Karel Janeček

Karel Janeček is an exceptional personality — a mathematician, logician, visionary and philanthropist who goes beyond conventional success. While most wealthy people convert their gains into comfort, he sees wealth as energy in motion — a tool for awakening society. Karel is therefore not a philanthropist in the traditional sense, but an initiator of change: he sparks action, stirs others, and moves on.

He has carried his logical thinking from trading algorithms into social processes. He is the author of the D21 voting method, co-founded the Neuron Science Endowment Fund, founded the Anti-Corruption Endowment Fund, the projects Laskavec and School Participation, and he has long supported educational innovation such as the Abaku method. In all these areas, he expresses his belief that the true value of money lies in its ability to set positive processes in motion — not in owning it.

Karel Janeček is a social nonconformist who is not afraid to step out of line — whether through outspoken criticism of Covid restrictions on the stage of the Czech music awards Český Slavík, or through long-term pressure for transparency in public life. His courage and unwillingness to adapt to collective comfort make him a rare type of modern patron: a person who uses wealth as a tool of freedom, not as its substitute.

Vladimír Tesař is an educator and humanist. What connects him with Karel Janeček is the understanding that numbers are not just instruments of calculation, but a language of thought and a way of reading the world — a notation of positions from which its rhythm emerges. Both see education as a mirror of a society’s health: the more attention a society gives to its youngest, the stronger and more resilient it becomes.

His work is grounded in a quiet yet firm belief that education can be a healing process — that every child who learns to think with joy is a step toward a more balanced society.

Vladimír Tesař, Karel Janeček and the entire Abaku team dedicate a great deal of energy to the development and daily running of the project. They share one remarkable trait — they are “life players.” For them, play is not an escape from reality, but a way to shape it. And they are far from alone in this:)

Play is a natural human pathway to learning, growth and understanding the world.

This simple principle has been expressed by thinkers, scientists and educators across cultures and centuries:

1. Play and Learning

   “Play is joy. Learning through play is joyful learning.” — John Amos Comenius
   “Children learn through play. Most importantly — through play they learn how to learn.” — O. Fred Donaldson
   “Play is the favorite way our brain learns.” — Diane Ackerman
   “Play is the foundation of learning, creativity, self-expression, and problem-solving.” — Susan Linn
   “Play is the primary way children are designed to learn.” — Kathy Hirsh-Pasek & Roberta Golinkoff
   “Children learn through doing — play is how they explore the world, assess risk, try new things and discover themselves.” — Bethe Almeras
   “For a young child there is no boundary between play and learning… every joyful part of life is also play.” — Penelope Leach
   “Toys are the tools of childhood, and the simple act of playing helps children develop a lifelong love of learning.” — Mark Carson
   “Play gives children the chance to practice what they are learning.” — Fred Rogers
   “You can discover more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation.” — Plato
   “By watching children at play, we learn their worries, wishes and fantasies.” — Jerome Singer
   “In play, a child always behaves beyond his average age.” — Lev Vygotsky
   “Play is the highest expression of human development in childhood.” — Friedrich Fröbel
   “Play is the highest form of research.” — Albert Einstein
   “Education is not preparation for life; education is life itself.” — John Dewey

2. Play and Creativity

   “Creating something new is not accomplished by the intellect but by the play instinct.” — Carl Jung
   “When children engage in pretend play, they cross the boundaries of reality.” — Fred Rogers
   “You can’t use up creativity. The more you use, the more you have.” — Maya Angelou
   “Necessity may be the mother of invention, but play is certainly its father.” — Roger von Oech
   “Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once we grow up.” — Pablo Picasso
   “In the world of imaginary play, children freely express their thoughts, emotions and fantastic ideas.” — Sandra Russ

3. Play and Personal Development

   “Play builds the curiosity, independence and resilience that our future requires.” — James Hines Jr.
   “Risky play teaches children to assess danger, delay gratification and build confidence.” — Caroline Paul
   “Play is training for the unexpected.” — Marc Bekoff
   “A child loves play not because it is easy, but because it is hard.” — Benjamin Spock
   “Play is how children and adults stretch beyond their limits.” — Erik H. Erikson
   “Nothing lights up a child’s brain like play.” — Stuart Brown
   “The simplicity of play helps children solve the complexity of life.” — L. R. Knost

4. Play and Relationships

   “Play is the foundation of relationships and tolerance.” — Isabel Behncke
   “Play matters because people matter. It reveals our interdependence.” — Jill Vialet
   “Time spent playing with children is never wasted.” — Don Lantero
   “What we play with — and the people who join us in play — shape our lives.” — Fred Rogers
   “I never imagined we would have to defend a child’s right to play.” — Nancy Carlsson-Paige
   “Let them play! The more they play, the more resilient and socially skilled they become.” — Jessica Joelle Alexander

5. Play as a Need and a Right

   “The drive for free play is a basic biological instinct.” — Peter Gray
   “Children need freedom and time to play. Play is not a luxury — it is a necessity.” — Kay Redfield Jamison
   “Play is not something extra — it is foundational to brain development.” — Denita Dinger
   “If we want our children to have a good life, we must give them more time to play, not less.” — Peter Gray
   “When we deny children play, we deny them the tools to understand the world.” — Erika Christakis
   “It is paradoxical that many educators still separate learning time from play time.” — Leo F. Buscaglia

6. Play in Culture and Thought

   “You can discover more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation.” — Plato
   “In play we reveal who we truly are.” — Ovid
   “Man is most himself when he achieves the seriousness of a child at play.” — Heraclitus
   “Play is the celebration of possibility.” — Martin Buber
   “A child who does not play is not a child; and an adult who does not play has lost the child within.” — Pablo Neruda
   “The true object of human life is play.” — G. K. Chesterton
   “A little nonsense now and then is cherished by the wisest men.” — Roald Dahl
   “Life is more fun when we play games.” — Roald Dahl
   “Double, double, toil and trouble; fire burn and cauldron bubble.” — William Shakespeare