Most of these proverbs were collected by S.Coffin and he kindly gave me permission to publish the list. Some of these proverbs were merged into the Internet Go Dictionary.

The aphorisms by Pierre Audouard appeared between 1994 and 1995 in the French Go Review under the title "Some words about Go", and signed by Jean de Laveline (pseudonym of Pierre Audouard) and were translated by Tom Keel.

By default the proverbs are shown in a predefined order Alternatively, you can have them shuffled (the order is randomized) or ordered by author.

• Don't count territory held by only one eye!  --  anonymous
• Strange things happen at the one-two points  --  anonymous
• If a formation is symmetrical, play at the center  --  anonymous
• Only amateurs try to come up with fancy moves  --  anonymous
• Don't be greedy!  --  anonymous
• Pon-nuki is worth thirty points  --  anonymous
• Go is a game of chance where the strong player is he who renders circumstances favorable with tricks.
  Audouard, Pierre
• Don't make compact groups of stones  --  anonymous
• Never try to cut bamboo joints  --  anonymous
• When your opponent is thick, you must also become thick.
  Otake Hideo, 9p
• From a cross-cut, extend  --  anonymous
• Don't make empty triangles  --  anonymous
• Sacrifice for shape  --  anonymous
• Balance is not what players strive for, and if it does arise, it is in spite of them.
  Audouard, Pierre
• For the comb formation in the corner, dame is necessary  --  anonymous
• Contesting, destabilizing, and threatening are sources of transformation.
  Audouard, Pierre
• Hane? Extend! Make it a habit  --  anonymous
• There is a time for doing things.
  Audouard, Pierre
• If you lose by one point, take a rest  --  anonymous
• White is always trying to kill a bigger group than black is trying to save  --  anonymous
• The game plays itself, the players don't control it.
  Audouard, Pierre
• The book says don't fight (The pen is mightier than the sword). But what else can be expected from a book (written by a pen)?  --  anonymous
• Attack two weak groups simultaneously  --  anonymous
• There is death in the hane  --  anonymous
• Go is essentially a form of harmony. Go in the 21st century will have to be go of the 'harmony of the six points - the four quarters, the above and the below.' As in life we will need to view the whole rather than the part. Japanese go has focused too heavily on the local (joseki) rather than the whole for 300 years. The reason the Chinese and Koreans are overtaking the Japanese is that they are closer to achieving this whole-board view.
  Go Seigen, 9p, 1994
• The saki bottle shape is negative  --  anonymous
• Add one stone, then sacrifice both  --  anonymous
• Keep your own stones connected, and your opponent's apart.
  Taylor, Bill
• Keep away from thickness  --  anonymous
• You must incessantly question yourself about this time and this space.
  Audouard, Pierre
• The rectangular six is normally alive  --  anonymous
• Make your own groups strong first, then attack  --  anonymous
• Don't overlook the edge of the board  --  anonymous
• Make a fist before striking
  Kim, Jay H.
• The nature of a game comes from what is played, but it's the sensitivity to the possible and the impossible that gives it value.
  Audouard, Pierre
• Don't make a play adjacent to a cutting-point  --  anonymous
• Corner, side, centre  --  anonymous
• To do or not to do something is not determined by what is done in general, any more than by what is necessary. Doing or not doing something is determined by what you want, and to want in go is to want to win.
  Audouard, Pierre
• Go is not a blocking game, it's a game of action.
  Audouard, Pierre
• There are players who don't accept exchanges: they play many moves that perpetuate a previous state of the game.
  Audouard, Pierre
• There is damezumari at the bamboo joint  --  anonymous
• Use the Knight's move to attack, the 1-point jump to defend  --  anonymous
• Connect with good shape  --  anonymous
• Keshi is worth as much as an invasion!  --  anonymous
• You have to like to win, and to learn to recognize the errors that gave you the victory.
  Audouard, Pierre
• Sacrifice and squeeze  --  anonymous
• Be a little patient. Keshi works!  --  anonymous
• Capture what you cut off  --  anonymous
• If black doesn't pile up enough errors to lose, then it will soon be time to lower the handicap.
  Audouard, Pierre
• Error is one of the sources of transformation.
  Audouard, Pierre
• Beware of the clumsy double contact  --  anonymous
• A meijin needs no joseki  --  anonymous
• To invade, need 20 points in open area; otherwise, keshi is best.
  Yang Yilun, 7p
• Thickness? Ladders always work! [or don't work if it belongs to your opponent!]  --  anonymous
• To emphasize the lack of determination in his moves, one speaks of chance.
