"In the endgame, whoever has the most pawn islands loses." -- Capablanca
"Always try to keep the 3 pawns in front of your castled king on their original squares as long as possible." -- Alekhine
"A knight at f3 is the best defense of a castled position on the kingside." -- Tarrasch
"It is seldom prudent in an inexperienced player to advance the pawns on the side which his king has castled." -- Staunton
"Castle because you want to or because you must, not because you can." -- Pillsbury
"Never start an attack until your queen's rook is developed." -- Blackburne
"An isolated pawn casts gloom over the entire chessboard." -- Tartakower
"Your game is only as good as your worst move." -- Heisman
"You shouldn't make a single move without having an idea. Even when you're playing blitz, always think!" -- Petrosian
"The best attacking piece is the king's bishop." -- Tarrasch
Do not chase after pawns at the expense of your development.
The greatest enemy of learning is the belief that we already know.
If you can win a pawn but your king is in the center and you are behind in development, you should ignore the pawn, develop your forces, and try to castle as quickly as possible.
Before you attack a weak pawn, you must gain control of the square directly in front of it.
The weakness of an isolated pawn is not so much in itself, but in the square in front of it.
If you have to move a piece and thereby lose time, try to capture an enemy piece equal in value to the one you're moving. Then your opponent must lose an equivalent amount of time to recapture.
In order to play better, you need to practice better.
Develop all your pieces before starting any combinations.
Open lines are to the advantage of the player whose development is superior.
Do not grab pawns at the expense of development or position.
Counterplay in the center is the best means of opposing a kingside attack and to secure counterplay, the pawn position must be kept fluid.
Tactics are the guard dogs of strategy.
All pawn moves have positive and negative aspects.
If the position is book, but one (or both) players doesn't know it, for all practical purposes, he (or they) are out of book.
The best openings to play are the ones you are most at home in.
No move is weak unless proper advantage is taken of its flaws.
When you are winning you should think defense first. You don't have to win "more"; you should make sure you won't lose.
If you want your rating to go up, don't worry about losing, worry about learning.
Every time you lose, seek to find the cause of the loss.
You learn more when you lose, and getting better involves knowing more.
Think of early draw offers by your opponent as "offers to stay ignorant."