Wilhelm Steinitz

The King is a fighting piece. Use it!

— Wilhelm Steinitz

In the ending the king is a powerful piece for assisting his own pawns, or stopping the adverse pawns.

— Wilhelm Steinitz

I may be an old lion, but I can still bite someone's hand off if he puts it in my mouth.

— Wilhelm Steinitz

Only the player with the initiative has the right to attack

— Wilhelm Steinitz

Chess is not for the faint-hearted; it absorbs a person entirely. To get to the bottom of this game, he has to…

— Wilhelm Steinitz

Chess is intellectual gymnastics.

— Wilhelm Steinitz

When you have an advantage, you are obliged to attack; otherwise you are endangered to lose the advantage.

— Wilhelm Steinitz

No great player blundered oftener than I done. I was champion of the world for twenty-eight years because I was twenty years…

— Wilhelm Steinitz

Chess is so inspiring that I do not believe a good player is capable of having an evil thought during the game.

— Wilhelm Steinitz

Chess is difficult, it demands work, serious reflection and zealous research.

— Wilhelm Steinitz

Have you ever seen a monkey examining a watch?

— Wilhelm Steinitz

I do not believe a good player is capable of having an evil thought during the game.

— Wilhelm Steinitz

I would rather die in America than live in England. I would rather lose a match in America than win one in…

— Wilhelm Steinitz

Chess is not for timid souls.

— Wilhelm Steinitz

I am not a chess historian - I myself am a piece of chess history, which no one can avoid. I will…

— Wilhelm Steinitz

I shall accord to myself the honor of inscribing myself as an applicant for the American citizenship which according to law I…

— Wilhelm Steinitz

Fame, I have already. Now I need the money.

— Wilhelm Steinitz

The king pawn and the queen pawn are the only ones to be moved in the early part of the game.

— Wilhelm Steinitz

A win by an unsound combination, however showy, fills me with artistic horror

— Wilhelm Steinitz

A sacrifice is best refuted by accepting it

— Wilhelm Steinitz

Capture of the adverse King is the ultimate but not the first object of the game

— Wilhelm Steinitz

I have never in my life played the French Defence, which is the dullest of all openings

— Wilhelm Steinitz

Unfortunately, many regard the critic as an enemy, instead of seeing him as a guide to the truth.

— Wilhelm Steinitz

I am fully and entirely concentrated on the board. I never even consider my opponent's personality. So far as I am concerned,…

— Wilhelm Steinitz

The task of the positional player is systematically to accumulate slight advantages and try to convert temporary advantages into permanent ones, otherwise…

— Wilhelm Steinitz