Do as little as necessary to appear to be doing something without actually committing to a cause or course of action.

I've met enough KGB colonels in my life.

If you wish to succeed, you must brave the risk of failure.

A grandmaster needs to retain thousands of games in his head, for games are to him what the words of their mother tongue are to ordinary people, or notes or scores to musicians.

It was not about losing my mental power; it's about not feeling good about my contribution to the game.

I think Russians today have a distorted picture of capitalism, liberal democracy and market economy.

Losing can persuade you to change what doesn't need to be changed, and winning can convince you everything is fine even if you are on the brink of disaster.

At the end of the day, it's all about money.

Excelling at chess has long been considered a symbol of more general intelligence. That is an incorrect assumption in my view, as pleasant as it might be.

Chess helps you to concentrate, improve your logic. It teaches you to play by the rules and take responsibility for your actions, how to problem solve in an uncertain environment.

When I was preparing for one term's work in the Botvinnik school I had to spend a lot of time on king and pawn endings. So when I came to a tricky position in my own games I knew the winning method.

Life is too short. I forgive and forget. I have not time to get mad or hate.

I have learned that track doesn't define me. My faith defines me. I'm running because I have been blessed with a gift.

I don’t write poetry when I wish, I write when I can’t, when my larynx is flooded and my throat is shut.

On practical level I can't pick up the camera until I think I know what I want. I don't wander around. It's almost impossible for me to pick up a camera... it's really hard.

I think I do pretty well with child characters. It's hard to write kids that are realistic, not annoying, and bring something to the story.

When you're doing a movie, you're in a vacuum, just going, "Well, that's done. Let's see what happens."

The teacher is the only one worth listening to.

Jon Deitemyer is the drummer everyone wants right now.

Investing is far more cumulative [than chess]. So long as you're sharp, you can do it for as long as you want.

If you're sitting around thinking what other people think about your work, you'll just become paralysed.