--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: We think we want enjoyment, and that…" description: "\"We think we want enjoyment, and that enjoyment is incompatible with work, and somehow we have to import the pleasure into these miserable experiences. ..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/37d/ian-bogost-9716_enjoyment_we-think-we-want-enjoyment-and-that-enjo_183030.jpg" --- # We think we want enjoyment, and that enjoyment is… ![“We think we want enjoyment, and that enjoyment is incompatible with work, and somehow we have to import the pleasure into these miserable experiences. That takes for granted that there's not fun or play to be found in the work itself.” quote by Ian Bogost](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/37d/ian-bogost-9716_enjoyment_we-think-we-want-enjoyment-and-that-enjo_183030.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/37d/ian-bogost-9716_enjoyment_we-think-we-want-enjoyment-and-that-enjo_183030.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/37d/ian-bogost-9716_enjoyment_we-think-we-want-enjoyment-and-that-enjo_183030.jpg) > “We think we want enjoyment, and that enjoyment is incompatible with work, and somehow we have to import the pleasure into these miserable experiences. That takes for granted that there's not fun or play to be found in the work itself.” [Ian Bogost](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ian-bogost/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. People assume work and enjoyment are mutually exclusive, overlooking the possibility of finding play within tasks. **In simple terms:** Work can be enjoyable if we seek fun in it. Key Takeaway Look for playfulness in daily work. Themes work culture joy mindset productivity psychology Mood hopeful inquisitive Type philosophical inspirational When to use this quote - designing a project - teaching a class - solving a problem - team collaboration Key Concepts Flow intrinsic motivation play theory Questions to Reflect On - How can you embed play into routine tasks? - What barriers prevent you from enjoying work? A Different Perspective Finding joy may require effort and may not be feasible for all tasks. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Enjoyment](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/enjoyment/) [Fun](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/fun/) [Imports](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/imports/) [Miserable](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/miserable/) [Play](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/play/) [Pleasure](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/pleasure/) [Thinking](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/thinking/) ## Related quotes > [Life is a progress from want to want, not from enjoyment to enjoyment.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/samuel-johnson/life-is-a-progress-from-want-to-want-not-from-enjoyment-to-enjoyment/) [Samuel Johnson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/samuel-johnson/) > [If you desire something, you don't have it. It is more interesting than enjoyment, because enjoyment erases the mysteries and the vision of desire.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/luca-guadagnino/if-you-desire-something-you-don-t-have-it-it-is-more-interesting-than/) [Luca Guadagnino](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/luca-guadagnino/) > [Worship is God's enjoyment of us and our enjoyment of him.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/graham-kendrick/worship-is-god-s-enjoyment-of-us-and-our-enjoyment-of-him/) [Graham Kendrick](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/graham-kendrick/) > [Some people have accused my tragedy of being too sad, as though one desired a merry tragedy. People clamor for Enjoyment as though Enjoyment…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/august-strindberg/some-people-have-accused-my-tragedy-of-being-too-sad-as-though-one/) [August Strindberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/august-strindberg/) > [“I got to the point of feeling a sort of secret abnormal, despicable enjoyment in returning home to my corner on some disgusting Petersburg…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fyodor-dostoyevsky/i-got-to-the-point-of-feeling-a-sort-of-secret-abnormal-despicable/) [Fyodor Dostoyevsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fyodor-dostoyevsky/) > [Argentina is a marvelous place. Argentines are great bankers of information. They import information; if someone sneezes in Milan or in New York, they…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emilio-ambasz/argentina-is-a-marvelous-place-argentines-are-great-bankers-of/) [Emilio Ambasz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emilio-ambasz/) > [Why, I say, that to tax the community for the advantage of a class is not protection; it is plunder, and I entirely disclaim…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/benjamin-disraeli/why-i-say-that-to-tax-the-community-for-the-advantage-of-a-class-is/) [Benjamin Disraeli](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/benjamin-disraeli/) > [More and more of our imports are coming from overseas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-w-bush/more-and-more-of-our-imports-are-coming-from-overseas/) [George W. Bush](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-w-bush/) > [We forget today that Britain still depends for its livelihood and, indeed, its day-to-day survival, on the sea. But the Royal Navy is now…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-keegan/we-forget-today-that-britain-still-depends-for-its-livelihood-and/) [John Keegan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-keegan/) > [It's a topsy-turvy world in which a country can import the same amount of ice-cream, toilet paper and other goods to trading partners as…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andrew-simms/it-s-a-topsy-turvy-world-in-which-a-country-can-import-the-same/) [Andrew Simms](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andrew-simms/) > [Canada is a country whose main exports are hockey players and cold fronts. Our main imports are baseball players and acid rain.