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Ability Quotes

Browse 7450 quotes about Ability.

Ability Quotes

“It is the acquisition of skills in particular, irrespective of their utility, that is potent in making life meaningful. Since man has no inborn skills, the survival of the species has depended on the ability to acquire and perfect skills. Hence the mastery of skills is a uniquely human activity and yields deep satisfaction.”

Source: Between the Devil and the Dragon: The Best Essays and Aphorisms of Eric Hoffer

“Symphony is the ability to see the big picture, connect the dots, combine disparate things into something new. Visual artists in particular are good at seeing how the pieces come together. I experienced this myself by trying to learn to draw.”

Trying Bigs Together Artist Ability Pieces Seeing Particular Draws Visuals Something New Symphony Dots Big Picture Visual Art Ability To See Visual Artist

Author:Daniel H. Pink

“One of the most important factors, not only in military matters but in life as a whole, is ... the ability to direct one's whole energies towards the fulfillment of a particular task.”

Important Matter Whole Energy Ability Military Particular Tasks Direct Factors Fulfillment

Author:Erwin Rommel

“Anybody can find out if he is a writer. If he were a writer, when he tried to write of some particular day, he would find in the effort that he could recall exactly how the light fell and how the temperature felt, and all the quality of it. Most people cannot do it. If they can do it, they may never be successful in a pecuniary sense, but that ability is at the bottom of writing, I am sure.”

People Ifs Writing May Light Felt Can Do Ability Effort Quality Successful Particular Bottom Being Successful Recalls Temperature

Author:Maxwell Perkins

“Each person should display her own particular gifts for study. For no one is safe who strives beyond her abilities; and thus it is safer to trust in reason than in men’s opinions.”

Men Should Persons Reason Ability Opinion Study Particular Safe Strive Display Strife

Book:Collected Letters of a Renaissance Feminist

Source: Collected Letters of a Renaissance Feminist

“The sweet spot: that productive, uncomfortable terrain located just beyond our current abilities, where our reach exceeds our grasp. Deep practice is not simply about struggling; it's about seeking a particular struggle, which involves a cycle of distinct actions.”

Action Ability Practice Struggle Particular Sweet Currents Seeking Spots Uncomfortable Productive Cycles Exceed Terrain

Book:The Talent Code: Greatness isn't born. It's grown

Source: The Talent Code: Greatness isn't born. It's grown

“The life of hope, then, is shot through with social influences at every level. We learn to formulate ideals in tandem with others. We pursue particular hopes, sometimes succeeding and sometimes failing, in the company of those we love. And as we develop habits of hope and the hopefulness which helps us weather our trials, we reach out to others, inspiring them, sharing our own hopes with them, and contributing our abilities as best we can to foster the growth of agency.”

“The general public doesn't know and probably doesn't care about punctuated equilibria nor indeed should they, or the greenhouse effect on some other planet - they barely have the ability to cope with the greenhouse effect on their own planet. So I think you have to distinguish between the broad visibility of a scientist when he or she is speaking to a general public and trying to address general issues and the continued position that a scientist may have into the history of a particular subject.”

Thinking Knows Should Trying May Care Ability Issues Subjects Effects Position Particular Planets Scientist Addresses Broads Equilibrium Greenhouses General Public Visibility

Author:Richard Lewontin

“I cant see any great evidence that humans have any ability to access anything other than the material world. Beyond that, who knows, but theres no good evidence that would take me to any particular belief.”

Knows World Humans Belief Ability Particular Materials Evidence Access Take Me Cant Material World

Author:Bernard Beckett

“Certain music, jazz in particular, has the ability to make you a better citizen of the world. It helps you expand your world view and gives you more confidence in your cultural achievements. Improvisational jazz teaches you about yourself while the swing in jazz teaches you how to work with others”

World Giving Helping Certain Ability Views Teach Particular Citizens Achievement Jazz About Yourself Swings World View

Author:Wynton Marsalis

“In a battle, as in a siege, the art consists in concentrating very heavy fire on a particular point. The line of battle once established, the one who has the ability to concentrate an unlooked for mass of artillery suddenly and unexpectedly on one of these points is sure to carry the day.”

Art Lines Ability Fire Particular Battle Mass Heavy Concentrating Artillery Siege

Author:Napoleon Bonaparte

“As Baudelaire said it so beautifully, Emma Bovary is an androgynous character. She cannot be reduced to a gender or a sociological type. She represents something bigger than herself. That was the genius of Flaubert: the ability to combine the general and the particular.”

Said Character Ability Particular Type Genius Bigger Gender Emma Sociological Baudelaire Androgynous

Author:Sophie Barthes

“The best simpleminded test of expertise in a particular area is an ability to win money in a series of bets on future occurrences in that area.”

Winning Ability Particular Areas Tests Series Expertise

Author:Graham T. Allison