--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: The faculty of re-solution is possibly…" description: "\"“The faculty of re-solution is possibly much invigorated by mathematical study, and especially by that highest branch of it which, unjustly, and merely..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/24b/edgar-allan-poe-315_chess_the-faculty-of-re-solution-is-possibly-m_735800.jpg" --- # The faculty of re-solution is possibly much invigorated by… ![“The faculty of re-solution is possibly much invigorated by mathematical study, and especially by that highest branch of it which, unjustly, and merely on account of its retrograde operations, has been called, as if par excellence, analysis. Yet to calculate is not in itself to analyse. A…” quote by Edgar Allan Poe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/24b/edgar-allan-poe-315_chess_the-faculty-of-re-solution-is-possibly-m_735800.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/24b/edgar-allan-poe-315_chess_the-faculty-of-re-solution-is-possibly-m_735800.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/24b/edgar-allan-poe-315_chess_the-faculty-of-re-solution-is-possibly-m_735800.jpg) > ““The faculty of re-solution is possibly much invigorated by mathematical study, and especially by that highest branch of it which, unjustly, and merely on account of its retrograde operations, has been called, as if par excellence, analysis. Yet to calculate is not in itself to analyse. A chess-player, for example, does the one without effort at the other. It follows that the game of chess, in its effects upon mental character, is greatly misunderstood. I am not now writing a treatise, but simply prefacing a somewhat peculiar narrative by observations very much at random; I will, therefore, take occasion to assert that the higher powers of the reflective intellect are more decidedly and more usefully tasked by the unostentatious game of draughts than by a the elaborate frivolity of chess. In this latter, where the pieces have different and bizarre motions, with various and variable values, what is only complex is mistaken (a not unusual error) for what is profound. The attention is here called powerfully into play. If it flag for an instant, an oversight is committed resulting in injury or defeat. The possible moves being not only manifold but involute, the chances of such oversights are multiplied; and in nine cases out of ten it is the more concentrative rather than the more acute player who conquers. In draughts, on the contrary, where the moves are unique and have but little variation, the probabilities of inadvertence are diminished, and the mere attention being left comparatively unemployed, what advantages are obtained by either party are obtained by superior acumen. To be less abstract, let us suppose a game of draughts where the pieces are reduced to four kings, and where, of course, no oversight is to be expected. It is obvious that here the victory can be decided (the players being at all equal) only by some recherché movement, the result of some strong exertion of the intellect. Deprived of ordinary resources, the analyst throws himself into the spirit of his opponent, identifies himself therewith, and not unfrequently sees thus, at a glance, the sole methods (sometime indeed absurdly simple ones) by which he may seduce into error or hurry into miscalculation.”” [Edgar Allan Poe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edgar-allan-poe/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Poe argues that draughts (checkers) cultivates sharper, more disciplined intellect than chess, which he sees as prone to misjudging complexity. **In simple terms:** Draughts sharpens mind more reliably than chess. Key Takeaway Prefer simple, focused games for mental training. Themes cognition games education Mood thoughtful analytical Type philosophical educational When to use this quote - teaching critical thinking - board game design - mental discipline exercises Key Concepts analysis attention strategy Questions to Reflect On - Can a single game truly reflect intellectual superiority? - What role does complexity play in learning? A Different Perspective Chess also offers deep strategic benefits that draughts lacks. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Chess](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/chess/) [Education](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/education/) ## Related quotes > [The higher powers of the reflective intellect are more decidedly and more usefully tasked by the unostentatious game of draughts than by all the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edgar-allan-poe/the-higher-powers-of-the-reflective-intellect-are-more-decidedly-and/) [Edgar Allan Poe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edgar-allan-poe/) > [“Time is a child playing a game of draughts; the kingship is in the hands of a child.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/heraclitus/time-is-a-child-playing-a-game-of-draughts-the-kingship-is-in-the/) [Heraclitus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/heraclitus/) > [The placing of the centre pawns determines the "topography" of a game of chess.