Quotes from Games People Play

“Awareness requires living in the here and now, and not in the elsewhere, the past or the future.”
― Eric Berne, quote from Games People Play

“The eternal problem of the human being is how to structure his waking hours”
― Eric Berne, quote from Games People Play

“Beautiful friendships” are often based on the fact that the players complement each other with great economy and satisfaction, so that there is a maximum yield with a minimum effort from the games they play with each other.”
― Eric Berne, quote from Games People Play

“Such a woman is called "Mother's FRIEND" always ready to give judicious Parental advice and living vicariously on the experience of others”
― Eric Berne, quote from Games People Play

“Pastimes and games are substitutes for the real living of real intimacy.”
― Eric Berne, quote from Games People Play

“Society frowns upon candidness, except in privacy; good sense knows that it can always be abused; and the Child fears it because of the unmasking which it involves. Hence in order to get away from the ennui of pastimes without exposing themselves to the dangers of intimacy, most people compromise for games when they are available, and these fill the major part of the more interesting hours of social intercourse. That is the social significance of games.”
― Eric Berne, quote from Games People Play

“Salesman: ‘This one is better, but you can’t afford it.’ Housewife: ‘That’s the one I’ll take.”
― Eric Berne, quote from Games People Play

“The solitary individual can structure time in two ways: activity and fantasy.”
― Eric Berne, quote from Games People Play

“In short, a diamond bracelet is a much more honest instrument of courtship than a perforated stomach. She has the option of throwing the jewelry back at him, but she cannot decently walk out on the ulcer. ("Look How Hard I've Been Trying")”
― Eric Berne, quote from Games People Play

“The eternal problem of the human being is how to structure his waking hours.”
― Eric Berne, quote from Games People Play

“The position is, then, that at any given moment each individual in a social aggregation will exhibit a Parental, Adult or Child ego state, and that individuals can shift with varying degrees of readiness from one ego state to another.”
― Eric Berne, quote from Games People Play

“we shared a common interest in how the past effects people—some let it decide who they are, while others make it part of what they will do.”
― Eric Berne, quote from Games People Play

“As this is written, a sow bug crawls across a desk. If he is turned over on his back, one can observe the tremendous struggle he goes through to get on his feet again. During this interval he has a ‘purpose’ in his life. When he succeeds, one can almost see the look of victory on his face. Off he goes, and one can imagine him telling his tale at the next meeting of sow bugs, looked up to by the younger generation as an insect who has made it. And”
― Eric Berne, quote from Games People Play

“The essential and similar feature of both procedures and rituals is that they are stereotyped. Once the first transaction has been initiated, the whole series is predictable and follows a predetermined course to a foreordained conclusion unless special conditions arise.”
― Eric Berne, quote from Games People Play

“Cowboy: ‘Come and see the barn.’ Visitor: ‘I’ve loved barns ever since I was a little girl.”
― Eric Berne, quote from Games People Play

“В большинстве случаев человек проводит всю жизнь, обманывая мир, а обычно и себя самого.”
― Eric Berne, quote from Games People Play

“Настоящий человек может быть определен следующим образом: это тот, кто действует спонтанно, но рационально и достойно и учитывает при этом интересы других людей.”
― Eric Berne, quote from Games People Play

“Раны причиняют боль, но как приятно, когда раны залечиваются”
― Eric Berne, quote from Games People Play

“ощущение независимости достигается, как мы считаем, высвобождением или пробуждением трех способностей: включённости в настоящее, спонтанности и близости”
― Eric Berne, quote from Games People Play

“Как утверждают многие клиницисты, невротики обращаются к врачу не для того, чтобы
вылечиться, а чтобы понять, как стать еще лучшим невротиком. Сценарные аналитики
утверждают нечто похожее: пациент приходит не для того, чтобы вылечиться, а чтобы научиться лучше играть в свои игры.”
― Eric Berne, quote from Games People Play

“компания женщин, каждое утро собирающаяся по очереди в чьем-нибудь доме, чтобы выпить кофе и поиграть в "Непутевого мужа", скорее всего окажет весьма прохладный прием новой соседке, которая хочет играть во "Все замечательно".”
― Eric Berne, quote from Games People Play

