Chess King Quotes

1. "I do not know how old I was when I learned to play chess. I could not have been older than eight, because I still have a chessboard on whose side my father inscribed, with a soldering iron, "Saša Hemon 1972." I loved the board more than chess—it was one of the first things I owned. Its materiality was enchanting to me: the smell of burnt wood that lingered long after my father had branded it; the rattle of the thickly varnished pieces inside, the smacking sound they made when I put them down, the board's hollow wooden echo. I can even recall the taste—the queen's tip was pleasantly suckable; the pawns' round heads, not unlike nipples, were sweet. The board is still at our place in Sarajevo, and, even if I haven't played a game on it in decades, it is still my most cherished possession, providing incontrovertible evidence that there once lived a boy who used to be me."
Author: Aleksandar Hemon

2. "Everything in New York is a photograph. All the things that are supposed to be dirty or rough or unrefined are the most beautiful things. Garbage cans at the ends of alleyways look like they've been up all night talking with each other. Doorways with peeling paint look like the wise lines around an old feller's eyes. I stop and stare but can't stay because men always think I'm selling something. Or worse, giving something away. I wish I could be invisible. Or at least I wish I didn't look like someone they want to look at. They stop being part of the picture, they get up from their chess game and come out of the frame at me, blocking my view."
Author: Ann Marie MacDonald

3. "Though Charles II both craved and enjoyed female companionship till the end of his life, there is no question that by the cold, rainy autumn of 1682 his physical appetites had diminshed considerably. The Duchess of Portsmouth was, after all, more than twenty years his junior; and there comes a time in nearly every such relationship when the male partner is simply unable to fully accommodate the female partner. Or as Samuel Pepys tartly noted in his diary, "the king yawns much in council, it is thought he spends himself overmuch in the arms of Madame Louise, who far from being wearied, seems fresher than ever after sporting with the king."
Author: Antonia Fraser

4. "Chess is all about getting the king into check, you see. It's about killing the father. I would say that chess has more to do with the art of murder than it does with the art of war."
Author: Arturo Pérez Reverte

5. "Chess teaches foresight, by having to plan ahead; vigilance, by having to keep watch over the whole chess board; caution, by having to restrain ourselves from making hasty moves; and finally, we learn from chess the greatest maxim in life - that even when everything seems to be going badly for us we should not lose heart, but always hoping for a change for the better, steadfastly continue searching for the solutions to our problems."
Author: Benjamin Franklin

6. "In my country, at that time, being a champion of chess was like being a King. At that time I was a King - and when you are King you feel a lot of responsibility, but there is nobody there to help you."
Author: Boris Spassky

7. "All theorieslike clichesshot to hell,all these small faceslooking upbeautiful and believing;I wish to weepbut sorrow isstupid.I wish to believe but believe is agraveyard. we have narrowed it down tothe butcherknife and themockingbird wish usluck."
Author: Charles Bukowski

8. "[...] Y'know, the Duchess Regan is living here at the tower now? I took your advice about not talking about her boffnacity [footnote], even with the duke dead and all, can't be too careful. Although, I caught sight of her in a dressing gown one day she was up on the parapet outside her solar. Fine flanks on that princess, despite the danger of death and all for sayin' so, sir." -YeomenAye, the lady is fair, and her gadonk as fine as frog fur [...]" -Pocketfootnote: Boffnacity: an expression of shagnatiousness, fit. from the Latin boffusnatious"
Author: Christopher Moore

9. "Like looking down on a lubricious chess set, isn't it? The king moves in tiny steps, with no direction, like a drunkard trying to avoid the archer's bolt. The others work their strategies and wait for the old man to fall. He has no power, yet all power moves in his orbit and to his mad whim. Do you know there's no fool piece on the chessboard, Kent?" "Methinks the fool is the player, the mind above the moves."
Author: Christopher Moore

10. "Sexiness, particularly in movies, is the chess game in the 'Thomas Crown Affair'. It's, it's, I don't know, but Faye Dunaway comes up a lot in that thinking. It's the subtlety of sexiness. The moment you try to be sexy, then it's not."
Author: Daniel Craig

11. "The best chess-player in Christendom may be little more than the best player of chess; but proficiency in whist implies capacity for success in all those more important undertakings where mind struggles with mind."
Author: Edgar Allan Poe

12. "Poets do not go mad; but chess-players do. Mathematicians go mad, and cashiers; but creative artists very seldom. I am not, as will be seen, in any sense attacking logic: I only say that this danger does lie in logic, not in imagination."
Author: G.K. Chesterton

