Emanuel Lasker

The combination player thinks forward; he starts from the given position, and tries the forceful moves in his mind

— Emanuel Lasker

The intelligent perusal of fine games cannot fail to make the reader a better player and a better judge of the play…

— Emanuel Lasker

On the chessboard, lies and hypocrisy do not survive long. The creative combination lays bare the presumption of a lie; the merciless…

— Emanuel Lasker

Having spent 200 hours on the above, the young player, even if he possesses no special talent for chess, is likely to…

— Emanuel Lasker

The process of making pieces in Chess do something useful (whatever it may be) has received a special name: it is called…

— Emanuel Lasker

Without error there can be no brilliancy

— Emanuel Lasker

If Steinitz continually took pains to discover combinations, the success or failure of his diligent search could not be explained by him…

— Emanuel Lasker

He who wants to educate himself in Chess must evade what is dead in Chess... the habit of playing with inferior opponents;…

— Emanuel Lasker

Our efforts in chess attain only a hundredth of one percent of their rightful result... Our education, in all domains of endeavour,…

— Emanuel Lasker

Truth derives its strength not so much from itself as from the brilliant contrast it makes with what is only apparently true.…

— Emanuel Lasker

I believe in magic ... There is magic in the creative faculty such as great poets and philosophers conspicuously possess, and equally…

— Emanuel Lasker

While the Baroque rules of Chess could only have been created by humans, the rules of Go are so elegant, organic, and…

— Emanuel Lasker

Vanity should never tempt a player to engage in a combat at the risk of loss of health. It is bad enough…

— Emanuel Lasker

Show me three lines of the opening theory moves and I will prove to you that two of them are incorrect.

— Emanuel Lasker

When you see a good move, look for a better one.

— Emanuel Lasker

Chess is neither a science nor an art. It is what human nature most delights in--a fight.

— Emanuel Lasker

When Alekhine recognizes the weakness in his position he has a tendency to become very aggressive. Patient defence is not for him…

— Emanuel Lasker

Education in Chess has to be an education in independent thinking and judging. Chess must not be memorized...

— Emanuel Lasker

I keep on fighting as long as my opponent can make a mistake.

— Emanuel Lasker

Show me three variations in the leading handbook on the openings, and I will show you two of those three that are…

— Emanuel Lasker

A chess game, after all, is a fight in which all possible factors must be made use of, and in which a…

— Emanuel Lasker

The delight in gambits is a sign of chess youth... In very much the same way as the young man, on reaching…

— Emanuel Lasker

On a motif such as was indicated by Reti one cannot build the plan of a whole well contested game; it is…

— Emanuel Lasker

Of my fifty-seven years I have applied at least thirty to forgetting most of what I have learned or read. Since then,…

— Emanuel Lasker

The laws of chess do not permit a free choice: you have to move whether you like it or not.

— Emanuel Lasker