Playing Quotes

“To pretend, I actually do the thing: I have therefore only pretended to pretend.”
― Jacques Derrida

“One should always play fairly when one has the winning cards.”
― Oscar Wilde

“I wonder if you know yet that you’ll leave me. That you are a child playing with matches and I have a paper body. You will meet a girl with a softer voice and stronger arms and she will not have violent secrets or an affection for red wine or eyes that never stay dry. You will fall into her bed and I’ll go back to spending Friday nights with boys who never learn my last name. ”
― Clementine von Radics

“There's a difference between playing and playing games. The former is an act of joy, the latter — an act.”
― Vera Nazarian, The Perpetual Calendar of Inspiration

“My mother would say, 'Why are you always playing alone?' And I would say, 'I'm not playin', Ma. I'm fuckin' serious!”
― George Carlin, Brain Droppings

“THE FOUR HEAVENLY FOUNTAINS


Laugh, I tell you
And you will turn back
The hands of time.

Smile, I tell you
And you will reflect
The face of the divine.

Sing, I tell you
And all the angels will sing with you!

Cry, I tell you
And the reflections found in your pool of tears -
Will remind you of the lessons of today and yesterday
To guide you through the fears of tomorrow.”
― Suzy Kassem, Rise Up and Salute the Sun: The Writings of Suzy Kassem

“A true friend doesn't have guts; they beat you up and later plead with you to beat them back.”
― Michael Bassey Johnson

“Real men don't dance to other people's tune, instead, they play for others to dance.”
― Michael Bassey Johnson

“Music shouldn't be just a tune, it should be a touch.”
― Amit Kalantri, Wealth of Words

“ “Shut up!” I say, laughing hysterically. Alice transforms back to an inanimate jade piece as I toss her. My aim is off and she plops into Morpheus’s tea, splattering him and the chessboard.
With a graceful sweep of his hand, he retracts his magic. Tea drizzles down his face as his inky eyes turn up to mine, alight with something both dangerous and daring, shifting moods faster than I can blink.
“Careful, plum.” It’s his deep cockney accent now. He wipes his face with a napkin. “Don’t start something you have no intention of finishing.”
“Oh, I’ll finish it,” I say—spurred by the dark confidence fluttering at the edge of my psyche. The side of me that knows I’m his match in every way. “And you know I’ll win.” I rise from my chair to scope out the room for weapons, vaguely aware of the prisms of glittery light reflected off my skin onto the surroundings.
“I know I’ll let you win,” Morpheus says, standing up. “I won’t even put up a fight.” His white-toothed smile spans to something forebodingly provocative, as though mimicking the spread of his wings. “Well, perhaps a small one, just for sport.” ”
― A.G. Howard, Ensnared

“I am grateful for hands to tickle with. Not so grateful for that process in reverse, however.”
― Richelle E. Goodrich, Smile Anyway: Quotes, Verse, and Grumblings for Every Day of the Year

“How many games had Cassian played as a child with Rhys an Azriel, where a long stick had been a stand-in for Gwydion? How many adventures had they imagined, sharing that mythical sword between them as they slew wyrms and rescued damsels?

Never mind that Rhys's particular damsel had slain a wyrm herself and rescued him instead.”
― Sarah J. Maas, A ​Court of Silver Flames

“CALVIN:
Look, Hobbes, I got a magic carpet.

HOBBES:
What's so magic about it?

CALVIN:
Magic carpets FLY! You can ride them.

HOBBES:
Isn't this the rug from the hallway?

CALVIN:
Up, Rug!
Up! Up!

CALVIN:
Hey, Look!
It works!
Ok, rug, warp factor five.

HOBBES:
Is this legal?
Do you have your registration and proof of insurance?”
― Bill Watterson, Yukon Ho by Bill Watterson

“Can I play with you?” She eyes my laptop eagerly. “No.” Her pretty mouth curves into a pout. “Why?” “Because.” What are we even going to do? Long division?”
― Ali Hazelwood, Bride

“Do you want to play a game?' He shuffled closer, eyes bright. Reaching into his pocket, he produced some little metal figures. Three silver foxes resting in the middle of his callused palm. Inset chips of peridot sparkled in their eyes.
...
'How do we play?'