13. "I bet you Cinderella didn't get along with Prince Charming's friends. Oh sure, the knights and barons probably put up with her on account that she was pretty and had such dainty feet and all, but you should know every duchess and contess in the kingdom hated her guts."
Author: Janette Rallison

14. "Thinking more than a move ahead never got me anywhere in life. Only in chess. And even then it was sometimes a burden. I saw fifteen moves ahead once, in Norway, but there was a much easier path to victory, and I missed it. Looking into the future too hard, I've found can be paralyzing."
Author: Jennifer DuBois

15. "Spying is a like a game of chess: Sometimes you have to withdraw, sometimes you have to sacrifice one of your pieces to win - preferably a knight rather than a king or queen."
Author: John Rhys Davies

16. "And from the time I was a kid, I've had this internal monologue roaring through my head, which doesn't stop - unless I'm asleep. I'm sure every person has this; it's just that my monologue is particularly loud. And particularly troublesome. I'm constantly asking myself questions. And the problem with that is that your brain is like a computer: If you ask a question, it's programmed to respond, whether there's an answer or not. I'm constantly weighing everything in my mind and trying to predict how my actions will influence events. Or maybe manipulate events are the more appropriate words. It's like playing a game of chess with your own life. And I hate fucking chess!"
Author: Jordan Belfort

17. "She felt like a chess player who, by the clever handling of his pieces, sees the game taking the course intended. Her eyes were bright and tender with a smile as they glanced up into his; and her lips looked hungry for the kiss which they invited."
Author: Kate Chopin

18. "Feronia played at politics the way she played chess--shrewdly, always thinking about her next move. In this game, Feronia was queen, and Byrony a pawn. Normally, there was no comparing their strengths. But if a pawn was clever and evaded the ire of stronger pieces, if it moved strategically, if it refused to yield, there were ways it might advance. Ways it might become a queen."
Author: Kaye Thornbrugh

19. "The Duchess's knee, while plates and dishes crashed around it--once more the shriek of the Gryphon, the squeaking of the"
Author: Lewis Carroll

20. "To many people chess is an extreme sport. It requires a lot of thinking."
Author: Ljupka Cvetanova

21. "Pulling through is what people do around here. There is a kind of bravery in their lives that isn't bravery at all. It is automatic, unflinching, a mix of man and machine, consuming and unquestionable obligation meeting illness move for move in a giant even-steven game of chess – an unending round of something that looks like shadowboxing, though between love and death, which is the shadow? "Everyone admires us for our courage," says one man. "They have no idea what they're talking about.""Courage requires options," the man adds."There are options," says a woman with a thick suede headband. "You could give up. You could fall apart.""No you can't. Nobody does. I've never seen it," says the man. "Well, not really fall apart."
Author: Lorrie Moore

22. "A lot of people think international relations is like a game of chess. But it's not a game of chess, where people sit quietly, thinking out their strategy, taking their time between moves. It's more like a game of billiards, with a bunch of balls clustered together."
Author: Madeleine Albright

23. "Once you're a chess player, you spend a lot of time thinking about the game and you can't get it completely out of your head."
Author: Magnus Carlsen

24. "Who the hell let you animals into my office?I'll have you know I was playing a VERY unimportant game of chess right now with a man that kept saying "King me."
Author: Matt Fraction

25. "I see myself more as an ambassador of the game. And I hope to bring chess to a higher level in the United States. Making bigger tournaments, more interesting events. Making it a respectable profession for young people to be able to pursue in the future."
Author: Maurice Ashley

26. "It's - just Bishop.""You have only one name?" Unless he was a rock star or a chess piece, it was another sign that he was having trouble thinking straight."
Author: Michelle Rowen

27. "I'll be sure to pass your comments along to the manager-after I fire him for letting you in.""Don't be cranky,Josh." She slanted her most persuasive smile his way, only slightly annoyed when she saw it didn't make a dent. "I'm sorry I woke you up.I wasn't thinking about the time.""Not thinking is one of your most highly honed skills.""I'm not going to fight with you, and I'm not going to apologize for not sleeping with you just because your ego's bruised."His smile was thin and sharp as a scalpel. "Duchess, if I'd gotten your clothes off,you not only wouldn't have to apologize,you'd be thanking me.""Oh,I see I'm mistaken.Your ego's not bruised, it's just painfully swollen."
Author: Nora Roberts

28. "To be popular one must be a mediocrity.""Not with Women," said the duchess, shaking her head; "and women rule the world. I assure you we can't bear mediocrities. We women, as someone says, love with our ears, just as you men love with your eyes, if you ever love at all.""It seems to me that we never do anything else," murmered Dorian."
Author: Oscar Wilde

