One thing about the business and investing world that I connect to very intimately is that there is little room to deny the harsh realities of your mistakes. A bad call can lose you many millions.

The key to pursuing excellence is to embrace an organic, long-term learning process, and not to live in a shell of static, safe mediocrity. Usually, growth comes at the expense of previous comfort or safety.

Not only do we have to be good at waiting, we have to love it. Because waiting is not waiting, it is life.

I have never considered myself a prodigy. Others have used that term, but I never bought in to it.

Initially I was very drawn to the Tao Te Ching, the Taoist philosophy. It was helping me deal with the balance of these external and internal issues with my chess life. Tai chi is the martial embodiment of Taoist philosophy. Initially, I had no intention of competing in the martial arts; it was just the meditation.

In chess you might find a good move. Then you might find a better move. But take your time. Find the best move.

In America, people focus on the end result; they focus on the star.