Quotations on Creativity and Play

Creativity and Play

Play is our brain’s favorite way of learning.
—Diane Ackerman

Spend your free time the way you like, not the way you think you’re supposed to.
—Susan Cain

If you want creative workers, give them enough time to play.
— John Cleese

Man is most nearly himself when he achieves the seriousness of a child at play.
— Heraclitus 500 BCE, philosopher

The creation of something new is not accomplished by the intellect but by the play instinct.
—Carl Jung

When we engage in what we are naturally suited to do, our work takes on the quality of play and it is play that stimulates creativity. So play with your intuition.
— Linda Naiman Creativity and the Meaning of Work

Creative people are curious, flexible, persistent, and independent with a tremendous spirit of adventure and a love of play.
—Henri Matisse

“Play is serious business. At stake for us are the ways we socialize and teach future generations of scientists, inventors, artists, explorers, and other individuals who will shape the work in which we live. It is safe to say that humans, as a species, have always had a concept of play. But only recently has play begun getting the serious attention it deserves as a source of discovery.”
— Arthur Molella, Lemelson Center Director, ( “Invention at Play” Creativity at Work Newsletter July 02)

So, in all these spheres—in painting, sculpture, drawing, music, singing, dancing, gymnastics, games, sports, writing, and speech—we can carry on to our heart’s content, all through our long lives, complex and specialized forms of exploration and experiment.
—Desmond Morris

The number one premise of business is that it need not be boring or dull. It ought to be fun. If it’s not fun, you’re wasting your life.
– Tom Peters

To the art of working well a civilized race would add the art of playing well.
—George Santayana

Serious play is not an oxymoron; it is the essence of innovation.
—Michael Schrage

“If we don’t take time to play, we face a joyless life of rigidity, lacking in creativity. The opposite of play isn’t work, but depression. If we’re going to adapt to changing economic and personal circumstances the way that nature armed us to do, then we have to find ourselves having some play time virtually every day.”
— Stuart Brown and Christopher Vaughan in their book:
Play: How It Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination and Invigorates the Soul,
The Serious Side of Play