Jesse Ballenger

“All of the passengers knew the man with the yellow feather to be clownish and not the least bit qualified. He was also known to all as someone who lied so often it was considered involuntary and incurable. When he had $43 in his pocket he said head $76. When he lost at cards or golf, he walked away, then told the first person he encountered that he'd won. When there was no reason to lie, he lied. He lied about the time of day while standing under a clock.”
― Dave Eggers, The Captain and the Glory

“Systems, whether they’re explicitly presented in the form of games or not, dictate and shape our lives, like water being held in an awkwardly shaped vase. Maintaining a sense of frustration and anger at the shape forced on your existence, and that of countless others, is of the utmost necessity for a politically productive life.”
― Eric Thurm, Avidly Reads Board Games

“The special thing about games, and tabletop games in particular, is the way they actively train you to think from within their rules. Other forms of art do this too, but in a more roundabout way that requires a certain sensitivity and willingness to taken in by the television show you're watching or the book you're reading. With games, it's a prerequisite. If you don't think the way the game wants you to think, at least a little bit, you're not really playing the game at all.”
― Eric Thurm, Avidly Reads Board Games

“Poetry isn't hard, it's impossible.”
― Ben Lerner, The Hatred of Poetry