“If a person is not talented enough to be a novelist, not smart enough to be a lawyer, and his hands are too shaky to perform operations, he becomes a journalist.”

— Norman Mailer

Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "If a person is not talented enough to be a novelist, not smart enough to be a lawyer, and his hands are too shaky to pe…" by Norman Mailer?

Norman Mailer photo

Norman Mailer 165

American novelist, journalist, essayist, playwright, film m… 1923–2007

Related quotes

“In art it is not enough to have talent. A true artist with the mind must never lack imagination and order his body to perform, remember and then archive.”

Prevale (1983) Italian DJ and producer

Original: Nell'arte non basta avere talento. Un vero artista con la mente non deve mai mancare di immaginazione ed ordinare al proprio corpo di eseguire, ricordare e poi archiviare.
Source: prevale.net

“It's not enough to be talented. It's not enough to work hard and to study late into the night. You must also become intimately aware of the methods you use to reach your decisions.”

Garry Kasparov (1963) former chess world champion

Part I, Chapter 1, The Lesson, p. 14
2000s, How Life Imitates Chess (2007)

“A person should set his goals as early as he can and devote all his energy and talent to getting there. With enough effort, he may achieve it. Or he may find something that is even more rewarding. But in the end, no matter what the outcome, he will know he has been alive.”

Walt Disney (1901–1966) American film producer and businessman

As quoted in Walt Disney, Magician of the Movies (1966) by Bob Thomas p. 116

“…that's really the first thing to say about Speer's architecture. It was just awful. A genius without talent, he was essentially a theatrical personality, with enough gumption to be quiet about it.”

Clive James (1939–2019) Australian author, critic, broadcaster, poet, translator and memoirist

Ibid.
Essays and reviews, Snakecharmers in Texas (1988)

“Nor is it enough to refrain from personally performing an injustice, for in order to be good one must seek out and rectify injustices performed by others.”

Dennis Prager (1948) American writer, speaker, radio and TV commentator, theologian

Source: 1980s, The Nine Questions People Ask About Judaism (1986), p. 43

“A petty reason perhaps why novelists more and more try to keep a distance from journalists is that novelists are trying to write the truth and journalists are trying to write fiction.”

Graham Greene (1904–1991) English writer, playwright and literary critic

Letter to critic Stephen Pile, Sunday Times (London) (January 18, 1981)

“If God has shown us bad times ahead, it's enough for me that He knows about them. That's why He sometimes shows us things, you know - to tell us that this too is in His hands.”

Corrie ten Boom book The Hiding Place

Source: The Hiding Place

“The sad truth is, great talent is not enough.”

Robert T. Kiyosaki (1947) American finance author , investor

Rich Dad Poor Dad: What the Rich Teach Their Kids About Money-That the Poor and the Middle Class Do Not!

“Maybe a person's world can grow bigger in all the right ways, not too wide that it becomes shallow, just large enough to preserve its depth.”

Deb Caletti (1963) American writer

Source: The Fortunes of Indigo Skye

“If the Negro in the ghetto must eternally be fed by the hand that pushes him into the ghetto, he will never become strong enough to get out of the ghetto.”

Carter G. Woodson (1875–1950) African-American historian and writer

Related topics