Ridicule is the tribute paid to the genius by the mediocrities.
—Oscar Wilde (1854–1900) Irish Poet
Genius is another word for magic, and the whole point of magic is that it is inexplicable.
—Margot Fonteyn
Genius may have its limitations, but stupidity is not thus handicapped.
—Elbert Hubbard (1856–1915) American Writer, Publisher, Artist, Philosopher
The greatest genius will never be worth much if he pretends to draw exclusively from his own resources.
—Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832) German Poet
Genius is the gold in the mine; talent is the miner who works and brings it out.
—Marguerite Gardiner, Countess of Blessington (1789–1849) Irish Novelist, Writer
A man of genius has been seldom ruined but by himself.
—Samuel Johnson (1709–84) British Essayist
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
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 Journalist, Short Story Writer, Novelist, Essayist
Few people can see genius in someone who has offended them.
—Robertson Davies (1913–95) Canada Journalist, Playwright, Academic, Critic, Novelist
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
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) Canada Journalist, Playwright, Academic, Critic, Novelist
Every man of genius sees the world at a different angle from his fellows, and there is his tragedy.
—Havelock Ellis (1859–1939) British Sexologist, Physician, Social Reformer
Genius is often only the power of making continuous efforts. The line between failure and success is so fine that we scarcely know when we pass it—so fine that we are often on the line and do not know it. How many a man has thrown up his hands at a time when a little more effort, a little more patience, would have achieved success. As the tide goes clear out, so it comes clear in. In business sometimes prospects may seem darkest when really they are on the turn. A little more persistence, a little more effort, and what seemed hopeless failure may turn to glorious success. There is no failure except in no longer trying. There is no defeat except from within, no really insurmountable barrier save our own inherent weakness of purpose.
—Elbert Hubbard (1856–1915) American Writer, Publisher, Artist, Philosopher
Constant effort and frequent mistakes are the stepping stones of genius.
—Elbert Hubbard (1856–1915) American Writer, Publisher, Artist, Philosopher
It takes a lot of time to be a genius. You have to sit around so much doing nothing, really doing nothing.
—Gertrude Stein (1874–1946) American Writer
The real people of genius were resolute workers not idle dreamers.
—George Henry Lewes (1817–78) English Philosopher, Literary Critic, Art Critic
I know no such thing as genius; it is nothing but labor and diligence.
—William Hogarth (1697–1764) English Painter, Cartoonist, Social Critic
Genius is initiative on fire.
—Holbrook Jackson (1874–1948) British Journalist, Writer, Publisher
Nature is the master of talents; genius is the master of nature.
—Josiah Gilbert Holland (1819–81) American Novelist, Poet
The divine egoism hat is genius.
—Mary Webb (1881–1927) English Novelist, Poet, Writer
We are all geniuses up to the age of ten.
—Aldous Huxley (1894–1963) English Humanist, Pacifist, Essayist, Short Story Writer, Satirist
The first and last thing required of genius is, love of the truth.
—Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832) German Poet
The man of genius inspires us with a boundless confidence in our own powers.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
Experience isn’t interesting until it begins to repeat itself—in fact, till it does that, it hardly is experience.
—Elizabeth Bowen (1899–1973) Irish Novelist, Short Story Writer
I put all my genius into my life; I put only my talent into my works.
—Oscar Wilde (1854–1900) Irish Poet
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
I can’t tell you if genius is hereditary, because heaven has granted me no offspring.
—James Abbott McNeill Whistler (1834–1903) American Painter
Genius is an African who dreams up snow.
—Vladimir Nabokov (1899–1977) Russian-born American Novelist
Genius is a promontory jutting out into the infinite.
—Victor Hugo (1802–85) French Novelist
Every man is a potential genius until he does something.
—Herbert Beerbohm Tree (1852–1917) English Actor, Theater Personality
Talent, lying in the understanding, is often inherited; genius, being the action of reason and imagination, rarely or never.
—Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772–1834) English Poet, Literary Critic, Philosopher