Great Throughts Treasury

This site is dedicated to the memory of Dr. Alan William Smolowe who gave birth to the creation of this database.

Fun

"The sweaty players in the game of life always have more fun than the supercilious spectators." - William Feather

"Have fun... Life is the fulfillment of one’s expectations. Life is the satisfactions rewarded to one who excels and makes himself comfortable and fits into his peer group, seeking acceptance and seeking superiority in the tasks he undertakes. Life is trying to fulfill the expectations of the dreams, hopes and goals you set." -

"Freedom is spiritual. Divinity is the expression of integrity... Mind cannot find fun anywhere but God." - Shantananda Saraswathi, fully Swami Shantananda Saraswathi, born Chandrashekar

"While the work or play is on, it is a lot of fun if while you are doing one you don't constantly feel that you ought to be doing the other." - Franklin Pierce Adams, pen name F.P.A.

"That one who does not get fun and enjoyment out of every day in which he lives, needs to reorganize his life. And the sooner the better, for pure enjoyment throughout life has more to do with one's happiness and efficiency than almost any other single element." - George Matthew Adams

"I never did a day's work in my life. It was all fun." -

"We try to evade the question [of existence] with property, prestige, power, production, fun, and, ultimately, by trying to forget that we - that I - exist. No matter how often he thinks of God or goes to church, or how much he believes in religious ideas, if he, the whole man, is deaf to the question of existence, if he does not have an answer to it, he is marking time, and he lives and dies like of the million things he produces. He thinks of God, instead of experiencing God." -

"Fun gives you a forcible hug, and shakes laughter out of you, whether you will or no." - David Garrick

"Fun has no limits. It is like the human race and face; there is a family likeness among all the species, but they all differ." - Thomas Haliburton, fully Thomas Chandler Haliburton, pseudonym "Sam Slick"

"Any careful study of living things, whether wolves, bears or man, reminds one of the same direct truth; also of the clarity of the fact that evolution itself is obviously not some process of drowning being clutching at straws and climbing from suffering and trail and virtual expiration to tenuous, momentary survival. Rather, evolution has been a matter of days well-lived, chameleon strength, energy, zappy sex, sunshine stored up, inventiveness, competitiveness, and the whole fun of busy brain cells." - Edward Hoagland, fully Edward Morley Hoagland

"There is no pleasing in having nothing to do; the fun is having lots to do and not doing it." - Mary Wilson Little

"The man who does not work for the love of work but only for money is not likely to make money nor to find much fun in life." - Charles Michael Schwab

"Getting there isn't half the fun - it's all the fun." - Robert Townsend

"I don’t’ deal in controversy. I deal in fun. It’s separate from reality." - Dean Wayne Young

"When people feel separated, they try to make things work by concentrating only on their own willpower and trying to control everything. When you remember to align yourself with your own nature and your life purpose, you naturally are in touch with your natural power. When you align yourself with even a single value, like compassion, trust, self-respect, or following through on synchronicities – life becomes more meaningful, often more fun, more hopeful, and you feel resourceful." - Carol Adrienne

"Tiny children want to learn to the degree that they are unable to distinguish learning from fun. They keep this attitude until we adults convince them that learning is not fun." - Glenn Doman

"People rarely succeed unless they have fun in what they are doing." -

"Questions focus our thinking. Ask empowering questions like: What's good about this? What's not perfect about it yet? What am I going to do next time? How can I do this and have fun doing it?" - Charles Connolly

"For money you can have everything it is said. No, that is not true. You can buy food, but not appetite; medicine, but not health; soft beds, but not sleep; knowledge but not intelligence; glitter, but not comfort; fun, but not pleasure; acquaintances, but not friendship; servants, but not faithfulness; grey hair, but not honor; quiet days, but not peace. The shell of all things you can get for money. But not the kernel. That cannot be had for money." - Arne Garborg

"I realize that humor is not for everyone. It's only for people who want to have fun, enjoy life, and feel alive." - Anne Wilson Schaef

"We should each ask ourselves: what place does ethics have in my daily life? In thinking about this question, ask yourself: what do I think of as a good life, in the fullest sense of that term? This is an ultimate question. To ask it is to ask: what kind of a life do I truly admire, and what kind of life do I hope to be able to look back on, when I am older and reflect on how I have lived? Will it be enough to say: "It was fun"?" - Peter Singer

"Despite all the questions raised by our meandering minds, we are in our right place, doing exactly what we need to be doing, at exactly the right time. Because life is a school, we are always I the class that we have chosen to learn the lessons we need to master. Sometimes it is fun, and sometimes we have to work at it a bit, but it is always appropriate." - Alan Cohen

"Despite all the questions raised by our meandering minds, we are in our right place, doing exactly what we need to be doing, at exactly the right time. Because life is a school, we are always I the class that we have chosen to learn the lessons we need to master. Sometimes it is fun, and sometimes we have to work at it a bit, but it is always appropriate." -

"Despite all the questions raised by our meandering minds, we are in our right place, doing exactly what we need to be doing, at exactly the right time. Because life is a school, we are always I the class that we have chosen to learn the lessons we need to master. Sometimes it is fun, and sometimes we have to work at it a bit, but it is always appropriate." -

"Anybody who set up in the present-day world to be a prophet… would rightly be treated as a figure of fun." - Arnold J. Toynbee, fully Arnold Joseph Toynbee

"Playing is our inner joy, outwardly expressed. It can be laughing, singing, dancing, swimming, hiking, cooking, running, playing a game, or anything else we have fun doing. Playing makes all aspects of life more meaningful and enjoyable." - Elisabeth Kübler-Ross

"Most people get a fair amount of fun out of their lives, but on balance life is suffering, and only the very young or the very foolish imagine otherwise." - George Orwell, pen name of Eric Arthur Blair

