The task of the positional player is systematically to accumulate slight advantages and try to convert temporary advantages into permanent ones, otherwise the player with the better position runs the risk of losing it.
Wilhelm SteinitzNo great player blundered oftener than I done. I was champion of the world for twenty-eight years because I was twenty years ahead of my time. I played on certain principles, which neither Zukertort nor anyone else of his time understood. The players of today, such as Lasker, Tarrasch, Pillsbury, Schlechter and others have adopted my principles, and as is only natural, they have improved upon what I began, and that is the whole secret of the matter.
Wilhelm SteinitzThe king pawn and the queen pawn are the only ones to be moved in the early part of the game.
Wilhelm SteinitzI have never in my life played the French Defence, which is the dullest of all openings
Wilhelm Steinitz