Wilhelm Steinitz Chess Quotations

A sacrifice is best refuted by accepting it

Only the player with the initiative has the right to attack

I have never in my life played the French Defence, which is the dullest of all openings

A win by an unsound combination, however showy, fills me with artistic horror

I am not a chess historian - I myself am a piece of chess history, which no one can avoid. I will not write about myself, but I am sure that someone will write...

Chess is not for timid souls.

Chess is intellectual gymnastics.