I spend hours playing chess because I find it so much fun. The day it stops being fun is the day I give up.
Interpretation
Finding joy in an activity is crucial for continued engagement.
This quote by Magnus Carlsen emphasizes that the enjoyment derived from playing chess is what motivates him to dedicate hours to it. It suggests that when the joy fades, so does his commitment, highlighting the importance of happiness in pursuing a passion.
In practice
Use this quote to inspire students before a school chess tournament.
There wasn't any particular player I modeled my game after. I tried to learn from everyone and create my own style. I studied past players... Truth be told I never had a favorite player. It's just not my nature to go around idolizing people. I just go try to learn.
Maybe if I didn't have the talent in chess I'd find the talent in something else. The only thing I know is that I have talent in chess, and I'm satisfied with that.
Self-confidence is very important. If you don't think you can win, you will take cowardly decisions in the crucial moments, out of sheer respect for your opponent. You see the opportunity but also greater limitations than you should. I have always believed in what I do on the chessboard, even when I had no objective reason to. It is better to overestimate your prospects than underestimate them.
Without the element of enjoyment, it is not worth trying to excel at anything.
Some people think that if their opponent plays a beautiful game, it's okay to lose. I don't. You have to be merciless.
For me right now I think being the world number one is a bigger deal than being the world champion because I think it shows better who plays the best chess. That sounds self-serving but I think it's also right.
We are tempted to believe that certain achievements and possessions will give us enduring satisfaction. We are invited to imagine ourselves scaling the steep cliff face of happiness in order to reach a wide, high plateau on which we will live out the rest of our lives; we are not reminded that soon after gaining the summit, we will be called down again into fresh lowlands of anxiety and desire.
Joy is not gush. Joy is not mere jolliness. Joy is perfect acquiescence ~ acceptance, rest ~ in God’s will, whatever comes.
You have so much inside you, and the noblest happiness of all. Don’t just wait for a man to come along. That’s the mistake so many women make. Find your happiness in yourself.
Satiety depends not at all on how much we eat, but on how we eat. It's the same with happiness, the very same...happiness doesn't depend on how many external blessings we have snatched from life. It depends only on our attitude toward them. There's a saying about it in the Taoist ethic: 'Whoever is capable of contentment will always be satisfied.
I have chosen to be happy because it is goo for my health.
We don't laugh because we're happy - we're happy because we laugh.
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