The Wit and Wisdom of Georg Marco

"Our view of the future is often very short-sighted. We believe that we are attacking when in reality we are standing directly in the face of our own destruction."

"It is remarkable how often, in the realization of its aims, the human mind uses the most impractical methods"

"The two philosophical world views that for the past twenty-five hundred years have flourished under the names 'optimism' and 'pessimism' have not of course eluded the realm of chess masters. There is the optimist, who sees roses everywhere and does not see the thorns; he cannot notice what he will not notice. He overestimates his own resources and underestimates those of his opponent. Others are pessimists, who fall to the other extreme. They see terrible dangers everywhere - the serpent beneath the roses - and after venturing to make a move usually perish at the hands of their timidity. The wild recklessness of the optimist and the anxious tip-toeing of the pessimist both spring from the same source: inadequate knowledge of the facts. It is not the temperament that is corruptive but the intellect. They make judgements from imperfect premises - hence the incorrect results. To undertake nothing when nothing more is attainable with the forces at hand, and on the other hand to omit nothing that can be carried out - in this we see true generalship. To hope for victory when one is already standing at the brink of defeat, to submit to the delusion that one is pushing when in reality one is being pushed, is always a sign of the incorrect evaluation of the position. He who examines the true facts of the case will never be carried a way on a mistaken path."