“Before I go on with this short history, let me make a general observation – the test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in the mind at the same time, and still retain the ability to function.”

“An artist is someone who can hold two opposing viewpoints and still remain fully functional.”

“It's a fine thing to have ability, but the ability to discover ability in others is the true test.”

“The ability to speak does not make you intelligent.”

“By drawing our senses of perception inward, we are able to experience the control, silence, and quietness of the mind. This ability to still and gently silence the mind is essential, not only for meditation and the inward journey but also so that the intuitive intelligence can function usefully and in a worthwhile manner in the external world.”

“The making of a journalist: no ideas and the ability to express them.”

“My ability to function effectively will not affect my ability to serve as commander-in-chief.”

“To us power is, first of all, the ability to define phenomena, and secondly the ability to make these phenomena act in a desired manner.”

“I had a quick grasp of the secret to sanity — it had become the ability to hold the maximum of impossible combinations in one's mind.”

“The world judge of men by their ability in their profession, and we judge of ourselves by the same test; for it is on that on which our success in life depends.”