1. Cut first, think later.
2. Never try to smoke a bamboo joint.
3. Hitting your opponent on the head with a wooden stick is vulgar style.
4. When you have a train to catch, resign.
5. Strange things happen at the 17-14 point.
6. The first line is the edge of the board.
7. Play fast, lose fast. Play slow, lose slow.
8. The empty sake bottle shape is negative.
9. Learn the wallet-stealing tesuji.
10. Learn the Tenuki tesuji.
11. Learn the nuclear tesuji.
12. Learn the makemashita tesuji.
13. Strong players walk straight.
14. The strongest player knows the way to the restaurant.
15. The walls may have ears, but they don't have eyes.
16. If throwing in doesn't work, try throwing up.
17. Play kikashi before you forget.
18. Tenuki before you forget.
19. Don't die with gote.
20. Faint in the east before attacking the west
21. Lose 100 stones as quickly as you can.
22. Since everything works in Theory, let's move there.
23. A stone on the board is worth two in the bowl.
24. An oddity, an oddity, always an oddity.
25. Give me liberties, or give me death.
26. It is better to dip your fingers in the coffee than to try to drink the stones.
27. Know the time-stealing tesuji.
28. White is always keeping the black stone down.
29. Don't play Go in the nude if you don't have the stones.
30. Even a moron peeps at an open skirt.
31. The 9 stone handicap does not qualify you for government disability.
32. Joseki addiction is a symptom of brain hormone deficit. (Taken from Hiroshi's Go Proverbs)
33. Don't play a time-stealing tesuji with your first move
34. When in doubt, tenuki.
35. ...When attacked, don't be in doubt.
36. Let him that is without gote place the first stone. --Simon Goss
37. Reading Western authors on go loses four stones in strength. --Stevertigo
38. Except when you are trying to understand Bill Spight; you either gain two stones or lose two stones in strength; it's Miai.
39. Read Hikaru and lose two stones in strength. Watch Hikaru and lose four.
40. Play Hikaru no Go and lose a lot more strength?
41. (Based on the above
Whatever you do, you'll lose two stones in strength.
42. Apply any of these proverbs and lose two stones in strength for each, cumulative.
43. If at first you don't succeed, die, die again.
44. Don't overlook the rest of the board. (Look it over, but don't overlook it! ;-)
45. Rules strength and playing strength are independent. --Ing Chang-ki
46. Sacrifice every group of fewer than seven stones! (Russian proverb)
47. It is better to die in good shape than to live in bad shape. --RobertJasiek
48. Strange things happen in byo-yomi.
49. Cut first, ask questions later.
50. Don't cut without thinking. Think first, then cut anyway.
51. Why cut your losses when you can cut everywhere!
52. Having two large groups is better than having one small group.
53. When the samurai verifies the presence of his head during fight, the dragon smiles.
54. To comprehend the games of Go Seigen is to have too much free time on one's hands. --TimBrent
55. Don't try to win. Try not to lose.
56. variation: Don't try to lose.
57. Don't play Go and feel bad; play bad Go and feel good.
58. Peep first, ask questions later.
59. Never attack a weak group lest it will become a strong group. --Skelley
60. Never hesitate to play bad shape. --Skelley
61. An empty triangle is only bad shape when it's bad shape. --Skelley
62. Drive your opponent up the wall.
63. Bad shape is never good shape unless worse shape comes along. --Skelley
64. No answer is also an answer. (Hopi proverb)
65. Use ladders to climb the walls. --Jasonred
66. Dame is worth ten points.
67. Seen from a sufficient distance, the black and white stones of any go game form their own unique shade of grey. SkyCrashesDown
68. Do not pass. Do not collect $200.
69. Go is like golf
70. Don't play a gote ko threat.
71. It's only a ko threat if there's a good response to it.
72. Know and avoid the beer-spilling tesuji.
73. If you can't think of a good reason not to make a particular play, don't make it! SkyCrashesDown
74. A good procrastination is worth 30 passes.
75. Tedomari in filling the dame? is worth double-nothing.
76. Cash in your aji. Play aji-cashy.
77. You can't win a semeai against a group with two eyes (alternatively: Two eyes against one eye is a fight about nothing)