29. "Every time you take a step, even when you don't want to. . . . When it hurts, when it means you rub chins with death, or even if it means dying, that's good. Anything that moves ahead, wins. No chess game was ever won by the player who sat for a lifetime thinking over his next move."
Author: Ray Bradbury

30. "My dear October, we are bound by an enchanted rose made from the hair of a Duchess, and my blood is covering your hand. You can learn anything you wish to know about me merely by licking you fingers." Tybalt laughed a little. "Yes, you may ask me a question."
Author: Seanan McGuire

31. "Francis stared down at the Duchess of York's letter. He swallowed, then read aloud in a husky voice, "It was showed by John Sponer that King Richard, late mercifully reigning upon us, was through great treason piteously slain and murdered, to the great heaviness of this City." As Margaret listened, the embittered grey eyes had softened, misted with sudden tears. "My brother may lie in an untended grave," she said, "but he does not lack for an epitaph."
Author: Sharon Kay Penman

32. "Father Arnold finished the ceremony and asked if anybody had any final words for the dearly departed."Final words?" Chess asked, "I don't know if I'll ever be able to stop talking about this."
Author: Sherman Alexie

33. "He was the captain of the chess club and an A-plus student." – Nick "Why would anyone think he's a demon?" – Tate"The world is insane, and you're asking me for the reasoning of a psycho? I'm not a profiler." – Acheron"
Author: Sherrilyn Kenyon

34. "Chessie … shit, Chessie, I love you so bad." His teeth on her throat, biting hard, his lips soothing the spot. "So fucking much, so … so bad."
Author: Stacia Kane

35. "But when he was with Chess he wasn't the bad guy no more. He was the one keeping her safe, making her smile. He still wasn't good enough for her, but he were better than he'd ever been. That mattered."
Author: Stacia Kane

36. "Looking at dead bodies wasn't really very high on her Things-Chess-Enjoys list. And yeah, her total knowledge on what people in relationships did might fill a shot glass—especially if she used extra-large letters to write SEX—but something told her "looking at dead bodies" wasn't a generally accepted togetherness-type activity, either."
Author: Stacia Kane

37. "If chess has any relationship to film-making, it would be in the way it helps you develop patience and discipline in choosing between alternatives at a time when an impulsive decision seems very attractive."
Author: Stanley Kubrick

38. "I was on the way to becoming a duchess, and I had made the Kingmaker angry. What more could a child of seven have accomplished in one day?"
Author: Susan Higginbotham

39. "On nights such as these the gods, as has already been pointed out, play games other than chess with the fates of mortals and the thrones of kings. It is important to remember that they always cheat, right up to the end..."
Author: Terry Pratchett

40. "He hated games they made the world look too simple. Chess, in particular, had always annoyed him. It was the dumb way the pawns went off and slaughtered their fellow pawns while the king lounged about doing nothing. If only the pawns would've united ... the whole board could've been a republic in about a dozen moves."
Author: Terry Pratchett

41. "Who's got you feeling out of control, duchess?" Hayden shook her head, knocking against his chin in a way he found so endearing, his throat hurt. "Tell me so I can set them straight."
Author: Tessa Bailey

42. "Duchess, tug the top of that dress down just a little. Just enough that I can sit here and imagine sucking your nipples.Then there was the one accompanied by his hand squeezing the front of his jeans. Sit on my lap, baby. I just need your weight right here. Or the one that had nearly melted her into the seat. If I slipped my hand under your dress right now, no one would know but us. Think you could stay quiet long enough to come?"
Author: Tessa Bailey

43. "Life is more than just chess.Though king dies, life goes on."
Author: Toba Beta

44. "Chess as a sport requires a lot of mental stamina, and this is what that makes it different from a physical sport. Chess players have a unique ability of taking in a lot of information and remembering relevant bits. So, memory and mental stamina are the key attributes."
Author: Viswanathan Anand

45. "It was a dark and stormy night. The wind howled and twigs and leaves scuffled and rattled past the house. Mr and Mrs White sat in the parlour of their cosy home, in front of a blazing fire. Mr White played chess with his only son, Herbert. His wife sat in a rocking chair knitting and watching as they played."
Author: W.W. Jacobs

46. "Another time, he was playing [chess] with his equal, the Duchess of Bourbon, who made a move that inadvertently exposed her king. Ignoring the rules of the game, he promptly captured it. "Ah," said the duchess, "we do not take Kings so." Replied Franklin in a famous quip: "We do in America."
Author: Walter Isaacson

Chess King Quotes Pictures