Quote Origin: People Do Not Stop Playing Because They Grow Old; They Grow Old Because They Stop Playing

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Herbert Spencer? G. Stanley Hall? Karl Groos? George L. Knapp? George Bernard Shaw? Anonymous?

Illustration of young people playing from Unsplash

Question for Quote Investigator: Children enjoy playing, yet this rambunctious and exploratory spirit often fades with age. The following adage encourages the retention of a youthful temperament. Here are four versions:

(1) People do not cease playing because they grow old, but they grow old because they cease playing.
(2) We do not so much quit playing because we grow old, as grow old because we quit playing.
(3) We don’t stop playing because we grow old, we grow old because we stop playing.
(4) People grow old because they stop playing, and not conversely.

The first three sayings above employ a rhetorical device called antimetabole. Words in the first half of the statement are reordered in the second half.

This notion has been attributed to English polymath Herbert Spencer, U.S. psychologist G. Stanley Hall, German philosopher Karl Groos, and Irish playwright George Bernard Shaw. Would you please explore this topic?

Reply from Quote Investigator: QI believes that this family of sayings evolved over time. The earliest strong match found by QI appeared in the 1904 book “Adolescence: Its Psychology and Its Relations to Physiology, Anthropology, Sociology, Sex, Crime, Religion and Education” by G. Stanley Hall. Boldface added to excerpts by QI:1

. . . men grow old because they stop playing, and not conversely . . .

QI has not found any substantive evidence that Herbert Spencer employed this saying. He died in 1903, and he received credit by 1915.

QI has not found any substantive evidence that George Bernard Shaw employed this saying. He died in 1950, and he received credit by 1983.

Karl Groos penned a closely related remark which inspired Hall to craft his remark. Details are presented below.

Here are additional selected citations in chronological order.

In 1896 Karl Groos published “Die Spiele der Thiere” (“The Play of Animals”) which contained the following passage about the necessity of play in the animal world:2

Ja, man wird schliesslich, um die biologische Bedeutung der Spiele in ihrer ganzen Grösse zu würdigen, den Gedanken wagen dürfen: vielleicht ist die Einrichtung der Jugendzeit selbst zum Theil um der Spiele willen getroffen; die Thiere spielen nicht, weil sie jung sind, sondern sie haben eine Jugend, weil sie spielen müssen.

Here is one possible translation into English:

Indeed, in order to appreciate the biological significance of games in all their magnitude, one may finally dare to think: perhaps the organization of youth itself is partly for the sake of games; animals do not play because they are young, but they have a youth because they have to play.

Another translation appeared within the English edition of Groos’s book which was published in 1898. This rendering was constructed by translator Elizabeth L. Baldwin with the cooperation of Groos:3

Finally, in estimating the biological significance of play at its true worth, the thought was suggested that perhaps the very existence of youth is largely for the sake of play.

The animals do not play because they are young, but they have their youth because they must play.

In 1904 G. Stanley Hall published “Adolescence: Its Psychology” as mentioned near the beginning of this article. Here is a longer excerpt. Hall stated that the expression he crafted was inspired by Groos’s remark; however, “Groos” was misspelled as “Gross”:4

Gross well says that children are young because they play, and not vice versa; and he might have added, men grow old because they stop playing, and not conversely, for play is, at bottom, growth, and at the top of the intellectual scale it is the eternal type of research from sheer love of truth.

In 1908 George L. Knapp published an article titled “Ancient Origin of Modern Sport” which appeared in multiple newspaper including  “The Inter-Mountain Republican”5 of Salt Lake City, Utah and the “Oregon Sunday Journal”6 of Portland, Oregon. Knapp presented a version of the saying which employed antimetabole. Knapp did not provide an attribution:

Play keeps the world young as nothing else can. We do not so much quit playing because we grow old, as grow old because we quit playing.

In 1909 “The Inter-Mountain Republican” of Salt Lake City, Utah reported on a speech delivered by Juvenile Court Judge E. G. Gowans who attributed an instance of the saying using antimetabole to Hall:7

“G. Stanley Hall, one of the greatest authorities of the world, on the period of adolescence, says: ‘People do not cease playing because they grow old, but they grow old because they cease playing.’ Do not grow old: play with your own children and keep young with them.”

In May 1911 William A. Stecher who was the Director of Physical Education for public schools in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania published an article that referred to Groos ad Hall:8

Groos says that children are young so that they may play and develop and not vice versa. Hall says that we grow old because we stop playing, and not that we stop playing because we are growing old. He says play is at bottom growth, and that at the top of the scale, play is personified by the eternal type of research, of study, from sheer love of truth.

