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About this quote

What does it mean?
Life thrives through engagement and play, even when defeat seems certain.
In plain terms
Live and play even if you might lose.
What can you take from it?
Play wins humanity despite loss.

Where it applies

  • crisis
  • daily struggle
  • sports

Putting it to work

  • keep playing hard
  • accept defeat gracefully

Questions to consider

  • How do you play when things go wrong?
  • What does living fully mean to you?

Another view

Play can feel trivial in serious crises.

More from Ralph Ellison

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  2. Power doesn't have to show off. Power is confident, self-assuring, self-starting and self-stopping, self-warming and self-justifying. When you have it, you kno…

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  3. I am not ashamed of my grandparents for having been slaves. I am only ashamed of myself for having at one time being ashamed.

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