Genius begins great works; labor alone finishes them.
—Joseph Joubert (1754–1824) French Writer, Moralist
The divine egoism hat is genius.
—Mary Webb (1881–1927) English Novelist, Poet, Writer
Genius is always allowed some leeway, once the hammer has been pried from its hands and the blood has been cleaned up
—Terry Pratchett (1948–2015) English Fantasy Writer
It is not because the touch of genius has roused genius to production, but because the admiration of genius has made talent ambitious, that the harvest is still so abundant.
—Margaret Fuller (1810–50) American Feminist, Writer, Revolutionary
To believe your own thought, to believe that what is true for you in your private heart is true for all men—that is genius.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
But the fact that some geniuses were laughed at does not imply that all who are laughed at are geniuses. They laughed at Columbus, they laughed at Fulton, they laughed at the Wright Brothers. But they also laughed at Bozo the Clown.
—Carl Sagan (1934–96) American Astronomer
The greatest genius is never so great as when it is chastised and subdued by the highest reason.
—Charles Caleb Colton (c.1780–1832) English Clergyman, Aphorist
Thousands of geniuses live and die undiscovered—either by themselves or by others.
—Mark Twain (1835–1910) American Humorist
Democracy don’t rule the world, you better get that in your head. This world is ruled by violence, but I guess that’s better left unsaid.
—Bob Dylan (b.1941) American Singer-songwriter
Cleverness is a sort of genius for instrumentality. It is the brain of the hand. In literature, cleverness is more frequently accompanied by wit, genius, and sense, than by humor.
—Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772–1834) English Poet, Literary Critic, Philosopher
Genius always gives its best at first; prudence, at last.
—Johann Kaspar Lavater (1741–1801) Swiss Theologian, Poet
Genius … is the capacity to see ten things where the ordinary man sees one.
—Ezra Pound (1885-1972) American Poet, Translator, Critic
Genius is an African who dreams up snow.
—Vladimir Nabokov (1899–1977) Russian-born American Novelist
If there is anything that can be called genius, it consists chiefly in the ability to give that attention to a subject which keeps it steadily in the mind, till we have surveyed it accurately on all sides.
—Thomas Reid (1710–96) Scottish Philosopher, Clergyman
Every man who observes vigilantly and resolves steadfastly grows unconsciously into genius.
—Edward Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Baron Lytton (1803–73) British Novelist, Poet, Politician
The genius of a good leader is to leave behind him a situation which common sense, without the grace of genius, can deal with successfully.
—Walter Lippmann (1889–1974) American Journalist, Political Commentator, Writer
Genius unexerted is no more genius than a bushel of acorns is a forest of oaks.
—Henry Ward Beecher (1813–87) American Clergyman, Writer
Few people can see genius in someone who has offended them.
—Robertson Davies (1913–95) Canadian Novelist, Playwright, Essayist
Talent does what it can; genius does what it must.
—Edward Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Baron Lytton (1803–73) British Novelist, Poet, Politician
The greatest genius will never be worth much if he pretends to draw exclusively from his own resources. What is genius but the faculty of seizing and turning to account everything that strikes us?
—Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832) German Poet
Every production of genius must be the production of enthusiasm.
—Isaac D’Israeli (1766–1848) English Writer, Scholar
Rising genius always shoots out its rays from among the clouds, but these will gradually roll away and disappear as it ascends to its steady luster.
—Washington Irving (1783–1859) American Essayist, Biographer, Historian
The greatest genius is the most indebted person.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
One of the strongest characteristics of genius is the power of lighting its own fire.
—John W. Foster
No man ever followed his genius until it misled him.
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–62) American Philosopher
First and last, what is demanded of genius is love of truth.
—Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832) German Poet
Doing easily what others find difficult is talent; doing what is impossible for others is genius.
—Henri Frederic Amiel (1821–81) Swiss Moral Philosopher, Poet, Critic
Since when was genius found respectable?
—Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806–61) English Poet
True genius resides in the capacity for evaluation of uncertain, hazardous, and conflicting information.
