--- title: "4 Brian Sutton-Smith Quotes - Famous Pedagogue (Children's folklore)" description: "Brian Sutton Smith, better known as Brian Sutton-Smith, was a play theorist who spent his lifetime attempting to discover the cultural significance of p..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b005/author-brian-suttonsmith-19616.jpg" --- ![Portrait of Brian Sutton-Smith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b005/author-brian-suttonsmith-19616.jpg) # Brian Sutton-Smith (1924–2015) Pedagogue **4** quotes in **47** categories Rate this collection: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet Brian Sutton-Smith was a pedagogue, best known for *Children's folklore*. ## Quick Facts About Brian Sutton-Smith Born July 15, 1924 Died March 7, 2015 Profession Pedagogue Notable works Children's folklore ## About Brian Sutton-Smith Brian Sutton Smith, better known as Brian Sutton-Smith, was a play theorist who spent his lifetime attempting to discover the cultural significance of play in human life, arguing that any useful definition of play must apply to both adults and children. He demonstrated that children are not innocent in their play and that adults are indeed guilty in theirs. In both cases play pretends to assist them in surmounting their Darwinian struggles for survival. His book Play As Emotional Survival is a response to his own deconstruction of play theories in his work, The Ambiguity of Play. ## Quotes by Brian Sutton-Smith > [The opposite of play isn’t work. It’s depression. To play is to act out and be willful, exultant and committed as if…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brian-sutton-smith/the-opposite-of-play-isn-t-work-it-s-depression-to-play-is-to-act-out/) [Brian Sutton-Smith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brian-sutton-smith/) [Assured](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/assured/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6a0/brian-sutton-smith-65498_assured_the-opposite-of-play-isn-t-work-it-s-dep_1163180.jpg) > [Play is a subset of voluntary behaviour involving a selective mechanism which reverses the usual contingencies of power so as to permit…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brian-sutton-smith/play-is-a-subset-of-voluntary-behaviour-involving-a-selective/) [Brian Sutton-Smith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brian-sutton-smith/) [Arousal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/arousal/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/303/brian-sutton-smith-65498_arousal_play-is-a-subset-of-voluntary-behaviour_2336427.jpg) > [It is my opinion that the 21st century will be the century of play, and the heteroglossic activity of artists in the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brian-sutton-smith/it-is-my-opinion-that-the-21st-century-will-be-the-century-of-play/) [Brian Sutton-Smith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brian-sutton-smith/) [20th century](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/20th-century/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f5f/brian-sutton-smith-65498_20th-century_it-is-my-opinion-that-the-21st-century-w_2676815.jpg) > [We study play because life is crap. Life is crap, and it’s full of pain and suffering, and the only thing that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brian-sutton-smith/we-study-play-because-life-is-crap-life-is-crap-and-it-s-full-of-pain/) [Brian Sutton-Smith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brian-sutton-smith/) [Art](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/art/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/49c/brian-sutton-smith-65498_art_we-study-play-because-life-is-crap-life_2757534.jpg) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "ItemList", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brian-sutton-smith/#itemlist", "name": "Brian Sutton-Smith Quotes", "numberOfItems": 4, "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "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.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Brian Sutton-Smith" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brian-sutton-smith/the-opposite-of-play-isn-t-work-it-s-depression-to-play-is-to-act-out/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6a0/brian-sutton-smith-65498_assured_the-opposite-of-play-isn-t-work-it-s-dep_1163180.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6a0/brian-sutton-smith-65498_assured_the-opposite-of-play-isn-t-work-it-s-dep_1163180.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6a0/brian-sutton-smith-65498_assured_the-opposite-of-play-isn-t-work-it-s-dep_1163180.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“The opposite of play isn’t work. It’s depression. To play is to act out and be willful, exultant and…” — Brian Sutton-Smith", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Play is a subset of voluntary behaviour involving a selective mechanism which reverses the usual contingencies of power so as to permit the subject a controllable and dialectical simulation of the moderately unmastered arousals and regulations of everyday life, in a way that is alternatively vivifying and euphoric.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Brian Sutton-Smith" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brian-sutton-smith/play-is-a-subset-of-voluntary-behaviour-involving-a-selective/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/303/brian-sutton-smith-65498_arousal_play-is-a-subset-of-voluntary-behaviour_2336427.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/303/brian-sutton-smith-65498_arousal_play-is-a-subset-of-voluntary-behaviour_2336427.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/303/brian-sutton-smith-65498_arousal_play-is-a-subset-of-voluntary-behaviour_2336427.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Play is a subset of voluntary behaviour involving a selective mechanism which reverses the usual…” — Brian Sutton-Smith", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "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.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Brian Sutton-Smith" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brian-sutton-smith/it-is-my-opinion-that-the-21st-century-will-be-the-century-of-play/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f5f/brian-sutton-smith-65498_20th-century_it-is-my-opinion-that-the-21st-century-w_2676815.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f5f/brian-sutton-smith-65498_20th-century_it-is-my-opinion-that-the-21st-century-w_2676815.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f5f/brian-sutton-smith-65498_20th-century_it-is-my-opinion-that-the-21st-century-w_2676815.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“It is my opinion that the 21st century will be the century of play, and the heteroglossic activity of…” — Brian Sutton-Smith", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "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.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Brian Sutton-Smith" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brian-sutton-smith/we-study-play-because-life-is-crap-life-is-crap-and-it-s-full-of-pain/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/49c/brian-sutton-smith-65498_art_we-study-play-because-life-is-crap-life_2757534.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/49c/brian-sutton-smith-65498_art_we-study-play-because-life-is-crap-life_2757534.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/49c/brian-sutton-smith-65498_art_we-study-play-because-life-is-crap-life_2757534.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“We study play because life is crap. Life is crap, and it’s full of pain and suffering, and the only thing…” — Brian Sutton-Smith", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } } ] }, { "@type": "Person", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brian-sutton-smith/#person", "name": "Brian Sutton-Smith", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brian-sutton-smith/", "image": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b005/author-brian-suttonsmith-19616.jpg" }, { "@type": "ProfilePage", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brian-sutton-smith/#webpage", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brian-sutton-smith/", "name": "Brian Sutton-Smith", "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "mainEntity": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brian-sutton-smith/#person" }, "primaryImageOfPage": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6a0/brian-sutton-smith-65498_assured_the-opposite-of-play-isn-t-work-it-s-dep_1163180.jpg" }, "description": "Brian Sutton Smith, better known as Brian Sutton-Smith, was a play theorist who spent his lifetime attempting to discover the cultural significance of p...", "breadcrumb": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brian-sutton-smith/#breadcrumb" } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brian-sutton-smith/#breadcrumb", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Authors", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/authors/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "Brian Sutton-Smith", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brian-sutton-smith/" } ] }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```