Favorite Go Quotes

Backgammon is a game where man battles fate. Chess is a game where man battles man. Go is a game where man battles himself.
Student: What is the most complicated game man has ever created?

Master: That would be chess.

Student: What about go?

Master: Go has always existed.
Overplays are better than tesujis if not properly punished.
“Instead of working out the ideal sequence for yourself, you must work out your opponent’s ideal sequence and use that as the starting point for your analysis.” - Otake Hideo
“Any game where the goal is to build territory has to be beautiful. There may be phases of combat, but they are only the means to an end, to allow your territory to survive. One of the most extraordinary aspects of the game of go is that it has been proven that in order to win, you must live, but you must also allow the other player to live. Players who are too greedy will lose; it’s a subtle game of equilibrium, where you have to get ahead without crushing the other player. In the end, life and death are only the consequences of how well or poorly you’ve made your construction. This is what one of Taniguchi’s characters says: you live, you die, these are consequences. It’s a proverb for playing go, and for life.” - Muriel Barberry
“Black has to crawl humbly on the second line to live, but this is like trying to lose.” - Yoshio Ishida