—Winston Churchill (1874–1965) British Head of State, Political leader, Historian, Journalist, Author
What Romantic terminology called genius or talent or inspiration is nothing other than finding the right road empirically, following one’s nose, taking shortcuts.
—Italo Calvino (1923–85) Italian Novelist, Essayist, Journalist
Genius is initiative on fire.
—Holbrook Jackson (1874–1948) British Journalist, Writer, Publisher
The kind of intelligence a genius has is a different sort of intelligence. The thinking of a genius does not proceed logically. It leaps with great ellipses. It pulls knowledge from God knows where.
—Dorothy Thompson (1893–1961) American Journalist, Radio Personality
He was a genius – that is to say, a man who does superlatively and without obvious effort something that most people cannot do by the uttermost exertion of their abilities.
—Robertson Davies (1913–95) Canadian Novelist, Playwright, Essayist
The secret of genius is to carry the spirit of the child into old age, which means never losing your enthusiasm.
—Victor Hugo (1802–85) French Novelist
A man of genius has been seldom ruined but by himself.
—Samuel Johnson (1709–84) British Essayist
To carry the feelings of childhood into the Dowers of manhood, to combine the child’s sense of wonder and novelty with the appearances which every day for years has rendered familiar, this is the character and privilege of genius, and one of the marks which distinguish it from talent.
—Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772–1834) English Poet, Literary Critic, Philosopher
I have nothing to declare except my genius.
—Oscar Wilde (1854–1900) Irish Poet, Playwright
Common sense is instinct. Enough of it is genius.
—George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950) Irish Playwright
Fortune has rarely condescended to be the companion of genius.
—Isaac D’Israeli (1766–1848) English Writer, Scholar
The essence of genius is to know what to overlook.
—William James (1842–1910) American Philosopher, Psychologist, Physician
Great men have often the shortest biographies.—Their real life is in their books or deeds.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
Genius goes around the world in its youth incessantly apologizing for having large feet. What wonder that later in life it should be inclined to raise those feet too swiftly to fools and bores.
—Unknown
Genius can do much, but even genius falls short of the actuality of a single human life.
—Hamilton Wright Mabie (1846–1916) American Essayist, Editor
Genius lasts longer than Beauty. That accounts for the fact that we all take such pains to over-educate ourselves.
—Oscar Wilde (1854–1900) Irish Poet, Playwright
One is not born a genius. One becomes a genius.
—Simone de Beauvoir (1908–86) French Philosopher, Writer, Feminist
Genius is no respecter of time, trouble, money or persons, the four things around which human affairs turn most persistently.
—Samuel Butler
There are geniuses in trade as well as in war, or the state, or letters; and the reason why this or that man is fortunate is not to be told. It lies in the man: that is all anybody can tell you about it.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
Men of genius do not excel in any profession because they labor in it, but they labor in it because they excel.
—William Hazlitt (1778–1830) English Essayist
Whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it. Courage has genius, power, and magic in it. Only engage, and then the mind grows heated. Begin it and the work is completed.
—Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832) German Poet
Every moment of our lives we are either growing or dying—and it’s largely a choice, not fate. Throughout its life cycle, every one of the body’s trillions of cells is driven to grow and improve its ability to use more of its innate yet untapped capacity. Research biologist Albert Szent-Gyorgyi, who was twice awarded the Nobel Prize, called this syntropy, which he defined as the “innate drive in living matter to perfect itself”. It turns conventional thinking upside down…As living cells—or as people—there is no staying the same. If we aim for some middle ground or status quo, it’s an illusion—beneath the surface what’s actually happening is we’re dying, not growing. And the goal of a lifetime is continued growth, not adulthood. As Rene Dubos put it, “Genius is childhood recaptured”. For this to happen, studies show that we must recapture—or prevent the loss of—such child-like traits as the ability to learn, to love, to laugh about small things, to leap, to wonder, and to explore. It’s time to rescue ourselves from our grown-up ways before it’s too late.
—Robert Cooper (b.1947) British Diplomat