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pierre-trudeau/canada-is-a-country-whose-main-exports-are-hockey-players-and-cold/) [Pierre Trudeau](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pierre-trudeau/) > [The future and the past are equally meaningless because they are nebulous entities, times that do not exist, containing events which have no echo…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tim-lebbon/the-future-and-the-past-are-equally-meaningless-because-they-are/) [Tim Lebbon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tim-lebbon/) > [I've always considered making it legal for Americans to import their prescription drugs a free-trade issue. Imports create competition and keep domestic industry more…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chuck-grassley/i-ve-always-considered-making-it-legal-for-americans-to-import-their/) [Chuck Grassley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chuck-grassley/) > [France has not only built a bureaucratic barrier against American culture, it has constructed a notorious intellectual case against it as well. The French…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tyler-cowen/france-has-not-only-built-a-bureaucratic-barrier-against-american/) [Tyler Cowen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tyler-cowen/) > [I was young, but to me that was underground music. I had never heard anything like Venom or any of that stuff growing up…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-pajo/i-was-young-but-to-me-that-was-underground-music-i-had-never-heard/) [David Pajo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-pajo/) ## More by Ian Bogost > [I think the most important way to understand play is that it's this property that's in things. Like there's play in a mechanism. For…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ian-bogost/i-think-the-most-important-way-to-understand-play-is-that-it-s-this/) [Ian Bogost](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ian-bogost/) > [Once you get yourself on that path where you're willing to find something delightful in laundry and in dishwashers, it means that you train…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ian-bogost/once-you-get-yourself-on-that-path-where-you-re-willing-to-find/) [Ian Bogost](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ian-bogost/) > [Our ideas of happiness, gratification, contentment, satisfaction, all demand that those feelings come from within us. If you flip that on its head and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ian-bogost/our-ideas-of-happiness-gratification-contentment-satisfaction-all/) [Ian Bogost](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ian-bogost/) > [When we use this word fun, it sort of bangs up the ordinary and the extraordinary altogether.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ian-bogost/when-we-use-this-word-fun-it-sort-of-bangs-up-the-ordinary-and-the/) [Ian Bogost](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ian-bogost/) > [You can experience play at work, not because you're messing around or wasting time or something, but because you're looking really deeply and seriously…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ian-bogost/you-can-experience-play-at-work-not-because-you-re-messing-around-or/) [Ian Bogost](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ian-bogost/) > [Actually a lot of the supposedly serious and meaningful and worthwhile content on the podcast or on the television is no more or less…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ian-bogost/actually-a-lot-of-the-supposedly-serious-and-meaningful-and/) [Ian Bogost](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ian-bogost/) > [I think a lot of the misery that people experience comes from that sensation of boundlessness, of infinite possibility.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ian-bogost/i-think-a-lot-of-the-misery-that-people-experience-comes-from-that/) [Ian Bogost](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ian-bogost/) > [There's just an enormous vast universe of possible intrigue out there and why not pay attention to it? Because then you're not burdened with…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ian-bogost/there-s-just-an-enormous-vast-universe-of-possible-intrigue-out-there/) [Ian Bogost](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ian-bogost/) > [Generally speaking, when people use the word fun, it's like a placeholder. You know, "How was your evening?" "Oh it was fun."](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ian-bogost/generally-speaking-when-people-use-the-word-fun-it-s-like-a/) [Ian Bogost](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ian-bogost/) > [Wouldn't we all rather have the possibility of finding pleasure and delight in literally anything we might encounter? Instead of assuming that actually there…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ian-bogost/wouldn-t-we-all-rather-have-the-possibility-of-finding-pleasure-and/) [Ian Bogost](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ian-bogost/) > [Fun has to do with habitual activities but then also terrifically novel or unusual ones. It works as a sort of strange milkshake of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ian-bogost/fun-has-to-do-with-habitual-activities-but-then-also-terrifically/) [Ian Bogost](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ian-bogost/) > [“Irony keeps reality at a distance. It has become our primary method for combatting the external world’s incompatibility with our own desires. Today’s irony…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ian-bogost/irony-keeps-reality-at-a-distance-it-has-become-our-primary-method/) [Ian Bogost](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ian-bogost/) > [Play isn't you being clever, or finding a trick, or finding a way of covering over your own misery, or persuading someone to do…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ian-bogost/play-isn-t-you-being-clever-or-finding-a-trick-or-finding-a-way-of/) [Ian Bogost](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ian-bogost/) > [To me, being able to find gratification in more venues, rather than greater gratification in a few, seems like a much more sane way…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ian-bogost/to-me-being-able-to-find-gratification-in-more-venues-rather-than/) [Ian Bogost](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ian-bogost/) > [The whole idea of play is in finding, acknowledging, and then working with the natural constraints and limitations that you find in the world.