“Lamps is Lamps. When he plays well he is best in the game, when he plays bad, he is the second or the third best.”

“When a reviewer says that Malamud is second only to Bellow, it means he really isn't thinking about either of them. When he's reading Malamud he's thinking about Bellow, and when he's reading Bellow he's thinking about Roth. This is the essence of the ratings game: distraction. Children play it all the time. "Is this the biggest bridge in the world?" "No, it's the third biggest." "Oh."”

“Anderssen voiced it well when asked why he did not play as brilliantly as usual in his game with Morphy, when he replied: "Morphy will not let me."”

“When he worked, he really worked. But when he played, he really PLAYED.”

“Man only plays when in the full meaning of the word he is a man, and he is only completely a man when he plays.”

“When a child begins to play games… he enters the gateway to reason and imagination together.”

“He's one of the worst practice players I've played with. He rests and when the game comes, he flips the switch on. He plays a dominant physical style, so I think he just relaxes in practice and as a veteran player, I admire that.”

“Thus, when the lamp that lighted
The traveller at first goes out,
He feels awhile benighted,
And looks around in fear and doubt.
But soon, the prospect clearing,
By cloudless starlight on he treads,
And thinks no lamp so cheering
As that light which Heaven sheds.”

“Man works when he is partially involved. When he is totally involved he is at play or leisure.”

“Who kindly sets a wand'rer on his way
Does e'en as if he lit another's lamp by his:
No less shines his, when he his friend's hath lit.”
Homo qui erranti comiter monstrat viam, Quasi lumen de suo lumine accendat facit; Nihilo minus ipsi lucet, cum illi accenderit.