'You throw them.' He formed a cage of his hands with the foxes inside, shook it up, and then tossed them into the grass. 'If they land standing, you get ten points. If they land on their backs, you get five points. If they land on their side, no points.”
― Holly Black, The Stolen Heir

“It feels like being children, like playing. It occurs to me that so many awful things in my life happened before that moment, and so many awful things in his life happened after.”
― Holly Black, The Stolen Heir

“I am playing the game of life with the stacked deck of cards I was dealt.”
― Steven Magee

“Playing a game is the voluntary attempt to overcome unnecessary obstacles.”
― Bernard Suits, The Grasshopper: Games, Life and Utopia

“what feels like work to you is playing for others”
― Lenfantvivant

“We are the children of the earth. So, we play and dance with singular intelligence while we learn to discern between light and dark. And then, one day, if we play conscientiously, we might find ourselves in the library of all things where we are instructed by the sun, moon and stars to wake up and to be the marriage of light and dark – unity in shimmering silver – the mirror of the cosmos.”
― Louisa Punt-Fouche, Silvering

“Play often. Play regularly. But never play all the time.”
― Mitta Xinindlu

“Some plays are best shared with others, while some are best enjoyed alone.”
― Mitta Xinindlu

“Your family members will not always be around to play with you. Have other external trusted parties.”
― Mitta Xinindlu

“Innocence dances in the playground of childhood memories.”
― Aloo Denish Obiero

“You don't scare me baby. My body is too old to run and my mind knows playing with a little fire is good for the soul.”
― Jay Long

“I play with my sensations like a bored princess with her large, viciously agile cats.”
― Fernando Pessoa, The Book of Disquiet

“Wow. Just wow. I’m losing a game of cards to an advanced toddler. This is great.”
― Ardin Patterson, Feral

“I find a piece of wood that looks like a gun and help Amir find one, too.

"My brother has a real gun," he says.

We run, we hide, we pretend to shoot, we pretend to die. I see my mother at a stall buying flowers, and she frowns at me. She does not like for me to play this game.”
― Florence Parry Heide, Sami and the Time of the Troubles

“When she was a child, she had inherited a ratty canvas tent which her mother had allowed her to drag down from the attic and sit inside. The thrill of a pretended journey had been enough to entertain her for days at time, zipped up with her books and a beakerful of cramberry juice, imagining strange shadows dancing on the fabric walls. You liked it because you liked four walls around you, her mother told her later, you liked to have things where you could see them - your little books and toys and pencils - to zip them up with you and keep them close.”
― Julia Armfield, Salt Slow

“The mare's ears flicked forward in interest.
"Aren't you lovely?" Elspeth crooned to her. "I'm sorry I didn't think to bring you a treat. That was quite remiss of me."
Plum had stopped by her feet, but now he ventured close to the horse. Elspeth watched. Octavia could hurt the dog should she wish.
The mare merely lowered her head, snuffling curiously at Plum.
Plum licked her nose.
Octavia jerked her head back but then lowered it to blow at the dog and then shake her head as if in horsey laughter.
Plum immediately went into a play bow--- the first that Elspeth had seen him make.
She laughed. "Silly. How do you expect Octavia to play with you? She'd run right over if let loose."
Julian sighed from the stall, and Elspeth glanced over to see him leaning on the pitchfork, watching her. "Octavia has never been as serious as her name," he said. "And she likes dogs."
"Does she?" Elspeth asked in delight.
Plum was now darting forward at the horse's legs, pretending to attack before retreating just as swiftly. Octavia watched bemusedly before stamping her hoof at the next attack, sending the dog into spins of excitement.
Elspeth knit her brow, concerned that the horse would accidentally stomp on the dog, but Julian reassured her. "You needn't worry. Octavia knows to be gentle.”
― Elizabeth Hoyt, No Ordinary Duchess