“It appears to general observation, that revolutions create genius and talents; but those events do no more than bring them forward. There is existing in man, a mass of sense lying in a dormant state, and which, unless something excites it to action, will descend with him, in that condition, to the grave. As it is to the advantage of society that the whole of its faculties should be employed, the construction of government ought to be such as to bring forward, by a quiet and regular operation, all that extent of capacity which never fails to appear in revolutions.” MenShouldStatesWholeGovernmentActionLyingFailingConditionsTalentEventsRevolutionOughtGeniusQuietMassAdvantageCapacityGravesObservationOperationsFacultyConstructionEmployedDormant Book:Rights of Man: Being an Answer to Mr. Burke's Attack on the French Revolution Source: Rights of Man: Being an Answer to Mr. Burke's Attack on the French Revolution
“The Plagiarism of orators is the art, or an ingenious and easy mode, which some adroitly employ to change, or disguise, all sorts of speeches of their own composition, or that of other authors, for their pleasure, or their utility; in such a manner that it becomes impossible even for the author himself to recognise his own work, his own genius, and his own style, so skilfully shall the whole be disguised.” ArtWholeEasyPleasureImpossibleStyleGeniusSpeechCompositionDisguiseUtilityRecogniseIngeniousPlagiarismOrators Author:Isaac D'Israeli
“As the mental endowment of a man varies with the organisation of his accumulated experiences, the better endowed he is, the more readily will he be able to remember his whole past, everything that he has ever thought or heard, seen or done, perceived or felt, the more completely in fact will he be able to reproduce his whole life. Universal remembrance of all its experiences, therefore, is the surest, most general, and most easily proved mark of a genius.” MenDoneWholeFactsAblePastRememberFeltHeardGeniusUniversalMarkWhole LifeRemembranceVaryOrganisationEndowment Book:Sex & Character Source: Sex & Character
“The psychical condition of men's minds may be compared with a set of bells close together, and so arranged that in the ordinary man a bell rings only when one beside it sounds, and the vibration lasts only a moment. In the genius, when a bell sounds it vibrates so strongly that it sets in action the whole series, and remains in action throughout life. The latter kind of movement often gives rise to extraordinary conditions and absurd impulses, that may last for weeks together and that form the basis of the supposed kinship of genius with insanity.” MenGivingMindKindMayWholeMomentsActionTogetherLastsFormSoundWeekConditionsMovementGeniusOrdinaryBasesRemainsSeriesExtraordinaryRingsAbsurdImpulseInsanityLatterBellsVibrationsKinshipOrdinary ManVibrate Author:Otto Weininger
“By the sense of mystery I understand the experience of certain places and times when one's whole nature seems to be in touch with a presence, a genius loci, a potency.” WholeSeemsCertainMysteryGeniusPotencyPlace And Time Author:Richard Aldington
“His [Michael Jackson] behavior was weird, but when you get an artist and a genius, many of the geniuses throughout our whole history were weird. And they did weird things because none of us could understand what was on their mind and why they did what they did.” MindWholeArtistGeniusBehaviorWeird Things Author:Berry Gordy
“History affords us many instances of the ruin of states, by the prosecution of measures ill suited to the temper and genius of their people. The ordaining of laws in favor of one part of the nation, to the prejudice and oppression of another, is certainly the most erroneous and mistaken policy. ... These measures never fail to create great and violent jealousies and animosities between the people favored and the people oppressed; whence a total separation of affections, interests, political obligations, and all manner of connections, by which the whole state is weakened.” PeopleStatesWholeLawPoliticalNationsInterestFailingPolicyGeniusConnectionsPrejudiceIllAffectionFavorsSeparationViolentObligationOppressionInstanceRuinsTemperOppressedMistakenAnimosityProsecution Author:Benjamin Franklin