Source: The Time Paradox
“Genius is 'the inspired gift of God.”
It is the clearer presence of God Most High in a man. Dim, potential in all men; in this man it has become clear, actual.
1840s, Past and Present (1843)
“Desperation is sometimes as powerful an inspirer as genius.”
Source: Books, Coningsby (1844), Endymion (1880), Ch. 8.
“Sometimes I wonder if suicides aren't in fact sad guardians of the meaning of life.”
Source: Disturbing the Peace (1986), Ch. 5
“Genius is one percent inspiration, ninety-nine percent perspiration.”
Spoken statement (c. 1903); published in Harper's Monthly (September 1932).
Variants:
None of my inventions came by accident. I see a worthwhile need to be met and I make trial after trial until it comes. What it boils down to is one per cent inspiration and ninety-nine percent perspiration.
Statement in a press conference (1929), as quoted in Uncommon Friends: Life with Thomas Edison, Henry Ford, Harvey Firestone, Alexis Carrel & Charles Lindbergh (1987) by James D. Newton, p. 24.
Variant forms without early citation: "Genius is one percent inspiration and ninety-nine percent perspiration. Accordingly, a 'genius' is often merely a talented person who has done all of his or her homework."
"Genius: one percent inspiration and 99 percent perspiration."
1900s
Variant: Genius is one per cent inspiration and ninety nine perspiration.
“That adage about genius being 5 percent inspiration and 95 perspiration - it's true.”
Yanni in Words. Miramax Books. Co-author David Rensin
Source: Moon Over Soho (2011), Chapter 1, “Body and Soul” (p. 1)
As quoted in A World View of Criminal Justice (2005) by Richard K. Vogler, p. 116