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alexander-kotov/the-placing-of-the-centre-pawns-determines-the-topography-of-a-game/) [Alexander Kotov](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alexander-kotov/) > [No One has ever won a Game of 'Chess' . By moving Forward Only . Sometimes U have to move . Backwards to get…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ritu-ghatourey/no-one-has-ever-won-a-game-of-chess-by-moving-forward-only-sometimes/) [Ritu Ghatourey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ritu-ghatourey/) > [Weaknesses of character are normally shown in a game of chess.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/garry-kasparov/weaknesses-of-character-are-normally-shown-in-a-game-of-chess/) [Garry Kasparov](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/garry-kasparov/) > [The game of Chess is not merely an idle amusement; several very valuable qualities of the mind are to be acquired and strengthened by…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/benjamin-franklin/the-game-of-chess-is-not-merely-an-idle-amusement-several-very/) [Benjamin Franklin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/benjamin-franklin/) > [I play my enemies like a game of chess](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lauryn-hill/i-play-my-enemies-like-a-game-of-chess/) [Lauryn Hill](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lauryn-hill/) > [“Like they say, the game is chess, it damn sure ain't checkers. Every move I make is so that I can conquer and destroy.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wahida-clark/like-they-say-the-game-is-chess-it-damn-sure-ain-t-checkers-every/) Wahida Clark > [“Alienor glanced across at the girls who were still oblivious of their fate as they sat over their game of chess. They had been…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-chadwick/alienor-glanced-across-at-the-girls-who-were-still-oblivious-of-their/) [Elizabeth Chadwick](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-chadwick/) > [It's the horsey-shape piece that moves in an L shape. It's what makes chess complicated, and why stupid people can't play chess. Go play…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/courtney-love/it-s-the-horsey-shape-piece-that-moves-in-an-l-shape-it-s-what-makes/) [Courtney Love](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/courtney-love/) > [Never Be 'Proud' Nor 'Depressed' For What You Are And 'The Position' You Hold In Society. Remember, After The Game Of Chess,,, The 'King'…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pacifiersucker/never-be-proud-nor-depressed-for-what-you-are-and-the-position-you/) Pacifiersucker > [Life is like a game of chess...there are many moves possible, but each move determines your next move...where you wind up is the sum…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mort-walker/life-is-like-a-game-of-chess-there-are-many-moves-possible-but-each/) [Mort Walker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mort-walker/) > [Each life is a game of chess that went to hell on the seventh move(...)](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/martin-amis/each-life-is-a-game-of-chess-that-went-to-hell-on-the-seventh-move/) [Martin Amis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/martin-amis/) > [It's very encouraging that the game of chess is growing in the U.S. and is becoming more popular.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hikaru-nakamura/it-s-very-encouraging-that-the-game-of-chess-is-growing-in-the-u-s/) [Hikaru Nakamura](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hikaru-nakamura/) > [I would say, you have a unique chance of learning more about the game of chess with your computer than Bobby Fischer, or even…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/garry-kasparov/i-would-say-you-have-a-unique-chance-of-learning-more-about-the-game/) [Garry Kasparov](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/garry-kasparov/) ## More by Edgar Allan Poe > [“From childhood’s hour I have not been As others were—I have not seen As others saw—I could not bring My passions from a common…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edgar-allan-poe/from-childhood-s-hour-i-have-not-been-as-others-were-i-have-not-seen/) [Edgar Allan Poe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edgar-allan-poe/) > [There is no passion in nature so demoniacally impatient, as that of him who, shuddering upon the edge of a precipice, thus meditates a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edgar-allan-poe/there-is-no-passion-in-nature-so-demoniacally-impatient-as-that-of/) [Edgar Allan Poe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edgar-allan-poe/) > [To vilify a great man is the readiest way in which a little man can himself attain greatness.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edgar-allan-poe/to-vilify-a-great-man-is-the-readiest-way-in-which-a-little-man-can/) [Edgar Allan Poe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edgar-allan-poe/) > [“A skillful literary artist has constructed a tale. 