E. M. Forster Quotes

I started playing chess when I was about 4 or 5 years old. It is very good for children to learn to play chess, because it helps them to develop their mental abilities. It also helps to consolidate a person's character, because as it happens both in life and in a chess game we have to make decisions constantly. In chess there is no luck and no excuses: everything is in your hands.

Actually, one of the fascinating things that I've learned playing chess is that the way you play chess is kind of like the way you live your life.

Chess demands total concentration

The game of chess is a metaphor for life... it teaches you strategy and it teaches you the value of knowing where you are, where you want to get to and what obstacles are in the way that you need to navigate in order to get there.

Botvinnik tried to take the mystery out of Chess, always relating it to situations in ordinary life. He used to call chess a typical inexact problem similar to those which people are always having to solve in everyday life.

If the kids get a good grasp of what the main lessons are for chess after two or three years of staying with the game, then you've given them brain food and you've given them a skill that can last them a lifetime.

The game of Chess is not merely an idle amusement; several very valuable qualities of the mind are to be acquired and strengthened by it, so as to become habits ready on all occasions, for life is a kind of chess.

You sit at the board and suddenly your heart leaps. Your hand trembles to pick up the piece and move it. But what chess teaches you is that you must sit there calmly and think about whether it's really a good idea and whether there are other, better ideas.

Concentrate and think upon the problem in mind until a satisfactory conclusion is reached, and then finally go ahead. If you have made a mistake, all right. Never find fault with a man because he has made a mistake. It is only a fool that makes the same mistake the second time.

I learned to play chess at a young age, and I think that's where learning to plan things out and put things in position, that was the best thing for me.

Writing is sort of like chess for me. You have to think carefully before you move, thinking, planning.

Life is very much about making the best decisions you can. So I think chess is very valuable.

Tactics involve calculations that can tax the human brain, but when you boil them down, they are actually the simplest part of chess and are almost trivial compared to strategy.

Thank you, darling, for learning to play chess. It is an absolute necessity for any well organized family. (in a letter to his wife)

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

Chess is a cold bath for the mind

Chess teaches you to control the initial excitement you feel when you see something that looks good and it trains you to think objectively when you're in trouble

Playing for complications is an extreme measure that a player should adopt only when he cannot find a clear and logical plan.

What could be more important than equipping the next generation with the character and competence they need to become successful

Chess first of all teaches you to be objective.

Objective leaders identify their unproductive mental models and tweak them for greater effectiveness.

I still love to play chess. So I do not even spend a minute on the possibility to step back.

Learning how to learn is life's most important skill.

You can develop good judgement as you do the muscles of your body - by judicious, daily exercise.

I'm fascinated with films that deal with strategy because there's a right way and a wrong way to get the job done.