Quotes about genius

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“It was the cause of America that made me an author. The force with which it struck my mind and the dangerous condition the country appeared to me in, by courting an impossible and an unnatural reconciliation with those who were determined to reduce her, instead of striking out into the only line that could cement and save her, A Declaration Of Independence, made it impossible for me, feeling as I did, to be silent: and if, in the course of more than seven years, I have rendered her any service, I have likewise added something to the reputation of literature, by freely and disinterestedly employing it in the great cause of mankind, and showing that there may be genius without prostitution. Independence always appeared to me practicable and probable, provided the sentiment of the country could be formed and held to the object: and there is no instance in the world, where a people so extended, and wedded to former habits of thinking, and under such a variety of circumstances, were so instantly and effectually pervaded, by a turn in politics, as in the case of independence; and who supported their opinion, undiminished, through such a succession of good and ill fortune, till they crowned it with success. But as the scenes of war are closed, and every man preparing for home and happier times, I therefore take my leave of the subject. I have most sincerely followed it from beginning to end, and through all its turns and windings: and whatever country I may hereafter be in, I shall always feel an honest pride at the part I have taken and acted, and a gratitude to nature and providence for putting it in my power to be of some use to mankind.”

“There is not even a thought, or an invention, which is not common property, born of the past and the present. Thousands of inventors, known and unknown, who have died in poverty, have co-operated in the invention of each of these machines which embody the genius of man.”

“My father, Hugh Everett, III, author of the Many Worlds Theory, was a quiet man during the eighteen or so years I shared a house with him. Turns out he was depressed over a sad childhood and then being dismissed as a kook, only later - too late - to be recognized as a genius.”

“It is the privilege of true genius, and certainly of the genius that opens a new road, to make without punishment great mistakes.”

“Once plants and animals were raised together on the same farm — which therefore neither produced unmanageable surpluses of manure, to be wasted and to pollute the water supply, nor depended on such quantities of commercial fertilizer. The genius of America farm experts is very well demonstrated here: they can take a solution and divide it neatly into two problems.”

“Perhaps genius alone understands genius fully.”

“When I was about twelve, I used to think I must be a genius, but nobody's noticed. Either I'm a genius or I'm mad, which is it? "No," I said, "I can't be mad because nobody's put me away; therefore I'm a genius."”

“Genius is 'the inspired gift of God.”

“To see things in the seed, that is genius.”

“The issue of a battle is the result of an instant, of a thought. There is the advance, with its various combinations, the battle is joined, the struggle goes on a certain time, the decisive moment presents itself, a spark of genius discloses it, and the smallest body of reserves accomplish victory.”

“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.”

“If there is a cure to any disease, then why not a formula to become a genius?”

“Genius does not seem to derive any great support from syllogisms. Its carriage is free; its manner has a touch of inspiration. We see it come, but we never see it walk.”

“There is a great analogy between grace and genius, for genius is a grace. The real man of genius is the one who acts by grace or by impulsion, without ever contemplating himself and without ever saying to himself: Yes! It is by grace that I act.”

“Seem like the more fame, I only got wilder
Hands up, we just doing what the cops taught us
I've been outta my mind a long time
I've been outta my mind a long time
I be saying how I feel at the wrong time
Might not come when you want but I'm on time. Name one genius that ain't crazy.”

“The leader of genius must have the ability to make different opponents appear as if they belonged to one category.”

“One is not born a genius, one becomes a genius; and the feminine situation has up to the present rendered this becoming practically impossible.”

“Conversation enriches the understanding, but solitude is the school of genius.”

“Art is the great democrat, calling forth creative genius from every sector of society, disregarding race or religion or wealth or color”

“Genius could be the ability to say a profound thing in a simple way, or even to say a simple thing in a simpler way.”

“To forgive is wisdom, to forget is genius. And easier. Because it's true. It's a new world every heart beat.”

“The beginning of genius is being scared shitless.”

“In every work of genius we recognize our own rejected thoughts: they come back to us with a certain alienated majesty.”

“No man ever followed his genius til it misled him.”

“The only genius that's worth anything is the genius for hard work.”

“Some people think I'm a mythical genius, others think I'm a junkie madman.”

“His judgement demonstrates that one can be a genius and understand nothing of an art that is not one's own.”

