---
title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Each and every one of us should stop…"
description: "\"Each and every one of us should stop playing small and license ourselves to become one of the giants of the new century. We will need champions by the ..."
image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/75d/van-jones-984_century_each-and-every-one-of-us-should-stop-pla_2459854.png"
---

#  Each and every one of us should stop playing small and…

![“Each and every one of us should stop playing small and license ourselves to become one of the giants of the new century. We will need champions by the truckload.” quote by Van Jones](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/75d/van-jones-984_century_each-and-every-one-of-us-should-stop-pla_2459854.png)   [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/75d/van-jones-984_century_each-and-every-one-of-us-should-stop-pla_2459854.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/75d/van-jones-984_century_each-and-every-one-of-us-should-stop-pla_2459854.png)

> “Each and every one of us should stop playing small and license ourselves to become one of the giants of the new century. We will need champions by the truckload.”

[Van Jones](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/van-jones/)

## About This Quote

This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation.

Encourage bold ambition and aim for greatness rather than limiting oneself.

**In simple terms:** Be bold, aim high.

Key Takeaway

Embrace big goals.

Themes

ambition leadership growth

Mood

determined inspirational

Type

motivational visionary

When to use this quote

- career advancement
- entrepreneurship
- social activism
- community building

Key Concepts

self‑actualization visionary thinking

Questions to Reflect On

- What limits are you imposing on yourself?
- How can you balance ambition with realism?

A Different Perspective

Bold aims can overlook practical constraints and resources.

★ ★ ★ ★ ★   No ratings yet

[Century](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/century/) [Century Need](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/century-need-644070/) [Champion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/champion/) [Climate](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/climate/) [Giants](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/giants/) [Giants New](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/giants-new-644069/) [License](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/license/) [License Giants](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/license-giants-644068/) [Need Champions](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/need-champions-644067/) [Needs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/needs/) [Should](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/should/) [Stop Playing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/stop-playing/)

## Related quotes

> [JanSport thinks about everything that a person in the 21st century would need, and then creates a pocket for it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adam-scott/jansport-thinks-about-everything-that-a-person-in-the-21st-century/)

[Adam Scott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/adam-scott/)

> [You need luck, you need your key players, you need to be in the best shape, you need all of that to be champions.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ronald-koeman/you-need-luck-you-need-your-key-players-you-need-to-be-in-the-best/)

[Ronald Koeman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ronald-koeman/)

> [Chelsea is a very demanding club. They need to be in the Champions League and they need to win trophies because that is what…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gianfranco-zola/chelsea-is-a-very-demanding-club-they-need-to-be-in-the-champions/)

[Gianfranco Zola](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gianfranco-zola/)

> [United need to be in the Champions League.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/phil-jones/united-need-to-be-in-the-champions-league/)

[Phil Jones](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/phil-jones/)

> [I want to give some advice; to win you need champions who are used to winning and who have the winning mentality.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-trezeguet/i-want-to-give-some-advice-to-win-you-need-champions-who-are-used-to/)

[David Trezeguet](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-trezeguet/)

> [When I decide I can't play the way I've always played, I'll stop playing football, period.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ryan-clark/when-i-decide-i-can-t-play-the-way-i-ve-always-played-i-ll-stop/)

[Ryan Clark](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ryan-clark/)

> [If I can push myself up to the 2018 World Cup, then I'll go on. After that, I'll close the door and stop playing football.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gianluigi-buffon/if-i-can-push-myself-up-to-the-2018-world-cup-then-i-ll-go-on-after/)

[Gianluigi Buffon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gianluigi-buffon/)

> [“Lets stop playing church, lets stop playing Christian, simply let the truth Christ live in you, now there is no need for play acting.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alex-hartley-jr/lets-stop-playing-church-lets-stop-playing-christian-simply-let-the/)

[Alex Hartley Jr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alex-hartley-jr/)

> [If I stop playing golf today I can sit back with the kids and reflect on an amazing journey. I do it often. I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ian-poulter/if-i-stop-playing-golf-today-i-can-sit-back-with-the-kids-and-reflect/)

[Ian Poulter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ian-poulter/)

> [We don't stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-bernard-shaw/we-don-t-stop-playing-because-we-grow-old-we-grow-old-because-we-stop/)

[George Bernard Shaw](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-bernard-shaw/)

> [“Stop playing with your food. Laurent to James”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephenie-meyer/stop-playing-with-your-food-laurent-to-james/)

[Stephenie Meyer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephenie-meyer/)

> [“Stop playing hard to get" "I'm hard to get. I'm not playing.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/stop-playing-hard-to-get-i-m-hard-to-get-i-m-not-playing/)

[Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/)

> [There are only two things that probably can stop me from playing - rapture, God coming back, and an ACL injury.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jermaine-o-neal/there-are-only-two-things-that-probably-can-stop-me-from-playing/)

