"Most gods throw dice, but Fate plays chess, and you don't find out til too late that he's been playing with two queens all along"
- Terry Pratchett
About this Quote
This quote by Terry Pratchett is a suggestion that life is unpredictable and that we are not constantly in control of our own fate. It suggests that while we may believe we are making our own choices, there is a greater power at work that is playing a game of chess with our lives. This greater power, Fate, is always one action ahead of us and has been having fun with two queens all along. This means that Fate has actually been in control of our lives from the beginning and has actually been manipulating the pieces on the board to attain its own goals. The quote implies that no matter how hard we attempt to manage our own fate, Fate will constantly have the upper hand. It is a tip that we should accept the truth that life is unpredictable and that we need to not take it for granted.
"Seem to be telling this, but really telling that. Three-dimensional writing, like three-dimensional chess. Nabokov was the other master of that. You could learn something from Nabokov on every page he ever wrote"
"The chess player who develops the ability to play two dozen boards at a time will benefit from learning to compress his or her analysis into less time"
"It's less about the physical training, in the end, than it is about the mental preparation: boxing is a chess game. You have to be skilled enough and have trained hard enough to know how many different ways you can counterattack in any situation, at any moment"