{
  "type": "quote",
  "site": {
    "name": "Leafy Quotes",
    "language": "en",
    "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com"
  },
  "formats": "Every page has two versions with the same data: JSON (the page address + .json) and markdown (the page address + .md). Append .json or .md to any `url` in this document.",
  "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/donald-barthelme/the-teachings-of-don-b/these-games-are",
  "json": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/donald-barthelme/the-teachings-of-don-b/these-games-are.json",
  "markdown": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/donald-barthelme/the-teachings-of-don-b/these-games-are.md",
  "id": "a733ae44-18d2-4054-bb4a-cdf5f5cb19cc",
  "slug": "these-games-are",
  "text": "“These games are marvelous,” Amanda said. “I like them especially because they are so meaningless and boring, and trivial. These qualities, once regarded as less than desirable, are now everywhere enthroned as the key elements in our psychological lives, as reflected in the art of the period as well as—”",
  "language": "en",
  "author": {
    "name": "Donald Barthelme",
    "slug": "donald-barthelme",
    "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/donald-barthelme"
  },
  "book": {
    "title": "The Teachings of Don B.",
    "slug": "the-teachings-of-don-b",
    "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/donald-barthelme/the-teachings-of-don-b"
  },
  "character": null,
  "chapter": null,
  "chapter_parent": null,
  "page": 77,
  "verified": false,
  "original": null,
  "other_languages": [],
  "topics": [
    {
      "name": "boredom",
      "slug": "boredom",
      "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/boredom"
    }
  ],
  "source": {
    "name": "Wikiquote",
    "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Donald_Barthelme#The_Teachings_of_Don._B:_Satires,_Parodies,_Fables,_Illustrated_Stories,_and_Plays_of_Donald_Barthelme_(1992)",
    "license": {
      "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0",
      "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/"
    }
  },
  "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:57:07",
  "more_from_book": [
    {
      "id": "952b99ae-c45a-4626-b941-0db53d91b331",
      "slug": "people-who-had",
      "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/donald-barthelme/the-teachings-of-don-b/people-who-had",
      "text": "People who had, in the past, suffered from technophobia suffered even more. Others took other positions. Things were not so bad. Things could be worse. Worse things could be imagined. Worse things had been endured and triumphed over, in the past. This was not the worst. The worst was yet to come.",
      "language": "en",
      "character": null,
      "chapter": null,
      "chapter_parent": null,
      "page": 131,
      "verified": false,
      "original": null,
      "other_languages": [],
      "topics": [
        {
          "name": "humor",
          "slug": "humor",
          "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/humor"
        },
        {
          "name": "pessimism",
          "slug": "pessimism",
          "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/pessimism"
        }
      ],
      "source": {
        "name": "Wikiquote",
        "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Donald_Barthelme#The_Teachings_of_Don._B:_Satires,_Parodies,_Fables,_Illustrated_Stories,_and_Plays_of_Donald_Barthelme_(1992)",
        "license": {
          "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0",
          "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/"
        }
      },
      "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:57:08"
    },
    {
      "id": "5417a574-805f-4897-8b3c-6a542ba3f70c",
      "slug": "bill-we-are",
      "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/donald-barthelme/the-teachings-of-don-b/bill-we-are",
      "text": "BILL: … We are what we have been told about ourselves. We are the sum of the messages we have received. The true messages. The false messages.",
      "language": "en",
      "character": null,
      "chapter": null,
      "chapter_parent": null,
      "page": 324,
      "verified": false,
      "original": null,
      "other_languages": [],
      "topics": [
        {
          "name": "identity",
          "slug": "identity",
          "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity"
        }
      ],
      "source": {
        "name": "Wikiquote",
        "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Donald_Barthelme#The_Teachings_of_Don._B:_Satires,_Parodies,_Fables,_Illustrated_Stories,_and_Plays_of_Donald_Barthelme_(1992)",
        "license": {
          "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0",
          "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/"
        }
      },
      "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:57:08"
    }
  ]
}
