“Solitude, the safeguard of mediocrity, is to genius the stern friend.”

—  Ralph Waldo Emerson

Culture
1860s, The Conduct of Life (1860)

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "Solitude, the safeguard of mediocrity, is to genius the stern friend." by Ralph Waldo Emerson?
Ralph Waldo Emerson photo
Ralph Waldo Emerson 727
American philosopher, essayist, and poet 1803–1882

Related quotes

Robert G. Ingersoll photo

“In the republic of mediocrity, genius is dangerous.”

Robert G. Ingersoll (1833–1899) Union United States Army officer
Oscar Wilde photo

“Ridicule is the tribute paid to the genius by the mediocrities”

Oscar Wilde (1854–1900) Irish writer and poet
Fulton J. Sheen photo

“Jealousy is the tribute mediocrity pays to genius.”

Fulton J. Sheen (1895–1979) Catholic bishop and television presenter
Benjamin Disraeli photo

“Mediocrity can talk; but it is for genius to observe.”

Benjamin Disraeli (1804–1881) British Conservative politician, writer, aristocrat and Prime Minister

Isaac D'Israeli, The Curiosities of Literature, "Men of Genius Deficient in Conversation".
Misattributed, Isaac D'Israeli

Isaac D'Israeli photo

“Mediocrity can talk, but it is for genius to observe.”

Isaac D'Israeli (1766–1848) British writer

Men of Genius Deficient in Conversation.
Curiosities of Literature (1791–1834)

Arthur Conan Doyle photo

“Mediocrity knows nothing higher than itself; but talent instantly recognizes genius.”

Arthur Conan Doyle book The Valley of Fear

Source: The Valley of Fear

Cesare Lombroso photo

“The appearance of a single great genius is more than equivalent to the birth of a hundred mediocrities.”

Cesare Lombroso (1835–1909) Italian criminologist

Pt. II, ch. 2.
The Man of Genius (1891)

Robert A. Heinlein photo

“I don’t believe in luck, Sam. Luck is a tag given by the mediocre to account for the accomplishments of genius.”

Robert A. Heinlein book The Puppet Masters

Source: The Puppet Masters (1951), Chapter 30 (p. 158)

Napoleon I of France photo

“One must indeed be ignorant of the methods of genius to suppose that it allows itself to be cramped by forms. Forms are for mediocrity, and it is fortunate that mediocrity can act only according to routine. Ability takes its flight unhindered.”

Napoleon I of France (1769–1821) French general, First Consul and later Emperor of the French

Napoleon : In His Own Words (1916)

Related topics