Play Sayings and Quotes

Below you will find our collection of inspirational, wise, and humorous old play quotes, play sayings, and play proverbs, collected over the years from a variety of sources.

Play is the beginning of knowledge. Anonymous
Never play anything the same way twice. Louis Armstrong
Play energizes us and enlivens us. It eases our burdens. It renews our natural sense of optimism and opens us up to new possibilities. Stuart Brown
Play needs direction as well as work. Elbert Hubbard
Play is a uniquely adaptive act, not subordinate to some other adaptive act, but with a special function of its own in human experience. Johan Huizinga
You have to learn the rules of the game. And then you have to play better than anyone else. Albert Einstein
Play becomes joy, joy becomes work, work becomes play. Johannes Itten
Play is the work of childhood. Jean Piaget
You can discover more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation. Plato
We don't stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing. George Bernard Shaw
Children need the freedom and time to play. Play is not a luxury. Play is a necessity. Kay Redfield Jamison
The creation of something new is not accomplished by the intellect but by the play instinct. Carl Jung
Play is the highest form of research. Albert Einstein
Play is the exultation of the possible. Martin Buber
It is better to play than do nothing. Confucius
It is a happy talent to know how to play. Ralph Waldo Emerson
We are never more fully alive, more completely ourselves, or more deeply engrossed in anything than when we are playing. Charles Schaefer
Don't play what's there, play what's not there. Miles Davis
Play, while it cannot change the external realities of children's lives, can be a vehicle for children to explore and enjoy their differences and similarities and to create, even for a brief time, a more just world where everyone is an equal and valued participant. Patricia G. Ramsey
Life is like a game of cards. The hand you are dealt is determinism; the way you play it is free will. Jawaharlal Nehru
Man's most serious activity is play. George Santayana
Life is more fun if you play games. Roald Dahl
Play is your route to mastery. Sara Genn
The quality of a play is the quality of its ideas. George Bernard Shaw
Children learn as they play. Most importantly, in play children learn how to learn. O. Fred Donaldson
Play is our brain's favourite way of learning. Diane Ackerman
When you work, work. When you play, play. Don't mix the two. Jim Rohn
Play is often talked about as if it were a relief from serious learning. But for children play is serious learning. Play is really the work of childhood. Fred Rogers
Play is the only way the highest intelligence of humankind can unfold. Joseph Chilton Pearce
Play keeps us vital and alive. It gives us an enthusiasm for life that is irreplaceable. Without it, life just doesn't taste good. Lucia Capocchione