| 1 | A plan is made for a few moves only, not for the whole game. | Reuben Fine |
| 2 | A sacrifice is best refuted by accepting it.
| Wilhelm Steinitz |
| 3 | A solid opening repertoire fosters self-confidence. | Lajos Portisch |
| 4 | All openings are sound below master level. | William Lombardy |
| 5 | All rook endgames are drawn. | Saviely Tartakower |
| 6 | Always check; it may be mate. | Al Horowitz |
| 7 | An advantage could consist not only in a single important advantage but also in a multitude of insignificant advantages. | Emanuel Lasker |
| 8 | Before the endgame, the gods have placed the middlegame. | Siegbert Tarrasch |
| 9 | Blunders rarely travel alone. | Anatoly Karpov |
| 10 | Chess is 99 percent tactics. | Richard Teichmann |
| 11 | Chess is ruthless: you've got to be prepared to kill people. | Nigel Short |
| 12 | Chess is the art of analysis.
| Mikhail Botvinnik |
| 13 | Forced, therefore correct. | Saviely Tartakower |
| 14 | He who fears an isolated queen's pawn should give up chess. | Siegbert Tarrasch |
| 15 | I can see the combinations as well as Alekhine, but I cannot get into the same positions. | Rudolf Spielmann |
| 16 | I go to bed at 4.00am. Almost all chessplayers do. | Vladimir Kramnik |
| 17 | I have never in my life played the French Defence, which is the dullest of all openings. | Wilhelm Steinitz |
| 18
| I have not given any drawn or lost games, because I thought them inadequate to the purpose of the book. | Jose R Capablanca |
| 19 | I keep on fighting as long as my opponent can make a mistake. | Emanuel Lasker |
| 20 | I try to play, always, beautiful games…always I want to create masterpieces. | Garry Kasparov |
| 21 | I warn you well, it is no child's play. | Geoffrey Chaucer |
| 22 | I would prefer chess to become part of the Olympic Games. This would also lead to chess become more accepted as a sport in general. | Viswanathan Anand |
| 23 | If chess is an art, Alekhine. If chess is a science, Capablanca. If chess is a struggle, Lasker. (On who was the greatest chess player) | Saviely Tartakower |
| 24 | If you don't want to be stabbed in the back you should be aware of who is standing behind you. | Tony Miles |
| 25 | If your opponent offers you a draw, try to work out why he thinks he's worse off. | Nigel Short |
| 26 | In chess, the threat is stronger than the execution. | Aron Nimzowitsch |
| 27 | In open positions the safety of the king should be the first consideration. | Richard Reti |
| 28 | It is always better to sacrifice your opponent's men. | Saviely Tartakower |
| 29 | It is bad form for spectators to remove the pieces from the board without the consent of the players. | Henry Bird |
| 30 | It is not enough to be a good player; you must also play well. | Siegbert Tarrasch |
| 31 | My style is somewhere between that of Tal and Petrosian. | Samuel Reshevsky |
| 32 | Never resign. There's always a chance your opponent may drop dead before he mates you. | Al Horowitz |
| 33 | Nobody ever won a chess game by resigning. | Saviely Tartakower |
| 34 | Patzer sees check, patzer makes check. | Bobby Fischer |
| 35 | So many moves, so little time! | Vladimir Kramnik |
| 36 | Tactics flow from a superior position. | Bobby Fischer |
| 37 | Tactics is what you do when there is something to do; strategy is what you do when there is nothing to do. | Saviely Tartakower |
| 38 | The boy doesn't have a clue about chess, and there's no future at all for him in this profession. (Referring to a 12-year-old named Anatoly Karpov) | Mikhail Botvinnik |
| 39 | The first principle of attack – don't let the opponent develop!
| Reuben Fine |
| 40 | The game of the gods. Infinite possibilities. | Vladimir Nabokov |
| 41 | The initial position is decisive zugzwang. | Jon Speelman |
| 42 | The isolated pawn casts gloom over the entire chessboard. | Aron Nimzowitsch |
| 43 | The mistakes are there, waiting to be made. | Saviely Tartakower |
| 44 | The sign of a great master is his ability to win a won game quickly and painlessly. | Irving Chernev |
| 45 | There are two kinds of sacrifices; correct ones and mine.
| Mikhail Tal |
| 46 | Weak points or holes in the enemy position must be occupied by pieces, not pawns. | Siegbert Tarrasch |
| 47 | When you see a good move, sit on your hands and see if you can find a better one. | Siegbert Tarrasch |
| 48 | Yes, I have played a blitz game once. It was on a train, in 1929. | Mikhail Botvinnik |
| 49 | You are never too old to play chess! | Bobby Fischer |
| 50 | You may have the bishop pair but I have the ultimate advantage; I am the better player! | Michael Adams |