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ian-bogost/the-whole-idea-of-play-is-in-finding-acknowledging-and-then-working/) [Ian Bogost](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ian-bogost/) [Explore all 70 Ian Bogost quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ian-bogost/) ## More Enjoyment quotes > [Wine is one of the most civilized things in the world and one of the most natural things of the world that has been…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ernest-hemingway/wine-is-one-of-the-most-civilized-things-in-the-world-and-one-of-the/) [Ernest Hemingway](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ernest-hemingway/) > [Enjoying life isn't about finding the answers, but living the questions.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sue-margolis/enjoying-life-isn-t-about-finding-the-answers-but-living-the-questions/) [Sue Margolis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sue-margolis/) > [I filmed my first vlog and I think it worked because I wasn't trying to make it work. I was just doing it for…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-dobrik/i-filmed-my-first-vlog-and-i-think-it-worked-because-i-wasn-t-trying/) [David Dobrik](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-dobrik/) > [To preserve an unclouded capacity for the enjoyment of life is an unusual moral and psychological achievement. Contrary to popular belief, it is not…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nathaniel-branden/to-preserve-an-unclouded-capacity-for-the-enjoyment-of-life-is-an/) [Nathaniel Branden](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nathaniel-branden/) > [“It all had to be squeezed and squeezed again, to provide a thrill, to provide enjoyment. What did people mean, with their simply determined…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/d-h-lawrence-2/it-all-had-to-be-squeezed-and-squeezed-again-to-provide-a-thrill-to/) [D.H. Lawrence](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/d-h-lawrence-2/) > [Love grows. Lust wastes by Enjoyment, and the Reason is, that one springs from an Union of Souls, and the other from an Union…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-penn/love-grows-lust-wastes-by-enjoyment-and-the-reason-is-that-one/) [William Penn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-penn/) > [Pound St. Paul's Church into atoms, and consider any single atom; it is to be sure, good for nothing; but put all these atoms…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/samuel-johnson/pound-st-paul-s-church-into-atoms-and-consider-any-single-atom-it-is/) [Samuel Johnson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/samuel-johnson/) > [Many humanists have argued that happiness involves a combination of hedonism and creative moral development; that an exuberant life fuses excellence and enjoyment, meaning…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-kurtz/many-humanists-have-argued-that-happiness-involves-a-combination-of/) [Paul Kurtz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-kurtz/) > [Why does a man who is truly in love insist that this relationship must continue and be "lifelong"? Because life is pain and the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cesare-pavese/why-does-a-man-who-is-truly-in-love-insist-that-this-relationship/) [Cesare Pavese](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cesare-pavese/) > [Enjoyment is not a goal, it is a feeling that accompanies important ongoing activity.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-goodman/enjoyment-is-not-a-goal-it-is-a-feeling-that-accompanies-important/) [Paul Goodman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-goodman/) > [I think if you're too embroiled in the need to relate too closely to the character, then you start to judge the character for…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cate-blanchett/i-think-if-you-re-too-embroiled-in-the-need-to-relate-too-closely-to/) [Cate Blanchett](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cate-blanchett/) > [I'm always very fearful when academics get ahold of comedy. Comedy is such a clear thing - people laugh, or they don't laugh. It's…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lorne-michaels/i-m-always-very-fearful-when-academics-get-ahold-of-comedy-comedy-is/) [Lorne Michaels](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lorne-michaels/) > [Joy:show joy & enjoy: then others will be joyful.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sylvia-plath/joy-show-joy-enjoy-then-others-will-be-joyful/) [Sylvia Plath](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sylvia-plath/) > [“...the pleasantness of an employment does not always evince its propriety.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-austen/the-pleasantness-of-an-employment-does-not-always-evince-its-propriety/) [Jane Austen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-austen/) > [In every generation there are a few people who are authentically funny. The cosmetics change. You may not be able to articulate it, and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/woody-allen/in-every-generation-there-are-a-few-people-who-are-authentically/) [Woody Allen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/woody-allen/) [Browse all 1,334 Enjoyment quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/enjoyment/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "We think we want enjoyment, and that enjoyment is incompatible with work, and somehow we have to import the pleasure into these miserable experiences. 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