Top 35 Josh Waitzkin Quotes (2025 Update)

1. “Growth comes at the point of resistance. We learn by pushing ourselves and finding what really lies at the outer reaches of our abilities.”

— Josh Waitzkin

2. “The secret is that everything is always on the line. The more present we are at practice, the more present we will be in competition, in the boardroom, at the exam, the operating table, the big stage. If we have any hope of attaining excellence, let alone of showing what we’ve got under pressure, we have to be prepared by a lifestyle of reinforcement. Presence must be like breathing.”

— Josh Waitzkin

3. “In every discipline, the ability to be clearheaded, present, cool under fire is much of what separates the best from the mediocre.”

— Josh Waitzkin

4. “Of course there were plateaus, periods when my results leveled off while I internalized the information necessary for my next growth spurt, but I didn’t mind.”

— Josh Waitzkin

5. “In performance training, first we learn to flow with whatever comes. Then we learn to use whatever comes to our advantage. Finally, we learn to be completely self-sufficient and create our own earthquakes, so our mental process feeds itself explosive inspirations without the need for outside stimulus. The.”

— Josh Waitzkin

6. “If I want to be the best, I have to take risks others would avoid, always optimizing the learning potential of the moment and turning adversity to my advantage.”

— Josh Waitzkin

7. “Mental resilience is arguably the most critical trait of a world-class performer, and it should be nurtured continuously.”

— Josh Waitzkin

8. “The real art in learning takes place as we move beyond proficiency, when our work becomes an expression of our essence.”

— Josh Waitzkin

9. “We must take responsibility for ourselves, and not expect the rest of the world to understand what it takes to become the best that we can become. Great ones are willing to get burned time and again as they sharpen their swords in the fire.”

— Josh Waitzkin

10. “There will be nothing learned from any challenge in which we don’t try our hardest.”

— Josh Waitzkin

11. “Great ones are willing to get burned time and again as they sharpen their swords in the fire.”

— Josh Waitzkin

12. “I was unhindered by internal conflict – a state of being that I have come to see as fundamental to the learning process.”

— Josh Waitzkin

13. “Everyone at a high level has a huge amount of chess understanding, and much of what separates the great from the very good is deep presence, relaxation of the conscious mind, which allows the unconscious to flow unhindered.”

— Josh Waitzkin

14. “Not only do we have to be good at waiting, we have to love it. Because waiting is not waiting, it is life. Too many of us live without fully engaging our minds, waiting for that moment when our real lives begin.”

— Josh Waitzkin

15. “Instead of running from our emotions or being swept away by their initial gusts, we should learn to sit with them, become at peace with their unique flavors, and ultimately discover deep pools of inspiration.”

— Josh Waitzkin

16. “When we are present to what is, we are right up front with the expansion of time, but when we make a mistake and get frozen in what was, a layer of detachment builds.”

— Josh Waitzkin

17. “In the end, mastery involves discovering the most resonant information and integrating it so deeply and fully it disappears and allows us to fly free.”

— Josh Waitzkin

18. “When uncomfortable, my instinct is not to avoid the discomfort but to become at peace with it.”

— Josh Waitzkin

19. “Once we learn how to use adversity to our advantage, we can manufacture the helpful growth opportunity without actual danger or injury. I call this tool the internal solution – we can notice external events that trigger helpful growth or performance opportunities, and then internalize the effects of those events without their actually happening. In this way, adversity becomes a tremendous source of creative inspiration.”

— Josh Waitzkin

20. “My instinct is always to seek out challenges as opposed to avoiding them.”

— Josh Waitzkin

21. “While a fixation on results is certainly unhealthy, short-term goals can be useful developmental tools if they are balanced within a nurturing long-term philosophy.”

— Josh Waitzkin

22. “It is rarely a mysterious technique that drives us to the top, but rather a profound mastery of what may well be a basic skill set. Depth beats breadth any day of the week, because it opens a channel for the intangible, unconscious, creative components of our hidden potential.”

— Josh Waitzkin

23. “Not only we have to be good at waiting, we have to love it. Because waiting is not waiting, it is life.”

— Josh Waitzkin

24. “To walk a thorny road, we may cover its every inch with leather or we can make sandals. Anger.”

— Josh Waitzkin

25. “A key component of high-level learning is cultivating a resilient awareness that is the older, conscious embodiment of a child’s playful obliviousness.”

— Josh Waitzkin

26. “But as with all skills, the most sophisticated techniques tend to have their foundation in the simplest of principles. As.”

— Josh Waitzkin

27. “At the highest levels of any kind of competitive discipline, everyone is great. At this point the decisive factor is rarely who knows more, but who dictates the tone of the battle. For this reason, almost without exception, champions are specialists whose styles emerge from profound awareness of their unique strengths, and who are exceedingly skilled at guiding the battle in that direction.”

— Josh Waitzkin

28. “Musicians, actors, athletes, philosophers, scientists, writers understand that brilliant creations are often born of small errors.”

— Josh Waitzkin

29. “Conditions might not be calm or reasonable. It may feel as though the whole world is stacked against us. This is when we have to perform better than we ever conceived of performing. I believe the key is to have prepared in a manner that allows for inspiration, to have laid the foundation for us to create under the wildest pressures we ever imagined. It.”

— Josh Waitzkin

30. “Whenever I made a fundamental error, he would mention the principle I had violated. If I refused to budge, he’d proceed to take advantage of the error until my position fell apart. Over time, Bruce earned my respect as I saw the correctness of his ideas.”

— Josh Waitzkin

31. “He had to teach me to be more disciplined without dampening my love for chess or suppressing my natural voice. Many teachers have no feel for this balance and try to force their students into cookie-cutter molds. I have run into quite a few egomaniacal instructors like this over the years and have come to believe that their method is profoundly destructive for students in the long run – in any case, it certainly would not have worked with me. I.”

— Josh Waitzkin

32. “Then there are those elite performers who use emotion, observing their moment and then channeling everything into a deeper focus that generates a uniquely flavored creativity. This is an interesting, resilient approach based on flexibility and subtle introspective awareness. Instead of being bullied by or denying their unconscious, these players let their internal movements flavor their fires.”

— Josh Waitzkin

33. “A heartfelt, empathetically present, incrementally inspiring mom or dad or coach can liberate an ambitious child to take the world by the horns. As.”

— Josh Waitzkin

34. “I would take in vast amounts of technical information that my brain somehow put together into bursts of insight that felt more like music or wind than mathematical combinations. Increasingly, I had the sense that the key to these leaps was interconnectedness – some part of my being was harmonizing all my relevant knowledge, making it gel into one potent eruption, and suddenly the enigmatic was crystal-clear. But what was really happening?”

— Josh Waitzkin

35. “The technical afterthoughts of a truly great one can appear to be divine inspiration to the lesser artist. When.”

— Josh Waitzkin

36. “He landed on cheap shot, but I knocked him out of the tournament.”

— Josh Waitzkin

37. “The ideal for any performer is flexibility. If you have optimal conditions, then it is always great to take your time and go through an extended routine. If things are less organized, then be prepared with a flexible state of mind and a condensed routine.”

— Josh Waitzkin