“Zone, focusing on your movements without having any unnecessary thoughts, an extremely focused state that goes beyond a normal concentration. Although it can bring out everything that the player possess, it's a phenomenon that eve an top athlete can only come across accidentally. Only ones that have accumulated practice after practice is allowed to stand in front of that door. But even still, it will only open on a whim. It's the ultimate territory where only the chosen may enter. However, Aomine's natural talent laughs at such thing and forces the door open.”

“Sometimes God closes some doors; so, that you can create a door for you to open and pass through it. The only things you must have is confidence that you can create that door where you can defeat, and faith that God allow you to create the door; or, He will open a door that you will need. But, you must create the door first before God decides to open a door for you.”

“Ultimately, intellectual work of this sort is its own reward, because it is focused on the only One whose recognition is important, the One before whom all hearts are open.”

“There is no proof, but they all sense it. They are all geniuses that appear once in a decade. The only ones that can counter such overwhelming talents one-on-one are the Generation of Miracles alone. Players who are on the same level as them don't exist, even if they do appear, they'll be in a very distant future. That was how it was suppose to be. What they heard was the sound of the gate - the sound of the gate that only extraordinary geniuses can enter - being forced open.”

“Don’t only practice your art, but force your way into its secrets, for it and knowledge can raise men to the divine.”

“Any game where the goal is to build territory has to be beautiful. There may be phases of combat, but they are only means to an end, to allow your territory to survive. One of the most extraordinary aspects of the game of go is that it has been proven that in order to win, you must live, but you must also allow the other player to live. Players who are too greedy will lose: it is a subtle game of equilibrium, where you have to get ahead without crushing the other player. In the end, life and death are only the consequences of how well or how poorly you have made your construction. This is what one of Taniguchi's characters says: you live, you die, these are consequences. It's a proverb for playing go, and for life.”