“Learning often means changing the game board, not just learning fancier strategies on the same board with the same pieces.”

“But relationship is more than just liking the same board games.”

“It was all so meaningless when I looked at it that way. It was meaningless in the same way as when I stood up from a game and then looked down on the scatter of playing pieces, and realized that they all were just bits of polished stone on a wooden board marked with squares. All the meaning they'd had moments before when I'd been trying to win a game were meanings that I'd imbued them with. Of themselves, neither they nor the board had any significance.”

“The game had to be played the same way every day or the pieces would fall to the floor, the board would collapse, and the illusion that you were shaping your own life, that you were in control, would break.”

“But helpless Pieces of the Game He playsUpon this chequer-board of Nights and DaysHither and thither moves, and checks and slays”

“Never despise a pawn. If it succeeds in crossing the board safely, it becomes a queen - the most powerful piece in the game.”