Also, in May 1911 the “Journal of Education” of Boston, Massachusetts printed a short filler item which credited Hall:9

People do not cease playing because they grow old, but they grow old because they cease playing.—G. Stanley Hall.

In 1915 the journal “The American City” published a piece by J. R. Richards who was a Superintendent of Recreation in Chicago, Illinois.  Richards attributed an instance of the saying to Herbert Spencer:10

Spencer says: “We stop playing, not because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing.”

In 1916 F. B. Barnes who was Director of Municipal Recreation in South Bend Indiana published an article which credited Spencer with the saying:11

Both young and old need the opportunity to express thru action the play instincts and to acquire sound and efficiently trained bodies. Spencer says: “We stop playing not because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing.”

In 1920 an article in the journal “The American Child” mentioned Groos and Hall:12

The ancient race renews its youth in the individual, and this is play. The young are young and the old are made young. Groos avers that children are young because they play and not vice versa, and Hall adds that “men grow old because they stop playing, and not conversely, for play is, at bottom, growth, and at the top of the intellectual scale it is the eternal type of research from sheer love of truth.” Naturalness, interest, spontaneity, zest, growth, self-expression, aspiration, youth—this is play and the soul of play. 

In 1922 the book “Community Forces for Religious Education: Early Adolescence” by G. Walter Fiske printed an interrogative version of the saying:13

When we notice the general tendency to outgrow the play habit we may well ask ourselves the question: Do we stop playing because we grow old, or do we grow old because we stop playing? Herbert Spencer tried to explain the universal play of children on the theory of overflowing energy; but it is not a sufficient explanation, for children often play long after they are tired enough to stop.

In 1968 “20,000 Quips and Quotes” compiled by Evan Esar included the following entry:14

We don’t stop playing because we grow old, we grow old because we stop playing. – Herbert Spencer

In 1975 “See You At the Top” by Zig Ziglar printed an instance without an attribution:15

Along the same lines, “We do not stop working and playing because we grow old, we grow old because we stop working and playing.”

In 1983 a columnist in a Kitchener, Ontario newspaper implausibly attributed the saying to George Bernard Shaw who died in 1950:16

I like to remind the retirees in my workshop that George Bernard Shaw said: “We don’t stop playing because we grow old. We grow old because we stop playing.”

In 1988 “The Boston Globe” of Massachusetts published the adage under the title “Reflection for the day”:17

We do not stop playing because we grow old. We grow old because we stop playing. — Oliver Wendell Holmes

“The Boston Globe” did not specify which famous person was being credited in the excerpt above. Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr. died in 1894. Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. died in 1935. QI has not found any substantive support for either attribution.

In 2006 “Treasury of Wit & Wisdom: 4,000 of the Funniest, Cleverest, Most Insightful Things Ever Said” included this entry:18

Men do not quit playing because they grow old; they grow old because they quit playing. — Oliver Wendell Holmes

In conclusion, Karl Groos penned a related statement in German about young animals and play in 1896. In 1904 the statement by Groos inspired G. Stanley Hall to craft an instance of the saying under examination, but Hall did not use antimetabole. In 1908 George L. Knapp wrote an instance using antimetabole. In 1909 Hall received credit for an instance using antimetabole.

Herbert Spencer, George Bernard Shaw, and Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr./Sr. have all received credit, but there is no compelling supporting evidence for these attributions.

Image Notes: Illustration of young people playing from Alex Guillaume at Unsplash. The image has been cropped and resized.

Acknowledgement: Great thanks to Mardy Grothe who inquired about a different statement on the theme of growing old: “It is not true that people stop pursuing dreams because they grow old, they grow old because they stop pursuing dreams”. QI encountered the saying examined in this article while performing this related research. Special thanks to researcher Susan Avery Stewart whose book “Winter’s Graces: The Surprising Gifts of Later Life” pointed to the early citation’s for Groos and Hall. Also, thanks to researcher Nigel Rees whose reference works mentioned the attribution to George Bernard Shaw.

