Stanley Kubrick

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

I’ve never been certain whether the moral of the Icarus story should only be, as is generally accepted, ‘don’t try to fly too high,’ or whether it might also be thought of as ‘forget the wax and feathers, and do a better job on the wings.

I never learned anything at all in school and didn't read a book for pleasure until I was 19 years old.

Here's to five miserable months on the wagon and the irreparable harm that it's caused me.

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.

A filmmaker has almost the same freedom as a novelist has when he buys himself some paper.

However vast the darkness, we must supply our own light.

The dead know only one thing, it is better to be alive

I think the big mistake in schools is trying to teach children anything, and by using fear as the basic motivation. Fear of getting failing grades, fear of not staying with your class, etc. Interest can produce learning on a scale compared to fear as a nuclear explosion to a firecracker.