  Audouard, Pierre
• If you don't know ladders, don't play go  --  anonymous
• There is no territory in the centre  --  anonymous
• If you cannot succeed, then die gloriously
  Chinese proverb
• There is a thin line between thick and slow.
  jansteen
• There are times when even a fight over nothing means something  --  anonymous
• At the head of two stones in a row, play hane  --  anonymous
• Strange things happen at the one-two points  --  anonymous
• Big groups never die  --  anonymous
• If you have lost four corners, resign  --  anonymous
• Extend one hand from the cross-cut  --  anonymous
• The strong player plays straight, the weak diagonally  --  anonymous
• Shoulder connections, hanging connections, and knight's move connections  --  anonymous
• Beware of going back to patch up your plays  --  anonymous
• Grab the 4th point of the bamboo joint.
  Taylor, Bill
• When your opponent has two weak groups, attack them both at once  --  anonymous
• On the third line, four die, six live  --  anonymous
• Fighting must not be the key to go, it should be reserved as your last resource.
  zhong-pu liu, 1078 AD
• Don't play on dame points, but guarantee connections  --  anonymous
• Very few good moves are played.
  Audouard, Pierre
• There are lines, like roots, that plunge into the stone and shatter it.
  Audouard, Pierre
• When in a winning position, keep the game simple; Make it complex only when losing  --  anonymous
• More haste less speed.
  Fairbairn, John
• There is a time and a space which are the same in all go games: the alternating of black and white, and the intersections.
  Audouard, Pierre
• Play slow, win slow; play fast, lose fast  --  anonymous
• Learning josekis by heart is useless if you don't try departing from them.
  Audouard, Pierre
• Against three in a row, play right in the center  --  anonymous
• Proverbs do not apply to White.
  Sand, Tero
• If you plan to live inside enemy territory, play directly against his stones  --  anonymous
• Turn, turn, turn!
  Taylor, Bill
• The L-group is dead  --  anonymous
• Grab the shape points as kikashi  --  anonymous
• There are possible things, impossible things, and things that happen. Sometimes things happen that were impossible.
  Audouard, Pierre
• A knight's move near the edge of the board cannot be cut.
  Taylor, Bill
• Win the stones, lose the game  --  anonymous
• Use a wall to attack, not to make territory  --  anonymous
• Territory really exists only in the end.
  Audouard, Pierre
• One is never aware enough of the violence in go.
  Audouard, Pierre
• Don't try to enclose an open skirt  --  anonymous
• Don't make dango's  --  anonymous
• Good moves and bad moves are bedfellows  --  anonymous
• Fill in a semiai from the outside  --  anonymous
• In an unreasonable situation, an unreasonable move is reasonable
  Tamino
• If one player chooses influence, the other player may choose territory, and vice versa  --  anonymous
• The simplest move is the best move  --  anonymous
• Beginner's games are surprising, often incoherent and incomprehensible. When you improve, your game gains in consistency but flirts with stupidity: you become satisfied with truisms and mechanical movements, you try to obtain a feeling for clearness and style the easy way.
  Audouard, Pierre
• If there is no stone on the handicap point, the carpenter's square is dead  --  anonymous
• Don't disturb symmetry  --  anonymous
• Don't play in direct contact with the opponent's stone caught in your squeeze-play  --  anonymous
• Six eyes in a rectangle are alive  --  anonymous
• Those who are good at winning, don't usually fight.
  zhang, 1078 AD
• The monkey jump is worth eight points  --  anonymous
• One point in the center is worth ten in the corner  --  anonymous
• If you have won four corners, resign  --  anonymous
• Stop on second, extend on third  --  anonymous
• Dead group? Always win ko fights!  --  anonymous
• (A shicho works or doesn't work, but sometimes you don't see it, you don't play it). The possible and the impossible are visible and invisible. What happens is always what you see, what is played.
  Audouard, Pierre
• Five groups might live but the sixth will die  --  anonymous
• Keep inessential ataris till the end  --  anonymous
• (Any move that follows the rules is legal). Possibilities differ according to strength.
  Audouard, Pierre
• Never be too sure about your plan, and always doubt your ability to kill your opponent's stones.
  zhong-pu liu, 1078 AD
• Everything happens on a grid-engraved board with black and white pieces, but if that's all you see then you don't know Go.
  Audouard, Pierre
• The possibility or impossibility of an event results logically from the rules.
  Audouard, Pierre
• The poor player plays the opponent's game for him  --  anonymous
• Does white await black's errors? Certainly, in two ways: either he makes clean, clear, dangerous moves; or he makes confusing, twisted moves that are just as dangerous. The adequate answers are always difficult to find.
  Audouard, Pierre
• Learn the eye-stealing tesuji  --  anonymous
• With less than 15 stones in danger, tenuki  --  anonymous
• The comb formation is alive  --  anonymous
• Don't defend - extend!
