Quotessence
Home / Topics / True Genius Quotes

True Genius Quotes

Browse 58 quotes about True Genius.

Related topics

MenMindThinking

True Genius Quotes

“Genius, without work, is certainly a dumb oracle, and it is unquestionably true that the men of the highest genius have invariably been found to be amongst the most plodding, hard-working, and intent men -- their chief characteristic apparently consisting simply in their power of laboring more intensely and effectively than others.”

MenHardFoundHe ManHard WorkGeniusHighestChiefsDumbCharacteristicsOraclesTrue Genius
Book:Self-help: With Illustrations of Character and Conduct
Create image

“Atheism ... that bugbear of women and fools ... is the very top and perfection of free-thinking. It is the grand arcanum to which a true genius naturally riseth, by a certain climax or gradation of thought, and without which he can never possess his soul in absolute liberty and repose.”

ThinkingSoulCertainLibertyAtheismFoolGeniusPerfectionAbsolutesReposeFree ThinkingClimaxTrue Genius
Book:The Works of George Berkeley ...: Philosophical works, 1732-33: Alciphron. The theory of vision
Create image

“There is nothing so remote from vanity as true genius. It is almost as natural for those who are endowed with the highest powers of the human mind to produce the miracles of art, as for other men to breathe or move. Correggio, who is said to have produced some of his divinest works almost without having seen a picture, probably did not know that he had done anything extraordinary.”

KnowsMenMindHumansArtSaidDoneMovingNaturalProduceGeniusHighestMiracleExtraordinaryBreatheVanityHuman MindTrue Genius
Book:The Round Table. A collection of Essays ... By W. H. and Leigh Hunt
Create image

“One of the marks of true genius is a quality of abundance. A rich, rollicking abundance, enough to give indigestion to ordinary people. Great artists turn it out in rolls, in swatches. They cover whole ceilings with paintings, they chip out a mountainside in stone, they write not one novel but a shelf full. It follows that some of their work is better than other. As much as a third of it may be pretty bad. Shall we say this unevenness is the mark of their humanity - of their proud mortality as well as of their immortality?”

PeopleGivingWritingWellsMayEnoughWholeArtistHumanityTurnsQualityNovelRichTalentPaintingProudGeniusOrdinaryStonesThirdsMarkImmortalityAbundanceMortalityShelvesGreat ArtChipsOrdinary PeopleCeilingsGreat ArtistIndigestionTrue Genius
Book:The Nature of the Artist: An Address Delivered at the Dedication Ceremonies for Lee Pattison Recital Hall, Wilbur Hall, Mary Kimberly Residence Hall
Create image

“Superficial knowledge ... is hurtful to those who possess true genius; for it necessarily draws them away from their main object, wastes their industry over details and subjects foreign to their needs and natural talent, and lastly does not serve, as they flatter themselves, to prove the breadth of their mind. In all ages there have been men of very moderate intelligence who knew much, and so on the contrary, men of the highest intelligence who knew very little. Ignorance is not lack of intelligence, nor knowledge a proof of genius.”

MenNeedsMindLittlesDoeHas BeensAgeNaturalSubjectsTalentObjectsIgnoranceIndustryGeniusProveWasteHighestDrawsDetailsProofContrarySuperficialModeratesHurtfulBreadthNatural TalentTrue GeniusSuperficial Knowledge
Author:Luc de Clapiers
Create image

“Whitney proved to be a competent manufacturer, but wasn't an original inventor to any important degree. Thomas Blanchard was a true genius: his stock making machine was the daddy of all the industrial profiling machinery, like the 1870s universal milling machine, that was the especial American contribution to machining technology. By that time, the British conceded that machinery innovation had shifted to America.”

ImportantAmericaTechnologyGeniusDegreesMachinesUniversalInnovationOriginalsBritishContributionDaddyMachineryInventorCompetentWhitneyConcededTrue Genius
Author:Charles R. Morris
Create image

“And to all those who have wondered if Americas beacon still burns as bright - tonight we proved once more that the true strength of our nation comes not from our the might of our arms or the scale of our wealth, but from the enduring power of our ideals: democracy, liberty, opportunity, and unyielding hope. For that is the true genius of America - that America can change. Our union can be perfected. And what we have already achieved gives us hope for what we can and must achieve tomorrow.”

IfsGivingStillsMightAmericaOpportunityNationsWealthLibertyDemocracyAchieveArmsGeniusTomorrowIdealsUnionsEndureScalesTonightBeaconsUnyieldingTrue StrengthTrue Genius
Author:Barack Obama
Create image

“Men give me credit for some genius. All the genius I have lies in this; when I have a subject in hand, I study it profoundly. Day and night it is before me. My mind becomes pervaded with it. Then the effort that I have made is what people are pleased to call the fruit of genius. It is the fruit of labor and thought.”

PeopleMenGivingMindMadeHandsScienceLyingNightEffortStudySubjectsGeniusLaborGive MeFruitCreditDay And NightTrue GeniusFruit Of Labor
Author:Alexander Hamilton
Create image

“Indeed, what is startling about the notion of a victimless crime is that even when the behavior in question is genuinely victimless, its criminality is still affirmed by those who are eager to punish it. It is in such cases that the true genius lurking behind many of our laws stands revealed. The idea of a victimless crime is nothing more than a judicial reprise of the Christian notion of sin.”

StillsIdeasChristianLawSinBehindsCasesCrimeGeniusBehaviorNotionJudicialLurkingCriminalityTrue Genius
Book:The End of Faith: Religion, Terror, and the Future of Reason
Create image

“There is no greater sorrow than to recall happiness in times of misery.”

InspirationalHappinessMemoriesGreaterSadnessLonelinessSorrowSadLonelyMiserySympathyRecallsCriminal MindSaddestFeeling LonelyBeing LonelyInfernoCondolencesBeing SadMy SympathyNo MemorySad LifeI Am LonelyNo SympathySadness Of LifeTrue GeniusWords Of SympathySympathy CondolencesDivine ComedyLonely FeelingCondolences And SympathyCondolence MessageMiserable PeopleSadness And LoveSad HeartWords Of CondolenceSympathy MessagesLonely LifeSadness And SorrowSympathy For A FriendSad TimesHappiness And SadnessLoneliness In LifeSad FeelingSorrow And HappinessHappiness SadnessSorrow LoveMisery And Pain
Book:Inferno
Create image

“That is the true genius of America, a faith in the simple dreams of its people, the insistence on small miracles. That we can say what we think, write what we think, without hearing a sudden knock on the door. That we can have an idea and start our own business without paying a bribe or hearing a sudden knock on the door. That we can participate in the political process without fear of retribution, and that our votes will be counted.”

PeopleThinkingWritingIdeasDreamAmericaPoliticalFearProcessSimpleBusinessDoorsGeniusVoteMiracleHearingRetributionOwn BusinessBribeInsistenceTrue GeniusSmall MiraclesSimple Dreams
Book:An American Story: The Speeches of Barack Obama : a Primer
Create image

“The man of true genius never lives before his time, he never undertakes impossibilities, and always embarks on his enterprise at the suitable place and period. Though he may catch a glimpse of the coming light as it gilds the mountain top long before it reaches the eyes of his contemporaries, and he may hazard a prediction as to the future, he acts with the present.”

MenLifeMayLongLightEyeScienceHe ManGeniusPeriodsFutureMountainEnterprisePredictionsGlimpseImpossibilitySuitableHazardsMountain TopTrue Genius
Book:Scientific Writings
Create image