“На основе жизненной позиции, занимаемой человеком, нетрудно сделать вывод о том, какое у него было детство.”
― Eric Berne, quote from Games People Play

“очень многие охотнее тратят деньги на выпивку, наркотики и азартные игры, чем на психиатрическую помощь, которая могла бы их спасти.”
― Eric Berne, quote from Games People Play

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Popular quotes

“McCoy, drained and hollow-eyed, couldn't take his eyes off the life vest belonging to the boy who'd slipped away from the group during the night. The empty vest spooked McCoy. All its straps were still tightly tied-it looked like some trick that Houdini might've played. Then McCoy peered into the water and got another shock: the boy was floating below him, spread-eagled, about fifteen feet below the surface. He lay motionless until a current caught him; then it was as if he were flying in the depths. Jesus, McCoy thought, Mother of God. He started saying the rosary over and over. McCoy had never been overly religious; his mom was the spiritual one in the family. But now he began the process of what he'd later call his purification; he'd started asking God to forgive him of his sins. He was resolved to live but he was getting ready to die.”
― Doug Stanton, quote from In Harm's Way: The Sinking of the USS Indianapolis and the Extraordinary Story of Its Survivors

“All I know is that you probably deserve better than me, but I’m too selfish to let you. I’m into you, and I want you to be so into me, you don’t even care that I’m not good enough for you.”
― Samantha Young, quote from Into the Deep

“إن شخصًا عاقًلا سيشعر دائمًا، وسط نقاش، بالتبسيط، وستكون رغبته الوحيدة القيام بتشطيبات ووضع علامات نجمية على بعض الكلمات وملاحظات في أسفل الصفحة وتعليقات في نهاية المخطوطة ليعبر حقًا عن فكره. ولكن في نقاش يجري في ركن من ممر، أو أثناء عشاء أو على صفحات صحيفة، قلما يكون ذلك ممكنًا: فالموضوع ليس موضوع قسوة وموضوعية وتجرد ونزاهة. الفضيلة هي عقبلة بلاغية وهي غير ناجعة في جدل. بعض العقول النيرة، التي ترى الخواء الضروري لكل نقاش، اختارت أن تتخابث وتوسوس بالتعقيد عبر المفارقة والدعابة المواربة. لما لا؟ ففي النهاية هذه وسيلة نجاة.”
― Martin Page, quote from How I Became Stupid

“I have a date with the endless empty ocean. I am ready to leave.
I am choosing nothing, and, for once, nothing is exactly right.”
― Kiersten White, quote from Perfect Lies

“The key is to just get on the bike, and the key to getting on the bike…is to stop thinking about “there are a bunch of reasons I might fall off ” and just hop on and peddle the damned thing. You can pick up a map, a tire pump, and better footwear along the way.”
― Varun Agarwal, quote from How I Braved Anu Aunty & Co-Founded A Million Dollar Company

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BookQuoters is a community of passionate readers who enjoy sharing the most meaningful, memorable and interesting quotes from great books. As the world communicates more and more via texts, memes and sound bytes, short but profound quotes from books have become more relevant and important. For some of us a quote becomes a mantra, a goal or a philosophy by which we live. For all of us, quotes are a great way to remember a book and to carry with us the author’s best ideas.

We thoughtfully gather quotes from our favorite books, both classic and current, and choose the ones that are most thought-provoking. Each quote represents a book that is interesting, well written and has potential to enhance the reader’s life. We also accept submissions from our visitors and will select the quotes we feel are most appealing to the BookQuoters community.

Founded in 2023, BookQuoters has quickly become a large and vibrant community of people who share an affinity for books. Books are seen by some as a throwback to a previous world; conversely, gleaning the main ideas of a book via a quote or a quick summary is typical of the Information Age but is a habit disdained by some diehard readers. We feel that we have the best of both worlds at BookQuoters; we read books cover-to-cover but offer you some of the highlights. We hope you’ll join us.