are you as thick as BA?" at a press conference.
Attributed

Irene Dunne photo

“Mother, an accomplished musician, taught me to play the piano as a very small girl.”

Irene Dunne (1898–1990) American actress

Hats, Hunches And Happiness (1945)

Sir Alexander Cockburn, 12th Baronet photo

“A man might as well play for nothing as work for nothing.”

Sir Alexander Cockburn, 12th Baronet (1802–1880) Lord Chief Justice

In an obituary, Canada Law Journal, January 1, 1881, p. 11. According to the journal: "[Cockburn] subsequently acquired a large practice in London in railway and election cases. Although he did his best for his clients, he was careful that they should do their duty by him, and the story is told that on one occasion, when an election committee met, Mr. Cockburn, the counsel for one of the parties, was absent because his fee had not accompanied the brief and the only message left was that he had gone to the Derby, with the remark that 'A man might as well play for nothing as work for nothing'".
Attributed