[Jermaine O'Neal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jermaine-o-neal/)

> [“I keep begging myself to stop, and I keep playing, and this gap, this contradiction between what I want to do and what I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andre-agassi/i-keep-begging-myself-to-stop-and-i-keep-playing-and-this-gap-this/)

[Andre Agassi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andre-agassi/)

> [It's time to stop playing these games…I'm desperate for God to lay his hands on me](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/quenecia-dean-queen/it-s-time-to-stop-playing-these-games-i-m-desperate-for-god-to-lay/)

[Quenecia Dean (Queen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/quenecia-dean-queen/)

## More by Van Jones

> [Right now, the government is spending billions of dollars supporting the problem-makers in the U.S. economy - the polluters, despoilers, incarcerators, and warmongers.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/van-jones/right-now-the-government-is-spending-billions-of-dollars-supporting/)

[Van Jones](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/van-jones/)

> [ If \[Donald\] Trump throws 20 million off of health care, that's going to be - if he handles this badly - and it's very… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/van-jones/if-donald-trump-throws-20-million-off-of-health-care-that-s-going-to/)

[Van Jones](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/van-jones/)

> [America should be leading the world in green and clean solutions, and human rights. We shouldn't be leading the world in wars and incarceration…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/van-jones/america-should-be-leading-the-world-in-green-and-clean-solutions-and/)

[Van Jones](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/van-jones/)

> [ I learned more in those six months \[ in the White House\] than in the prior six years. I don't think that anybody who… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/van-jones/i-learned-more-in-those-six-months-in-the-white-house-than-in-the/)

[Van Jones](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/van-jones/)

> [Most green-collar jobs are middle-skill jobs. That means they require more education that a high-school diploma, but less than a four-year degree.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/van-jones/most-green-collar-jobs-are-middle-skill-jobs-that-means-they-require/)

[Van Jones](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/van-jones/)

> [The problem that we have is that most Americans don't even study American history, let alone Pinochet, Mussolini, Hitler, Stalin and all these guys.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/van-jones/the-problem-that-we-have-is-that-most-americans-don-t-even-study/)

[Van Jones](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/van-jones/)

> [ \[Donald Trump\] is a horrible human being, but he ain't worse than Bull Connor. Fannie Lou loved Bull Connor and beat Bull Connor because… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/van-jones/donald-trump-is-a-horrible-human-being-but-he-ain-t-worse-than-bull/)

[Van Jones](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/van-jones/)

> [The government built the grid to favor one industry over others. But I don't hear any conservatives screaming about that. Folks don't understand that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/van-jones/the-government-built-the-grid-to-favor-one-industry-over-others-but-i/)

[Van Jones](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/van-jones/)

> [Keith Ellison is an organizer's organizer.He's one of the only Muslims in Congress, so you have a big statement there.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/van-jones/keith-ellison-is-an-organizer-s-organizer-he-s-one-of-the-only/)

[Van Jones](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/van-jones/)

> [Everybody should be mad but anger only takes you so far. At some point, you'll have outrage fatigue and burn out.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/van-jones/everybody-should-be-mad-but-anger-only-takes-you-so-far-at-some-point/)

[Van Jones](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/van-jones/)

> [We have to accept that some very toxic stuff was marbled into the Trump phenomenon.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/van-jones/we-have-to-accept-that-some-very-toxic-stuff-was-marbled-into-the/)

[Van Jones](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/van-jones/)

> [All the big ideas for getting us onto a lower carbon trajectory involve a lot of people doing a lot of work, and that's…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/van-jones/all-the-big-ideas-for-getting-us-onto-a-lower-carbon-trajectory/)

[Van Jones](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/van-jones/)

> [I'm the guy that's trying to break up that monopoly to introduce free enterprise and competition to the energy sector.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/van-jones/i-m-the-guy-that-s-trying-to-break-up-that-monopoly-to-introduce-free/)

[Van Jones](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/van-jones/)

> [I think that America could not become America until it dealt with the disenfranchisement of women and African Americans in the last century. It…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/van-jones/i-think-that-america-could-not-become-america-until-it-dealt-with-the/)

[Van Jones](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/van-jones/)

> [I'm learning and changing all the time, and I expect to continue doing so my entire life.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/van-jones/i-m-learning-and-changing-all-the-time-and-i-expect-to-continue-doing/)

[Van Jones](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/van-jones/)

[Explore all 314 Van Jones quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/van-jones/)

## More Century quotes

> [I know always that I am an outsider; a stranger in this century and among those who are still men.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/i-know-always-that-i-am-an-outsider-a-stranger-in-this-century-and/)

[Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/)

> [ \[The Dalai Lama\] told me some years ago, "I've made every concession to China, and I've been as open and tolerant as I could,… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pico-iyer/the-dalai-lama-told-me-some-years-ago-i-ve-made-every-concession-to/)

