31 Quotes by Brian Sutton-Smith

The opposite of play is not work—the opposite of play is depression.

The opposite of play is not work. It’s depression.

The opposite of play isn’t work. It’s depression. To play is to act out and be willful, exultant and committed as if one is assured of one’s prospects.

It is my opinion that the 21st century will be the century of play, and the heteroglossic activity of artists in the 20th century has been the forecast.

We study play because life is crap. Life is crap, and it’s full of pain and suffering, and the only thing that makes it worth living – the only thing that makes it possible to get up in the morning and go on living – is play. Art and play.

If you are going to take away war toys, then what are you to replace them with? Children need to feel courageous, brave, and assertive. They need to feel strong; that is the purpose of their play.

The main point for me is that toys are incredibly more important than we realized.

I feel playful aggression is important for children because they have to deal with all kinds of anger and aggression in their lives.

Children who play regularly with their peers are most likely to achieve the highest levels of adjustment as adults.