  Taylor, Bill
• If there is a ko inside a semeai, capture it on the final play  --  anonymous
• The carpenter's square becomes ko  --  anonymous
• You must always consider the circumstances. Nothing is identical, yet things repeat.
  Audouard, Pierre
• 5 lines for extension in front of shimari
  Yang Yilun, 7p
• The second line is the line of defeat, the third line is the line of territory, and the fourth line is the line of influence  --  anonymous
• In the sound of the stone your can hear its purpose.
  Audouard, Pierre
• Do not fear furikawari  --  anonymous
• Grab the border point between two moyos  --  anonymous
• You can hide nothing on the goban.
  Audouard, Pierre
• Seek small gains but incur big losses  --  anonymous
• Nothing requires doing this or that, but necessity exists.
  Audouard, Pierre
• Groups mustn't float  --  anonymous
• Answer the keima with a kosumi  --  anonymous
• A basic: Don't push too hard.
  jansteen
• The semeai where only one player has an eye is a fight over nothing  --  anonymous
• The weak player fears ko, the strong player seeks it.
  Taylor, Bill
• If your stone is capped, play the knight's move  --  anonymous
• At the head of three stones in a row, play hane  --  anonymous
• Each step in a ladder is worth 7 points  --  anonymous
• The ax's handle rots while the mind lives to the rhythm of the stones.
  Audouard, Pierre
• Defend weak groups, not strong groups  --  anonymous
• Win the early ko to win the game  --  anonymous
• Do not make moves that strengthen your opponent!  --  anonymous
• Learn to play under the stones  --  anonymous
• In opponents' sphere of influence, avoid sharp conflict, don't move too deep
  Otake Hideo, 9p
• Don't peep at cutting points  --  anonymous
• Knight's moves win running battles  --  anonymous
• When in doubt, remove the enemy stones from the board.
  Taylor, Bill
• Five liberties for tactical stability  --  anonymous
• It is difficult to know exactly what you are doing.
  Audouard, Pierre
• Sometimes an idiotic stone loafs about the goban.
  Audouard, Pierre
• Always remember, keep the balance (between territory and influence)
  Figaro
• One big eye kills one small eye  --  anonymous
• Attach to the strongest stone in a pincer  --  anonymous
• Keep sente in the opening. A premature attack loses sente  --  anonymous
• Eyes win semiais  --  anonymous
• Don't make territory near thickness  --  anonymous
• Strike at the waist of the knight's move  --  anonymous
• Know the eye-stealing tesuji  --  anonymous
• 2-1 is the vital point in the corner  --  anonymous
• With only one group, you will win  --  anonymous
• The enemy's vital point is your own  --  anonymous
• Take the cutting stone on the second line  --  anonymous
• If White takes all four corners, Black should resign; if Black takes all four corners, Black should also resign.
  Kent, David
• The stone in the bowl is idiotic.
  Audouard, Pierre
• Ikken tobi is never wrong  --  anonymous
• This time and this space have certain properties, and for a long time, to progress means to become familiar with them.
  Audouard, Pierre
• When you study joseki, you lose two stones in strength  --  anonymous
• Every move brings change.
  Audouard, Pierre
• In the corner, five stones in a row on the third line are alive  --  anonymous
• Avoid the plate connection  --  anonymous
• To reduce an opponent's large prospective territory, strike at the shoulder  --  anonymous
• Don't reduce your own liberties.
  Taylor, Bill
• The intersection is rarely neutral.
  Audouard, Pierre
• Territory is a closed space where time no longer exists. The transformation around it slowly alter it, and sometimes it cracks open like a rotten egg at the least shock.
  Audouard, Pierre
• If you have one stone on the third line, add another, then abandon both of them  --  anonymous
• Sacrifice small to take large  --  anonymous
• There are players who clack down ridiculous moves. Certain others place their moves with crisp, dry contact, like bones cracking. Still others drop their stones with a soft sound.
  Audouard, Pierre
• Don't get surrounded! Ever!  --  anonymous
• Atari, atari is vulgar play  --  anonymous
• Josekis are not fixed, definitive things. They indicate the moments when everything can change.
  Audouard, Pierre
• For rectangular six in the corner, dame is necessary  --  anonymous
• Empty triangles are bad  --  anonymous
• Conservative and slow will win. Believe it!  --  anonymous
• In the opening, when you don't know what to play, make a shimari.
  jansteen
• From the way the players perceive what can happen and what shouldn't happen springs what happens.
  Audouard, Pierre
• Everything would seem to be possible in go. Like pulling a rabbit, by a magical move, out of a hat.
  Audouard, Pierre
• Those who are good at making shape don't usually fight.
  zhang, 1078 AD
• On the second line six die, eight live  --  anonymous