The ability to work hard for days on end without losing focus is a talent. The ability to keep absorbing new information after many hours of study is a talent.

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.

Count your blessings as the more you are grateful for what you have the more there is to be grateful for.

Faith without a measure of doubt ain't worth a brass farthin'.

I break away from all conventions that do not lead to my earthly success and happiness.

There are certainly delays in this year's agreed program, and we must quickly catch up. Let's not kid ourselves, there is still big waste in the public sector, and it must stop.

You'll get much better results by being upfront, answering creditors calls, and responding to their letters. Delaying the inevitable only digs a deeper hole.

How long most people would look at the best book before they would give the price of a large turbot for it?

I want to move people the way Edith Piaf did.

It is in the nature of truth not to be at fault.

One of the things I love most about acting, that I get to do research and read books, but it's just for me and I don't have to write about it.

Guinevere is not the Morgan type, where she's sultry and she knows she has this incredible female energy that she can use and utilize, and she's not necessarily used to having this power over men.