[Pico Iyer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pico-iyer/)

> [Anybody looking for a quiet life has picked the wrong century to born in.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/anybody-looking-for-a-quiet-life-has-picked-the-wrong-century-to-born/)

[Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/)

> [The poetry from the eighteenth century was prose; the prose from the seventeenth century was poetry.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-hare/the-poetry-from-the-eighteenth-century-was-prose-the-prose-from-the/)

[David Hare](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-hare/)

> [In the nineteenth century some parts of the world were unexplored, but there was almost no restriction on travel.:; Up to 1914 you did…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-orwell/in-the-nineteenth-century-some-parts-of-the-world-were-unexplored-but/)

[George Orwell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-orwell/)

> [Talented people can predict with great accuracy what's about to happen just a tiny bit ahead of their competitors. It might be two seconds…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kevin-maney/talented-people-can-predict-with-great-accuracy-what-s-about-to/)

[Kevin Maney](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kevin-maney/)

> [The world's history is a divine poem, of which the history of every nation is a canto, and every man a word. Its strains…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-a-garfield/the-world-s-history-is-a-divine-poem-of-which-the-history-of-every/)

[James A. Garfield](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-a-garfield/)

> [The nineteenth century lynching mob cuts off ears, toes, and fingers, strips off flesh, and distributes portions of the body as souvenirs among the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ida-b-wells/the-nineteenth-century-lynching-mob-cuts-off-ears-toes-and-fingers/)

[Ida B. Wells](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ida-b-wells/)

> [At no time in the past century has public distrust of the government been so broadly distributed across the political spectrum, as it is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/phil-zimmermann/at-no-time-in-the-past-century-has-public-distrust-of-the-government/)

[Phil Zimmermann](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/phil-zimmermann/)

> [While husbands and lovers in the stories are of all kinds, ranging from sympathetic to disgusting, women are invariably deceivers: inconstant, unscrupulous, quarrelsome, querulous,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/barbara-tuchman/while-husbands-and-lovers-in-the-stories-are-of-all-kinds-ranging/)

[Barbara Tuchman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/barbara-tuchman/)

> [The young people today are the 21st century.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/martin-scorsese/the-young-people-today-are-the-21st-century/)

[Martin Scorsese](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/martin-scorsese/)

> [The wisdom of our actions in the first three years of peace will determine the course of world history for half a century.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-a-wallace/the-wisdom-of-our-actions-in-the-first-three-years-of-peace-will/)

[Henry A. Wallace](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-a-wallace/)

> [For me, the melancholy of the late XXth Century is walking late at night by the Mont Blanc pen store and seeing these things…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-gibson/for-me-the-melancholy-of-the-late-xxth-century-is-walking-late-at/)

[William Gibson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-gibson/)

> [In a general way, the literature of the twentieth century is essentially psychological; and psychology consists of describing states of the soul by displaying…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/simone-weil/in-a-general-way-the-literature-of-the-twentieth-century-is/)

[Simone Weil](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/simone-weil/)

> [Consequently, citizen legislators, rotating back to their communities after a short period of public service—considered an indispensable and routine characteristic and design of representative…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/consequently-citizen-legislators-rotating-back-to-their-communities/)

[Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/)

[Browse all 5,406 Century quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/century/)

```json
{
    "@context": "https://schema.org",
    "@graph": [
        {
            "@type": "Quotation",
            "text": "Each and every one of us should stop playing small and license ourselves to become one of the giants of the new century. We will need champions by the truckload.",
            "creator": {
                "@type": "Person",
                "name": "Van Jones"
            },
            "isPartOf": {
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website"
            },
            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/van-jones/each-and-every-one-of-us-should-stop-playing-small-and-license/",
            "about": {
                "@type": "Thing",
                "name": "Century"
            },
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/van-jones/each-and-every-one-of-us-should-stop-playing-small-and-license/#quotation",
            "image": {
                "@type": "ImageObject",
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/75d/van-jones-984_century_each-and-every-one-of-us-should-stop-pla_2459854.png",
                "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/75d/van-jones-984_century_each-and-every-one-of-us-should-stop-pla_2459854.png",
                "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/75d/van-jones-984_century_each-and-every-one-of-us-should-stop-pla_2459854.png",
                "width": 1080,
                "height": 1080,
                "caption": "“Each and every one of us should stop playing small and license ourselves to become one of the giants of the…” — Van Jones",
                "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
                "creator": {
                    "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization"
                }
            }
        },
        {
            "@type": "BreadcrumbList",
            "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": "Van Jones",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/van-jones/"
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 4,
                    "name": "Each and every one of us...",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/van-jones/each-and-every-one-of-us-should-stop-playing-small-and-license/"
                }
            ],
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/van-jones/each-and-every-one-of-us-should-stop-playing-small-and-license/#breadcrumb"
        },
        {
            "@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
            }
        }
    ]
}
```
