During a Chess competition a Chessmaster should be a combination of a beast of prey and a monk
Interpretation
A chessmaster must balance instinctive aggression with calm, focused strategy.
This quote emphasizes the dual nature required to excel in chess: one must possess the savage tenacity of a predator while also embodying the disciplined patience of a monk. It highlights that success in chess, much like in life, requires both fierce determination and serene contemplation.
In practice
During a motivational speech to aspiring chess players.
I do not play chess β I fight at chess. Therefore, I willingly combine the tactical with the strategic, the fantastic with the scientific, the combinative with the positional, and I aim to respond to the demands of each given position.
I consider chess an art, and accept all those responsibilities which art places upon its devotees.
Capablanca was snatched too early from the chess world. With his death we have lost a great chess genius, the like of whom we will never see again.
You can become a big master in chess only if you see your mistakes and short-comings. Exactly the same as in life itself.
For my victory over Capablanca I am indebted primarily to my superiority in the field of psychology. Capablanca played, relying almost exclusively on his rich intuitive talent. But for the chess struggle nowadays one needs a subtle knowledge of human nature, an understanding of the opponent's psychology.
During a chess tournament a master must envisage himself as a cross between an ascetic monk and a beast of prey.
Posterity weaves no garlands for imitators.
You will not be carried to Heaven lying at ease upon a feather bed.
Strengths are not activities you're good at, they're activities that strengthen you. A strength is an activity that before you're doing it you look forward to doing it; while you're doing it, time goes by quickly and you can concentrate; after you've done it, it seems to fulfill a need of yours.
You have to have faith that there is a reason you go through certain things. I can't say I'm glad to go through pain, but in a way one must, in order to gain courage and really feel joy.
Knowledge is like a knife. In the hands of a well-balanced adult it is an instrument for good of inestimable value; but in the hands of a child, an idiot, a criminal, a drunkard or an insane man, it may cause havoc, misery, suffering and crime. Science and religion have this in common, that their noble aims, their power for good, have often, with wrong men, deteriorated into a boomerang to the human race.
I am tired of talk that comes to nothing It makes my heart sick when I remember all the good words and all the broken promises. There has been too much talking by men who had no right to talk. It does not require many words to speak the truth.
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