Use what talents you possess: the woods would be very silent if no birds sang there except those that sang best.
—Henry van Dyke Jr. (1852–1933) American Author, Educator, Clergyman
Talent is nothing but a prolonged period of attention and a shortened period of mental assimilation.
—Constantin Stanislavski (1863–1938) Russian Actor, Theater Personality
Talent does you no good unless it’s recognized by someone else.
—Robert Half
A man with a talent does what is expected of him, makes his way, constructs, is an engineer, a composer, a builder of bridges. It’s the natural order of things that he construct objects outside himself and his family. The woman who does so is aberrant. We have to expiate for this cursed talent someone handed out to us, by mistake, in the black mystery of genetics.
—May Sarton (1912–95) American Children’s Books Writer, Poet, Novelist
Premature development of the powers of both mind and body leads to an early grave.
—Quintilian Roman Critic, Writer
The talent for being happy is appreciating and liking what you have, instead of what you don’t have.
—Woody Allen (b.1935) American Film Actor, Director
If you have this enormous talent, it’s got you by the balls, it’s a demon. You can’t be a family man and a husband and a caring person and be that animal. Dickens wasn’t that nice a guy.
—Dustin Hoffman (b.1937) American Actor, TV Personality, Theater Personality
Talent does what it can; genius does what it must.
—Edward Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Baron Lytton (1803–73) English Poet, Playwright, Novelist, Politician
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
Technique is the test of sincerity. If a thing isn’t worth getting the technique to say, it is of inferior value.
—Ezra Pound (1885-1972) American Poet, Translator, Critic
Talent, like beauty, to be pardoned, must be obscure and unostentatious.
—Marguerite Gardiner, Countess of Blessington (1789–1849) Irish Novelist, Writer
If, after all, men cannot always make history have a meaning, they can always act so that their own lives have one.
—Albert Camus (1913–60) Algerian-born French Philosopher, Dramatist, Essayist, Novelist, Author
A talent somewhat above mediocrity, shrewd and not too sensitive, is more likely to rise in the world than genius.
—Charles Cooley (1864–1929) American Sociologist
I believe that traditional wisdom is incomplete. A composer can have all the talent of Mozart and a passionate desire to succeed, but if he believes he cannot compose music, he will come to nothing. He will not try hard enough. He will give up too soon when the elusive right melody takes too long to materialize.
—Martin Seligman (b.1942) American Psychologist, Author
A winner is someone who recognizes his God-given talents, works his tail off to develop them into skills, and uses these skills to accomplish his goals.
—Larry Bird (b.1956) American Sportsperson
Skill and confidence are an unconquered army.
—George Herbert (1593–1633) Welsh Anglican Poet, Orator, Clergyman
With people with only modest ability, modesty is mere honesty; but with those who possess great talent, it is hypocrisy.
—Arthur Schopenhauer (1788–1860) German Philosopher
It is in the ability to deceive oneself that the greatest talent is shown.
—Anatole France (1844–1924) French Novelist
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
I put all my genius into my life; I put only my talent into my works.
—Oscar Wilde (1854–1900) Irish Poet
I like living. I have sometimes been wildly, despairingly, acutely miserable, racked with sorrow, but through it all I still know quite certainly that just to be alive is a grand thing.
—Agatha Christie (1890–1976) British Novelist, Short-Story Writer, Playwright
Two kinds of men generally best succeed in political life; men of no principle, but of great talent; and men of no talent, but of one principle – that of obedience to their superiors.
—Wendell Phillips (1811–84) American Abolitionist, Social Activist, Lawyer, Orator
We believe that if men have the talent to invent new machines that put men out of work, they have the talent to put those men back to work.
—John F. Kennedy (1917–63) American Head of State, Journalist
The most gifted natures are perhaps also the most trembling.
—Andre Gide (1869–1951) French Novelist
Great talents, such as honor, virtue, learning, and parts, are above the generality of the world, who neither possess them themselves, nor judge of them rightly in others; but all people are judges of the lesser talents, such as civility, affability, and an obliging, agreeable address and manner, because they feel the good effects of them, as making society easy and pleasing.
—Earl of Chesterfield
Everyone has talent at twenty-five. The difficulty is to have it at fifty.
—Edgar Degas (1834–1917) French Painter, Sculpture, Printer maker, Artist
I’d rather have a lot of talent and a little experience than a lot of experience and a little talent.
—John Wooden (1910–2010) American Sportsperson
Talent is cheaper than table salt. What separates the talented individual from the successful one is a lot of hard work.
—Stephen King (b.1947) American Novelist, Short-Story Writer, Screenwriter, Columnist, Film Director
The most exciting place to discover talent is in yourself
—Ashleigh Brilliant (b.1933) British Cartoonist, Author
Talents are best nurtured in solitude; character is best formed in the stormy billows of the world.
—Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832) German Poet
The truth is that all of us attain the greatest success and happiness possible in this life whenever we use our native capacities to their greatest extent.
—Smiley Blanton
I have feelings too. I am still human. All I want is to be loved, for myself and for my talent.
—Marilyn Monroe (1926–62) American Actor, Model, Singer