If you will make the necessary effort you can develop any talent.
—Wallace Wattles (1860–1911) American New Thought Author
Winning takes talent, to repeat takes character.
—John Wooden (1910–2010) American Basketball Coach, Educator
A really great talent finds its happiness in execution.
—Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832) German Poet
A man gift will make a way for him.
—The Holy Bible Scripture in the Christian Faith
It always seemed to me a sort of clever stupidity only to have one sort of talent—like a carrier-pigeon.
—George Eliot (Mary Anne Evans) (1819–80) English Novelist
Talent is like a faucet; while it is open, you have to write. Inspiration?—a hoax fabricated by poets for their self-importance.
—Jean Anouilh (1910–87) French Dramatist
Talent is the capacity of doing anything that depends on application and industry; it is a voluntary power, while genius is involuntary.
—William Hazlitt (1778–1830) English Essayist
I’ve never sought success in order to get fame and money; it’s the talent and the passion that count in success.
—Ingrid Bergman (1915–82) Swedish Film and Stage Actress
Execution is really the critical part of a successful strategy. Getting it done, getting it done right, getting it done better than the next person is far more important than dreaming up new visions of the future. All of the great companies in the world out-execute their competitors day in and day out in the marketplace, in their manufacturing plants, in their logistics, in their inventory turns—in just about everything they do. Rarely do great companies have a proprietary position that insulates them from the constant hand-to-hand combat of competition.
—Louis V. Gerstner Jr. (b.1942) American Businessman
Happiness is a how; not a what. A talent, not an object.
—Hermann Hesse (1877–1962) German-born Swiss Novelist, Poet
It takes people a long time to learn the difference between talent and genius, especially ambitious young men and women.
—Louisa May Alcott (1832–88) American Novelist
Talent, like beauty, to be pardoned, must be obscure and unostentatious.
—Marguerite Gardiner, Countess of Blessington (1789–1849) Irish Novelist, Literary Hostess
Getting ahead in a difficult profession — singing, acting, writing, whatever — requires avid faith in yourself. You must be able to sustain yourself against staggering blows and unfair reversals. When I think back to those first couple of years in Rome, those endless rejections, without a glimmer of encouragement from anyone, all those failed screen tests, and yet I never let my desire slide away from me, my belief in myself and what I felt I could achieve
—Sophia Loren (b.1934) Italian Actor
He had a lot of talent, but didn’t have much dedication, wasn’t organized, didn’t know how to learn, didn’t know how to comprehend what he was doing, didn’t try to learn how to get better.
—Jack Nicklaus (b.1940) American Sportsperson
Talent is nothing but a prolonged period of attention and a shortened period of mental assimilation.
—Konstantin Stanislavski (1863–1938) Russian Actor, Theater Personality
A best seller is the gilded tomb of a mediocre talent
—Logan Pearsall Smith (1865–1946) American-British Essayist, Bibliophile
There is a natural aristocracy among men. The grounds of this are virtue and talent.
—Thomas Carlyle (1795–1881) Scottish Historian, Essayist
I put all my genius into my life; I put only my talent into my works.
—Oscar Wilde (1854–1900) Irish Poet, Playwright
Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan, ‘press on’ has solved, and always will solve, the problems of the human race.
—Calvin Coolidge (1872–1933) American Head of State, Lawyer
Talent may be in time forgiven, but genius never.
—Lord Byron (George Gordon Byron) (1788–1824) English Romantic Poet
Where talent is a dwarf, self-esteem is a giant.
—Jean Antoine Petit-Senn (1792–1870) French-Swiss Lyric Poet
No one respects a talent that is concealed.
—Desiderius Erasmus (c.1469–1536) Dutch Humanist, Scholar
Hide not your talents. They for use were made. What’s a sundial in the shade?
—Benjamin Franklin (1706–90) American Political Leader, Inventor, Diplomat
It takes little talent to see clearly what lies under one’s nose, a good deal of it to know in which direction to point that organ.
—W. H. Auden (1907–73) British-born American Poet, Dramatist
The greatest talents often lie buried out of sight.
—Plautus (Titus Maccius Plautus) (c.250–184 BCE) Roman Comic Playwright
The English instinctively admire any man who has no talent and is modest about it.
—James Agate (1877–1947) English Critic, Diarist
Concealed talent brings no reputation.
—Desiderius Erasmus (c.1469–1536) Dutch Humanist, Scholar
Skill and confidence are an unconquered army.
—George Herbert (1593–1633) Welsh Anglican Poet, Orator, Clergyman
If the power to do hard work is not talent, it is the best possible substitute for it.
—James A. Garfield (1831–81) American Head of State, Lawyer, Educator
I am no more humble than my talents require.
—Oscar Levant (1906–72) American Musician, Composer, Author, Comedian, Actor
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