Stuart M. Brown Jr. > Quotes

“When we stop playing, we start dying.”
― Stuart Brown

“Stepping out of a normal routine, finding novelty, being open to serendipity, enjoying the unexpected, embracing a little risk, and finding pleasure in the heightened vividness of life. These are all qualities of a state of play.”
― Stuart Brown, Play: How It Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul

“The truth is that play seems to be one of the most advanced methods nature has invented to allow a complex brain to create itself.”
― Stuart Brown, Play: How it Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul

“and engage fully with the world. I don’t think it is too much to say that play can save your life. It certainly has salvaged mine. Life without play is a grinding, mechanical existence organized around doing the things necessary for survival. Play is the stick that stirs the drink. It is the basis of all art, games, books, sports, movies, fashion, fun, and wonder—in short, the basis of what we think of as civilization. Play is the vital essence of life. It is what makes life lively.”
― Stuart Brown, Play: How it Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul

“Of all animal species, humans are the biggest players of all. We are built to play and built through play. When we play, we are engaged in the purest expression of our humanity, the truest expression of our individuality. Is it any wonder that often the times we feel most alive, those that make up our best memories, are moments of play? That is something that struck me as”
― Stuart Brown, Play: How it Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul

“But when play is denied over the long term, our mood darkens. We lose our sense of optimism and we become anhedonic, or incapable of feeling sustained pleasure.”
― Stuart M. Brown Jr., Play: How it Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul

“Play is the stick that stirs the drink. It is the basis of all art, games, books, sports, movies, fashion, fun, and wonder—in short, the basis of what we think of as civilization. Play is the vital essence of life. It is what makes life lively.”
― Stuart M. Brown Jr., Play: How it Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul

“At some offices, play is becoming increasingly recognized as an important component of success. And I’m not just talking about Ping-Pong tables in the break room. Employees who have engaged in play throughout their lives outside of work and”
― Stuart Brown, Play: How it Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul

“In a world continuously presenting unique challenges and ambiguity, play prepares these bears for an evolving planet.”
― Stuart Brown, Play: How it Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul

“I have gathered and analyzed thousands of case studies that I call play histories. I have found that remembering what play is all about and making it part of our daily lives are probably the most important factors in being a fulfilled human being. The ability to play is critical not only to being happy, but also to sustaining social relationships and being a creative, innovative person. If that seems to be a big claim,”
― Stuart Brown, Play: How it Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul

“What Laurel discovered through experience, the JPL managers discovered through research: there is a kind of magic in play. What might seem like a frivolous or even childish pursuit is ultimately beneficial. It’s paradoxical that a little bit of “nonproductive” activity can make one enormously more productive and invigorated in other aspects of life. When an activity speaks to one’s deepest truth, as horseback riding did for Laurel, it is a catalyst, enlivening everything else.”
― Stuart Brown, Play: How it Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul

“I also showed the engineers a framework for play devised by Scott Eberle, an intellectual historian of play and vice president for interpretation at the Strong National Museum of Play in Rochester, New York. Eberle feels that most people go through a six-step process as they play. While neither he nor I believe that every player goes through exactly these steps in this order, I think it’s useful to think of play in this way. Eberle says that play involves: Anticipation, waiting with expectation, wondering what will happen, curiosity, a little anxiety, perhaps because there is a slight uncertainty or risk involved (can we hit the baseball and get safely on base?), although the risk cannot be so great that it overwhelms the fun. This leads to . . . Surprise, the unexpected, a discovery, a new sensation or idea, or shifting perspective. This produces . . . Pleasure, a good feeling, like the pleasure we feel at the unexpected twist in the punch line of a good joke. Next we have . . . Understanding, the acquisition of new knowledge, a synthesizing of distinct and separate concepts, an incorporation of ideas that were previously foreign, leading to . . . Strength, the mastery that comes from constructive experience and understanding, the empowerment of coming through a scary experience unscathed, of knowing more about how the world works. Ultimately, this results in . . . Poise, grace, contentment, composure, and a sense of balance in life. Eberle diagrams this as a wheel. Once we reach poise, we are ready to go to a new source of anticipation, starting the ride all over again.”
― Stuart Brown, Play: How it Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul

“early days of the twentieth century, industries didn’t want workers who could think. They wanted people who could be relied on to repeat the same assembly-line motions efficiently. As other nations gained the ability to host those factories, the “industrialized” countries realized that if they wanted to maintain their standards of living,”
― Stuart M. Brown Jr., Play: How it Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul

“I have gathered and analyzed thousands of case studies that I call play histories. I have found that remembering what play is all about and making it part of our daily lives are probably the most important factors in being a fulfilled human being. The ability to play is critical not only to being happy, but also to sustaining social relationships and being a creative, innovative person.”
― Stuart Brown, Play: How it Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul

“he had been trying for years to get his graduate students to use such playful investigation rather than rote learning and mechanical thinking in their research.”
― Stuart Brown, Play: How it Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul