“The Ancient Japanese considered the Go board to be a microcosm of the universe. Although when it is empty it appears to be simple and ordered, in fact, the possibilities of gameplay are endless. They say that no two Go games have ever been alike. Just like snowflakes. So, the Go board actually represents an extremely complex and chaotic universe.”
— Max Cohen's mentor Sol Robeson, in Pi (1998 film) written by Darren Aronofsky, Sean Gullette, and Eric Watson.
“When I was young I wanted to be the world's best chess player and, of course, I didn't succeed. I wanted to be the world's best Go player, too.”
— Bill Gates, as quoted in Bill Gates Speaks (1998) by Janet Lowe, p. 227
“Go is destined to take the place of Chess as the leading intellectual game of the Occident, just as it has reigned supreme in the Orient for some four thousand years.”
— Edward Lasker, Go and Go-Moku ISBN: 0-486-20613-0.
“I learned to play go in college ... It's a very complicated game ... non-linear.”
— Barack Obama, as quoted in "Obama Played Go in College", American Go E-Journal (19 October 2015)
“The number of all things in Nature begins with one. The points on the go board number three hundred and sixty plus one. One is the first of all living numbers. It occupies the polar point of the board around which the four quarters revolve. The other 360 points represent the number of days in a [lunar] year. They are divided into four quarters which represent the four seasons...”
— Wang You Qing Le Ji [The Carefree and Innocent Pastime Collection], the oldest surviving Go manual, from the early 12th century (though it is actually an anthology of older texts), as quoted in Go in Ancient China.
“Why I play go? The answer inside me is clear... To link the far past with the far future.”
— Hotta Yumi, in Hikaru no Go (Volume 23, chapter 189)