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.

Some people think that if their opponent plays a beautiful game, it's OK to lose. I don't. You have to be merciless.

You need to have that edge, you need to have that confidence, you need to have that absolute belief that you're - you're the best and you'll win every time.

What I admired most about him [Bobby Fischer] was his ability to make what was in fact so difficult look easy to us. I try to emulate him.

Without the element of enjoyment, it is not worth trying to excel at anything.

You have to choose the move that feels right sometimes; that's what intuition is.

I am trying to beat the guy sitting across from me and trying to choose the moves that are most unpleasant for him and his style.

I don't think there is a thing like overconfidence in chess. It's always better to be too confident than too reluctant.

People ask what my goal is. I don't have a goal.

When you have fun then you're more interested in learning.

I'm more interested in the games than the people.

It might be a little bit crazy, even. Like, for real crazy. Not just 'oh isn't that charming and endearing' crazy but 'wow that might be a deep-seated psychological issue' crazy.

I got a strength coach. My wife. She gets big chains, and at night she puts them around the refrigerator. They are so strong, I can't break them.

The gratification of a thoughtless pleasure soon evaporates; the pleasure of a gratifying thought never ends.

I think everyone should follow their instincts, and go with what they feel, and follow their heart.

Any time we read a newspaper or take any look at the world around us, we are aware of the cruelty and violence that dominates our world.

Bill Clinton was a liberal who could appeal to conservative-leaning Bubba voters.

The key to life was rearranging the furniture.

When you're the only pea in the pod, your parents are likely to get you confused with the Hope diamond.

A poet needs to keep his wilderness alive inside him.

There are so many clichés in the world, especially in music, that it's a never-ending creative font to just bring two of them together and let them interact.