Love you,†Xavier said just before he drifted back to sleep. “Love you more,†I said playfully. “Not a chance,†Xavier said, fully awake now. “I’m bigger, I can contain more love.†“I’m smaller, therefore my love particles are more compressed, which means I can fit more in.†Xavier laughed. “That argument makes no sense. Overruled.†“I’m just basing it on how much I miss you when you’re not around,†I countered. “How can you possibly know how much I miss you?†he said. “Have you got some sort of built-in miss-o-meter that can give us a reading?†“I’m a girl; of course I have a built-in miss-o-meter.
You're such a cynic," Molly said. "I think cynics are playful and cute.
Humanity has advanced, when it has advanced, not because it has been sober, responsible, and cautious, but because it has been playful, rebellious, and immature.
The Paleolithic hunters who painted the unsurpassed animal murals on the ceiling of the cave at Altamira had only rudimentary tools. Art is older than production for use, and play older than work. Man was shaped less by what he had to do than by what he did in playful moments. It is the child in man that is the source of his uniqueness and creativeness, and the playground is the optimal milieu for the unfolding of his capacities.