78. Answer the crappy play with diabolic laughter.
79. If you obey no proverbs then resign. If you obey all proverbs then resign. Reinhardt
80. If you obey ANY proverbs on this page, you might consider resigning too!
81. All Go Proverbs lie. - Godel
82. White stones never die, they just get sacrificed
83. A Little Knowledge Is A Dangerous Thing.
84. Better the tesuji you know than the joseki you don't
85. Know the eye-not-quite-stealing-more-like-borrowing-for-an-extended-period-of-time tesuji. -- Meijin Touya
86. Learn the flatulence tesuji.
87. Learn the cleavage tesuji.
88. You connect, I connect, we connect.
89. The more you try to prevent something from happening, the more likely it is to happen.
90. People who play Go in glass houses shouldn't throw stones -- Nathan P. Clarke.
91. The pear shape is negative.
92. Remember, it's all fun and games until someone loses an eye.
93. To peep into a tigers mouth is to invite death -- Malweth
94. Your opponent's best move is the one you overlooked -- Malweth
95. Why play ko if you can die without one (comment of MarcinKaminski to my game.)
96. Strange things happen in the third round.
97. In the land of the blind, the one eyed man is king. Elsewhere, the best he can do is seki. -- Fwiffo
98. I can see the mistakes that caused me to lose. I cannot see the mistakes that caused me not to win. -- Fwiffo
99. In a lightning game, don't make a molasses ko.
100. With enough thickness, you can get away with anything.
101. When there is no vital point to strike at, invent one.
102. Any go proverb is right if it's cool enough.
103. Don't drink soda before your go lesson.
104. If you don't have a sente move, resign.
105. As is often the case, the point where you start noticing that White is kicking you around is actually much later than the causes of the kicking.
106. If you get to the point where you have to make choices between bad alternatives, then the problem is not here, but in earlier moves.
107. In the long run, it's not the great moves that win you the game, it's the bad ones that lose it.
108. It is extremely important to unlearn such moves!
109. It is your responsibility to make sure that your opponent suffers if they have a weak group on the board.
110. Learning joseki loses two stones; studying joseki gains four stones
111. Never start a fight unless you are losing
112. The center has become as white as Himalaya snows.
113. The challenge in Go is to find moves that accomplish several things at one time. We amateurs often end up playing moves that accomplish none of our objectives.
114. This is another move that is worse than passing.
115. White asks being cut, so you should do him the favor!
116. White should not expect to make life here. In a pro game, this would be insulting to black. In a high kyu game, it might actually work.
117. "(...)And if you want to live high, live high. And if you want to live low, live low.'Cause there's a million ways to go(...) - lyrics to "If You Want To Sing Out, Sing Out" by Cat Stevens
118. Anyone notice M&Ms look like minuture go stones, hey! and you can eat them after the game!
119. The pro verb is win. ilanpi
120. A good go book requires good pros. ilanpi
121. The three most important words in go are: "knowing how to count". ilanpi
122. Passing is the ultimate tenuki. ilanpi
123. Old go players never die, they just pass. ilanpi
124. You need to know how to. ilanpi
125. Cut all over and let God sort 'em out.
126. Eat dragon eggs before they hatch.
127. Use a carpenter's square on the 2x4 board.
128. If you cannot find a good move, try the 404 enclosure.
129. White is usually trying to kill a larger group than Black is trying to save.
130. Many opponents stones fill the farmers hat.
131. One stone does not make a shimari.
132. When in atari, tenuki.
133. If Black has all 5 corners, resign
134. There is damezumari in the 1-1 point. George Caplan
135. White groups never die, they just get sacrificed
136. Repeating mistakes creates a sense of familiarity ...
137. The difference between a rip off and a tesuji is often insignificant
138. Don't surround thickness with territory.
139. If an infinite amount of large monkeys jumps from a submarine, it's still gote.
140. One-nuki is better than no-nuki at all.
141. Go is so incredibly complex that it begins to approximate actually doing something.
142. Do not play go with lodestones.
143. The 3-3 invasion is always premature.
144. Run before dying.
145. Even blind dragons breath fire.
146. Eat well, sleep well, and gain two stones
Whatever you do, you'll lose two stones in strength.
