“He had a startling genius, but somehow it did n't emerge;
Always on the evolution of things that would n't evolve;
Always verging toward some climax, but he never reached the verge;
Always nearing the solution of some theme he could not solve.”

—  Sam Walter Foss

The Inventor, reported in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919).

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Sam Walter Foss8
American writer 1858–1911

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