  1. 1904, Adolescence: Its Psychology and Its Relations to Physiology, Anthropology, Sociology, Sex, Crime, Religion and Education by G. Stanley Hall (President of Clark University and Professor of Psychology and Pedagogy), Volume 1, Chapter 3: Growth of Motor Power and Function, Quote Page 235, D. Appleton and Company, New York. (Google Books Full View) link ↩︎
  2. 1896, Die Spiele der Thiere (The Games of Animals) by Karl Groos (Professor der Philosophie in Giessen), (The saying appears twice), Section: Vorwort, Quote Page VI, Also: Zweites Kapitel: Spiel und Instinct (Second Chapter: Game and Instinct), Quote Page 68, Verlag von Gustav Fischer, Jena. (Google Books Full View) link ↩︎
  3. 1898 Copyright, The Play of Animals by Karl Groos (Professor of Philosophy in the University of Basel), Translated with the Author’s Cooperation by Elizabeth L. Baldwin, Chapter 2: Play and Instinct, Quote Page 76, D. Appleton and Company, New York. (Google Books Full View) link ↩︎
  4. 1904, Adolescence: Its Psychology and Its Relations to Physiology, Anthropology, Sociology, Sex, Crime, Religion and Education by G. Stanley Hall (President of Clark University and Professor of Psychology and Pedagogy), Volume 1, Chapter 3: Growth of Motor Power and Function, Quote Page 235, D. Appleton and Company, New York. (Google Books Full View) link ↩︎
  5. 1908 September 11, The Inter-Mountain Republican, Ancient Origin of Modern Sport by George L. Knapp, Quote Page 2, Column 2, Salt Lake City, Utah. (Newspapers_com) ↩︎
  6. 1908 September 27, Oregon Sunday Journal, Section 3: Magazine, Ancient Origin of Modern Sport by George L. Knapp, Quote Page 6, Column 6, Portland, Oregon. (Newspapers_com) ↩︎
  7. 1909 June 21, The Inter-Mountain Republican,  Parents Warned By Dr. Gowans, Quote Page 8, Column 1, Salt Lake City, Utah. (Newspapers_com) ↩︎
  8. 1911 May, Normal College of the American Gymnastic Union, Play As a Factor in Mental and Moral Training by William A. Stecher (Director Physical Education, Public Schools, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania), Start Page 57, Quote Page 58, Published by the Normal College, Indianapolis, Indiana. (Google Books Full View) link ↩︎
  9. 1911 May 25, Journal of Education, Volume 73, Number 21, (Filler item), Quote Page 566, New England Publishing Company, Boston, Massachusetts. (Google Books Full View) link ↩︎
  10. 1915 December, The American City, Volume 13, Number 6, Chicago’s Recreational Problem as Related to a City-Wide Organization By J.R. Richards (Superintendent Recreation, South Park Commission, Chicago),  Start Page 468, Quote Page 469, Column 2, Published by The Civic Press, New York. (Google Books Full View) link ↩︎
  11. 1916 July, Bulletin of the Extension Division, Indiana University, Volume 1, Number 11, Play and Recreation, Four Papers Read at the Indiana State Conference on Play and Recreation, Article: A City Wide Recreation Program for Indiana Cities by F. B. Barnes (Director of Municipal Recreation, South Bend Indiana), Start Page 5, Quote Page 14, University Office of Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana. (Google Books Full View) link ↩︎
  12. 1920 November, The American Child, Volume 2, Number 3, Play and Work in Childhood by Raymond G. Fuller, Start Page 262, Quote Page 266, National Child Labor Committee, New York. (Google Books Full View) link ↩︎
  13. 1922, Community Forces for Religious Education: Early Adolescence by G. Walter Fiske, Chapter 3: The Function of Play in Character Development, Quote Page 40, Published for The Teacher-Training Publication Association by The Publishing House of the M. E. Church, South, Nashville, Tennessee. (Google Books Full View) link ↩︎
  14. 1968, 20,000 Quips and Quotes, Compiled by Evan Esar, Subject: Play, Quote Page 602, Doubleday, Garden City, New York. (Verified on paper) ↩︎
  15. 1976 (1975 Copyright), See You At the Top by Zig Ziglar, Quote Page 238, Pelican Publishing Company, Gretna, Louisiana. (Sixth printing 1977) (Verified with scans) ↩︎
  16. 1983 April 30, Kitchener-Waterloo Record, Life’s declining years should be a celebration by Joseph Levy, Quote Page D7, Column 4, Kitchener, Ontario, Canada. (Newspapers_com) ↩︎
  17. 1988 July 23, The Boston Globe, Reflection for the day, Quote Page 24, Column 5, Boston, Massachusetts. (Newspapers_com) ↩︎
  18. 2006, Treasury of Wit & Wisdom: 4,000 of the Funniest, Cleverest, Most Insightful Things Ever Said, Compiled by Jeff Bredenberg, Topic: Again, Quote Page 35, The Reader’s Digest Association, Pleasantville, New York. (Verified with scans) ↩︎