“Instead of exhibiting talent in the hope that the world would forgive their eccentricities, they have exhibited only their eccentricities, in the hope that the world would give them credit for talent.”
Vol. I; XVI
Lacon (1820)
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Charles Caleb Colton 38
British priest and writer 1777–1832Related quotes

On dedicating the Astronaut Hall of Fame — reported in Associated Press (May 12, 1990) "Five of Mercury Seven return to the Cape, Launch Hall of Fame - Astronauts hope exhibits will inspire youths to learn", The Gazette, p. A2.

Day of Affirmation Address (1966)

1770s, Letter to Phyllis Wheatley (1776)

Letter to Benjamin Banneker (30 August 1791) http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/mtj:@field(DOCID+@lit(tj060149))
1790s
Context: No body wishes more than I do to see such proofs as you exhibit, that nature has given to our black brethren, talents equal to those of the other colors of men, and that the appearance of a want of them is owing merely to the degraded condition of their existence, both in Africa & America.
“We can't take any credit for our talents. It's how we use them that counts.”
Source: A Wrinkle in Time: With Related Readings

“Is there in the whole world a being who would have the right to forgive and could forgive?”
The Brothers Karamazov (1879–1880)
Context: Is there in the whole world a being who would have the right to forgive and could forgive? I don't want harmony. From love for humanity I don't want it. I would rather be left with the unavenged suffering. I would rather remain with my unavenged suffering and unsatisfied indignation, even if I were wrong. Besides, too high a price is asked for harmony; it's beyond our means to pay so much to enter on it. And so I hasten to give back my entrance ticket, and if I am an honest man I am bound to give it back as soon as possible. And that I am doing. It's not God that I don't accept, Alyosha, only I most respectfully return him the ticket.

Speech to the British and Foreign Bible Society (2 May 1928); published in This Torch of Freedom (1935), pp. 92 - 93
1928