I have had to work long and hard to eradicate the dangerous delusion that, in a bad position, I could always, or nearly always, conjure up some unexpected combination to extricate me from my difficulties.

Oh! this opponent, this collaborator against his will, whose notion of Beauty always differs from yours and whose means (strength, imagination, technique) are often too limited to help you effectively! What torment, to have your thinking and your phantasy tied down by another person!

During a Chess competition a Chessmaster should be a combination of a beast of prey and a monk

The purpose of human life and the sense of happiness is to give the maximum what the man is able to give.

Chess first of all teaches you to be objective.

During a chess tournament a master must envisage himself as a cross between an ascetic monk and a beast of prey.

In my opinion, a master is morally obliged to seize every sort of opportunity and to try to solve the problems of the position without fear of some simplifications.