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It is a passion and a fate that one has to live…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/simen-agdestein/real-chessplayers-think-about-chess-more-or-less-24-hours-a-day-it-is/) Simen Agdestein > [It's interesting that the greatest minds of computer science, the founding fathers, like Alan Turing and Claude Shannon and Norbert Wiener, they all looked…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/garry-kasparov/it-s-interesting-that-the-greatest-minds-of-computer-science-the/) [Garry Kasparov](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/garry-kasparov/) > [“Relationships are chess for women," he said. "They can see the whole board, plan way ahead. They're the queens, after all. We're the kings,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/laura-lippman/relationships-are-chess-for-women-he-said-they-can-see-the-whole/) [Laura Lippman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/laura-lippman/) > [The election of Trump threw the chess board up. The pieces are all over the place. 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Use it!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wilhelm-steinitz/the-king-is-a-fighting-piece-use-it/) [Wilhelm Steinitz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wilhelm-steinitz/) [Browse all 2,003 Chess quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/chess/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“The faculty of re-solution is possibly much invigorated by mathematical study, and especially by that highest branch of it which, unjustly, and merely on account of its retrograde operations, has been called, as if par excellence, analysis. Yet to calculate is not in itself to analyse. A chess-player, for example, does the one without effort at the other. It follows that the game of chess, in its effects upon mental character, is greatly misunderstood. I am not now writing a treatise, but simply prefacing a somewhat peculiar narrative by observations very much at random; I will, therefore, take occasion to assert that the higher powers of the reflective intellect are more decidedly and more usefully tasked by the unostentatious game of draughts than by a the elaborate frivolity of chess. In this latter, where the pieces have different and bizarre motions, with various and variable values, what is only complex is mistaken (a not unusual error) for what is profound. The attention is here called powerfully into play. If it flag for an instant, an oversight is committed resulting in injury or defeat. The possible moves being not only manifold but involute, the chances of such oversights are multiplied; and in nine cases out of ten it is the more concentrative rather than the more acute player who conquers. In draughts, on the contrary, where the moves are unique and have but little variation, the probabilities of inadvertence are diminished, and the mere attention being left comparatively unemployed, what advantages are obtained by either party are obtained by superior acumen. To be less abstract, let us suppose a game of draughts where the pieces are reduced to four kings, and where, of course, no oversight is to be expected. It is obvious that here the victory can be decided (the players being at all equal) only by some recherché movement, the result of some strong exertion of the intellect. Deprived of ordinary resources, the analyst throws himself into the spirit of his opponent, identifies himself therewith, and not unfrequently sees thus, at a glance, the sole methods (sometime indeed absurdly simple ones) by which he may seduce into error or hurry into miscalculation.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Edgar Allan Poe" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edgar-allan-poe/the-faculty-of-re-solution-is-possibly-much-invigorated-by/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Chess" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edgar-allan-poe/the-faculty-of-re-solution-is-possibly-much-invigorated-by/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/24b/edgar-allan-poe-315_chess_the-faculty-of-re-solution-is-possibly-m_735800.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/24b/edgar-allan-poe-315_chess_the-faculty-of-re-solution-is-possibly-m_735800.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/24b/edgar-allan-poe-315_chess_the-faculty-of-re-solution-is-possibly-m_735800.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“The faculty of re-solution is possibly much invigorated by mathematical study, and especially by that…” — Edgar Allan Poe", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Edgar Allan Poe", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edgar-allan-poe/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "“The faculty of re-solution is possibly...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edgar-allan-poe/the-faculty-of-re-solution-is-possibly-much-invigorated-by/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edgar-allan-poe/the-faculty-of-re-solution-is-possibly-much-invigorated-by/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```