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.

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