"There's great danger in confusing a sustainable state of happiness with fleeting sensations of pleasure and fun." - Michael S. Josephson

"People rarely succeed unless they have fun in what they are doing. " - Dale Carnegie, originally spelled Dale Carnegey

"Creativity is a great motivator because it makes people interested in what they are doing. Creativity gives hope that there can be a worthwhile idea. Creativity gives the possibility of some sort of achievement to everyone. Creativity makes life more fun and more interesting." - Edward de Bono

"But I owe it to the subject to say, that it has long afforded me what philosophy is so often thought, and made, barren of - the fun of discovery, the pleasures of co-operation, and the satisfaction of reaching agreement." - J. L. Austin, fully John Langshaw Austin

"We can't all be happy, we can't all be rich, we can't all be lucky - and it would be so much less fun if we were... There must be the dark background to show up the bright colours." - Jean Rhys, born Ella Gwendolen Rees Williams

"It is impossible to enjoy idling thoroughly unless one has plenty of work to do. There is no fun in doing nothing when you have nothing to do. Wasting time is merely an occupation then, and a most exhausting one. Idleness, like kisses, to be sweet must be stolen." - Jerome K. Jerome, fully Jerome Klapka Jerome

"When you are the leader in your field, it takes a greater level of innovation and commitment to stay there. Make a point to continually search for a better way of doing things, even when things are going well, to ensure that a better alternative has not been overlooked and to keep your creative talents in practice. Practice mental agility: Before you write off a far-fetched idea, back up and look at the big picture, because it might fit perfectly on another level. Have fun: When you are truly having fun in your work, creativity flows freely." - John C. Maxwell

"We should invest in kids like these," we're told, "because it will be more expensive not to." Why do our natural compassion and religious inclinations need to find a surrogate in dollar savings to be voiced or acted on? Why not give these kids the best we have because we are a wealthy nation and they are children and deserve to have some fun while they are still less than four feet high?" - Jonathan Kozol

"We have invented exercise, recreation, pleasure, amusement,and the rest. But recreation, pleasure, amusement, fun and all the rest are poor substitutes for joy; and joy, I am convinced, has its roots in something from which civilization tends to cut us off. Some awareness of the world outside of man must exist if one is to experience the happiness and solace which some of us find in an awareness of nature and in our love for her manifestations." - Joseph Wood Krutch

"The dream as conceived 25 years ago has not been achieved. Until software becomes the ultimate tool for collaboration, productivity, and efficiency, the work is not done. And there's nothing more fun than doing that work." - Larry Page, formally Lawrence Page

"Creative ideas flourish best in a shop which preserves some spirit of fun. Nobody is in business for fun, but that does not mean there cannot be fun in business. " - Leo Burnett

"Make it simple. Make it memorable. Make it inviting to look at. Make it fun to read. " - Leo Burnett

"Some mistakes are too much fun to make only once." - Margaret Mitchell, fully Margaret Munnerlyn Mitchell

"The best way to put the shortcomings of society, and, indeed, the whole of mankind, in their proper place is to joke about them. Joking allows you to avoid compromising yourself; it's a proof of your superiority over … the things you're poking fun at, without causing any offense to anyone except people who are surly or uncouth." - Nicolas Chamfort,fully Sébastien-Roch Nicolas De Chamfort, also spelled Nicholas

"Enlightenment means to live life without any hankering for meaning. Then whatsoever is, is good, and whatsoever is not, that too is good. Then each moment becomes so radiant, so luminous, so fun of fragrance, but still there is no meaning." - Osho, born Chandra Mohan Jain, also known as Acharya Rajneesh and Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh NULL

"The fun never goes out, but it changes with the years, with winning and losing. " - Bear Bryant, fully Paul William "Bear" Bryant

"If you can't make fun of bad movies on serious subjects what's the point?" - Pauline Kael

"People gather in groups, raise their walls and let nothing strange to disturb their mediocre existence. They do things because they are accustomed to them, study useless subjects, have fun because they are obliged to have fun, and the rest of the world pop and fend for himself. At most contemplate the television news, only to have confirmation of how happy they are in a world full of problems and injustices… People go against nature because they lack the courage to be different, and then the organism starts to produce vitriol, or bitterness, as this poison is more commonly known. " -

"The dies irae of transition will not be fun to live through, but the only way out of this mess, he wrote, is precisely through it. Under the conditions outlined above, the “population will not be able to help opening its eyes [this will be a very delayed phase in the U.S., I’m guessing] to the hollowness of the declining Sensate culture…. As a result, it will increasingly forsake it and shift its allegiance to either Ideational or Idealistic values.” Finally, we shall see the release of new creative forces, which “will usher in a culture and a noble society built not upon the withered Sensate root but upon a healthier and more vigorous root of integralistic principle.” In other words, we can expect “the emergence and slow growth of the first components of a new sociocultural order.”" - Pitirim A. Sorokin, fully Pitirim Alexandrovich (Alexander) Sorokin

"Experts have their expert fun ex cathedra telling one just how nothing can be done." - Piet Hein

"Taking fun as simply fun and earnestness in earnest shows how thoroughly thou none of the two discernest." - Piet Hein

"There is the fear, common to all English-only speakers, that the chief purpose of foreign languages is to make fun of us. Otherwise, you know, why not just come out and say it? " - Barbara Ehrenreich, born Barbara Alexander

"We find greatest joy, not in getting, but in expressing what we are. Men do not really live for honors or for pay; their gladness is not the taking and holding, but in doing, the striving, the building, the living. It is a higher joy to teach than to be taught. It is good to get justice, but better to do it; fun to have things but more to make them. The happy man is he who lives the life of love, not for the honors it may bring, but for the life itself." - R. J. Baughan