

Play is a free activity standing quite consciously outside 'ordinary' life as being 'not serious', but at the same time absorbing the player intensely and utterly.
Play is a domain in which the child is always behaving beyond his age, above his usual everyday behavior.
Two rats will stop playing with each other if the bigger one doesn't let the smaller one win at least 30% of the time
Play is a kind of training, whereby one day the young person find that the games they have been playing are not games any longer, but the real thing, for they have become adults. It happens so gradually that they hardly notice the change at first.


A Play is a parenthesis that contains all the material you think has to be contained for the action of the play.
Play is a basic form of human activity, and its recognition is basic to an understanding of both language and the self.
Play is (whether sexual or political play) a more effective political act than over political resistance insofar as power, when directly contested, will just shuffle a bit and end up more stable and stratified than ever.
Play is a domain in which the greatest achievements are possible, achievements that tomorrow will become a child's basic level of real action.
