A Literary Prescription for

Playfulness

For the serious business of not being too serious, and the good, silly joy of play.

Somewhere on the way to becoming responsible adults, most of us quietly mislay our playfulness. We start treating fun as frivolous, silliness as a waste, and seriousness as the only respectable setting. But play is not the opposite of a meaningful life; it is part of one. It keeps us creative, connected and light, and reminds us that some of the most important things we do look, from the outside, a great deal like play. These books and poems are a permission slip to lighten up.

Books Poetry Quotes & Prose

Books

Prescribed reading

Some of these are gloriously funny novels that are play in themselves, and some make the serious case that fun is essential to a good life. Fiction and non-fiction together, they share one liberating idea: that playfulness is not a childish indulgence but a vital, life-giving part of being fully human.

The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy

Douglas Adams · 1979

Adams’s cosmic comedy sends a bewildered Englishman across a gloriously absurd universe armed with a towel and a sense of humour. Endlessly quotable and joyfully silly, it is the perfect cure for taking existence too seriously. A wildly funny, wildly clever read that has delighted generations into lightness.

Cold Comfort Farm

Stella Gibbons · 1932

Gibbons’s sparkling comic novel drops a brisk, sensible young woman into a household of gloomy, melodramatic relatives, and lets her cheerfully sort them all out. Witty, warm and endlessly delightful, it is a masterclass in comic lightness. A joyful read for anyone who needs reminding that most drama is best met with a smile.

Good Omens

Terry Pratchett & Neil Gaiman · 1990

Two of the wittiest writers alive team up for a fiendishly funny tale of an angel and a demon trying to prevent the apocalypse because they rather like the world. Clever, warm and joyfully irreverent, it is comedy of the highest order. A pure delight for anyone who likes their playfulness with a little heart underneath.

Right Ho, Jeeves

P. G. Wodehouse · 1934

Nobody has ever written comic joy like Wodehouse, and this classic Jeeves and Wooster caper is him at his sparkling best. The plots are gloriously silly, the language is sublime, and not a single serious thought intrudes. The literary equivalent of sunshine, and the perfect thing to read when life needs lightening.

The Power of Fun

Catherine Price · 2021

Price makes a joyful, science-backed case that true fun, playfulness, connection and flow, is not a luxury but essential to a happy, healthy life, and shows how to have more of it. Practical and genuinely uplifting, it gives you permission to prioritise delight. A wonderful nudge for any grown-up who has forgotten how to play.

Homo Ludens

Johan Huizinga · 1938

Huizinga’s classic study argues that play is not a trivial pastime but one of the foundations of human culture itself, present in art, law, war and worship. Serious and profound, it is the definitive case for taking play seriously. A fascinating read for anyone curious about why play matters so much more than we assume.

Poems about playfulness

For the sheer fun of it

from “Jabberwocky”

Lewis Carroll, 1871

’Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe;
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.
…‘Beware the Jabberwock, my son!’

Carroll’s glorious nonsense poem invents half its own words and somehow makes perfect sense anyway, purely for the joy of the sounds. It is language at play, delighting in itself. A poem to read aloud with relish, and proof that sense is wildly overrated when you are having this much fun.

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from “The Owl and the Pussy-Cat”

Edward Lear, 1871

The Owl and the Pussy-cat went to sea
In a beautiful pea-green boat,
They took some honey, and plenty of money,
Wrapped up in a five-pound note.
…They danced by the light of the moon.

Lear’s beloved nonsense romance sends an owl and a cat off to sea to be married, with a runcible spoon and no logic whatsoever, and it is perfectly, joyfully delightful. It has charmed children and adults for a century and a half. A poem to lift the heart of anyone who has forgotten how good pure silliness feels.

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from “One Perfect Rose”

Dorothy Parker, 1926

A single flow’r he sent me, since we met…
Love long has taken for his amulet
One perfect rose.
…Why is it no one ever sent me yet
One perfect limousine, do you suppose?

Parker sets up a tender little love poem and then, with perfect comic timing, punctures it entirely: a rose is lovely, but a limousine would have been nice too. It is wit as pure play. A gloriously funny poem for anyone who likes their romance served with a raised eyebrow and a wicked grin.

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Quotes & Prose

Quotes about playfulness to keep

You can discover more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation.

Plato

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The opposite of play is not work, it is depression.

Brian Sutton-Smith

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A little nonsense now and then is relished by the wisest men.

Roald Dahl

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The true object of all human life is play.

G. K. Chesterton

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Seriousness is not the same as importance. Some of the most important things you will ever do will look, from the outside, a great deal like play.

Georgia Clare

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From Georgia

Lightening up

A bright, gentle practice for greeting the day with a lighter heart, and an essay on using your imagination to play with the possibilities of your own life.

A Sunrise Serenity Meditation

Guided meditation by Georgia Clare

A warm, uplifting practice for meeting the day with calm and a lighter, more open heart, ready to take things a little less seriously.

Listen Now For Free

Use Your Imagination to Create a Better Future

Personal essay by Georgia Clare · The Library

On playing, freely and without pressure, with the possibilities of your own life, and letting imagination do what seriousness never can.

Read the Essay →

The 21-Day Meditation Course

Guided Meditation Course · Georgia Clare

Three weeks of short, guided meditations to help you build a calm, steady daily practice, one day at a time.

Start the 21-Day Course →

Questions people ask

Reading for Playfulness

Where should I start?

Start with The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams, one of the funniest, most gloriously silly books ever written, and the perfect antidote to taking anything too seriously. And if you want the case for play itself, The Power of Fun makes a joyful, science-backed argument for more of it. The poems below are pure delight, and proud of it.

What can I read to be more playful?

Books that remind you how to lighten up. Cold Comfort Farm and anything with Wodehouse’s Jeeves are masterclasses in comic joy, while Good Omens is fiendishly, cleverly funny. For the deeper why, Homo Ludens and The Power of Fun show that play is not frivolous but essential. Or begin with the poems and the lines to keep further down the page.

Which quotes about playfulness are worth keeping?

Quotes worth keeping include “We don’t stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing.” (George Bernard Shaw), “You can discover more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation.” (Plato) and “The opposite of play is not work, it is depression.” (Brian Sutton-Smith). You will find these and more in the quotes section above.

Can reading really make me more playful?

It genuinely can. A funny, joyful book is play in itself, and it loosens something in us that adult life tends to tighten. Beyond the laughter, the books on play remind us of a truth we forget at our peril: that fun and playfulness are not childish luxuries but part of a full, healthy, creative life. Permission to be silly, it turns out, is good for you.

Playfulness

Prescribed reading

For the sheer fun of it

Quotes about playfulness to keep

Lightening up

Reading for Playfulness

Where should I start?

What can I read to be more playful?

Which quotes about playfulness are worth keeping?

Can reading really make me more playful?

More prescriptions await.