This quotation falls short of being particularly meaningful to me.
What is the context?

One of the most astute chess quotations is:
“……Then what is a combination?. A combination is a forced variation with sacrifice. It seems to me that this is both an exact and simple definition.”
Source: “What is a combination?”, essay presented in Appendix of Botvinnik’s “100 Selected Games”
IMO, this quotation is special. Why? ….. It grasps the essence of the game and an understanding of life-decision-making …. people who do not understand the meaning of a gambit (cf. T H Huxley “A Liberal Education”)are at times deservedly vanqusonished at chess and life.