“Genius, in truth, means little more than the faculty of perceiving in an unhabitual way.”

“These are times in which a genius would wish to live. It is not in the still calm of life, or the repose of a pacific station, that great characters are formed.”

“Patience is eternal genius”

“There's nothing wrong with being a genius who can fascinate the young. Rather, there's something wrong with the young who can't be fascinated by a genius.”

“Common sense is genius dressed in its working clothes.”

“The more obscure our tastes, the greater the proof of our genius.”

“Oh! how near are genius and madness! Men imprison them and chain them, or raise statues to them.”

“The secret of genius is to carry the spirit of the child into old age, which means never losing your enthusiasm.”

“My time I divide as follows: the one half I sleep; the other half I dream. I never dream when I sleep; that would be a shame, because to sleep is the height of genius.”

“Genius is not a possession of the limited few, but exists in some degree in everyone. Where there is natural growth, a full and free play of faculties, genius will manifest itself.”

“Oh, Blimey O'Riley's pantyhose…. What is the point of Shakespeare? I know he is a genius and so on, but he does rave on. 'What light doth through yonder window break?' It's the bloody moon, for God sake, Will, get a grip!”

“I did not consider him to be any kind of a genius. I considered him deeply lacking in the area that mattered most in life. Star quality.”

“Despair and Genius are too oft connected”

“The greatest products of architecture are less the works of individuals than of society; rather the offspring of a nation's effort, than the inspired flash of a man of genius…”

“They say that genius is an infinite capacity for taking pains," he remarked with a smile. "It's a very bad definition, but it does apply to detective work.”

“Was he smart? No, not exceptionally. Instead, he was a genius.”

“The genius of our ruling class is that it has kept a majority of the people from ever questioning the inequity of a system where most people drudge along, paying heavy taxes for which they get nothing in return …”

“The most tragic thing in the world is a man of genius who is not a man of honor.”

“He attacked everything in life with a mix of extraordinary genius and naive incompetence, and it was often difficult to tell which was which.”

“Genius or fool, you don't live in the world alone. You can hide underground or you can build a wall around yourself, but somebody's going to come along and screw up the works.”

“There's a fine line between criminality and genius."
-Dan Cahill”

“When a true genius appears in the world you may know him by this sign; that the dunces are all in confederacy against him.”

“Some were brilliant bordering on genius. Others, genius bordering on madness”

“A woman may be beautiful but have poor character. A man may be a business genius, making money left and right, but lack common courtesy, sensitivity, and compassion.”

“A genius is simply one who has taken full possession of his own mind and directed it toward objectives of his own choosing, without permitting outside influences to discourage or mislead him.”

“Genius: the ability to prolong one's childhood.”

“The Bible makes it clear that every time that there is a story of faith, it is completely original. God's creative genius is endless.”

“That's when I heard the sounds of a certified genius spinning around in circles like a dog chasing its tail.”

“What is a Gallagher Girl?
She's a genius, a scientist, a heroine, a spy… a Gallagher Girl is whatever she wants to be.”

“Ah, Senor Zhang," Leo said, "you know how you're always saying, 'Leo, you are the only true genius among demigods'?"
"I'm pretty sure I never said that.”

“I'm a misunderstood genius."
"What's misunderstood?"
"Nobody thinks I'm a genius.”

“Which reminded me… I still owed the gods a debt.
"You're a genius," I (Percy) told Annabeth.”

“Gazzy: (Hugging himself and jumping up and down) "I'm brilliant! I'm a genius! I can blow up the world!"
Max: (Raises her eyebrows)
Gazzy: "Not that I would want to, of course," (coughs)”

“Genius may have its limitations, but stupidity is not thus handicapped.”

“he's a genius, she's a genius, wow, you know alot of geniuses, you should meet some stupid people sometime, you might learn something”

“Adrian, you're a genius.”

“Genius is an exceedingly common human quality, probably natural to most of us.”

“Genius does not excuse evil.”

“Constant effort and frequent mistakes are the stepping stones to genius.”

“A genius is a genius, regardless of the number of morons who belong to the same race—and a moron is a moron, regardless of the number of geniuses who share his racial origin.”

“Genius is seldom recognized for what it is: a great capacity for hard work.”

“To believe your own thought, to believe that what is true for you in your private heart is true for all men, — that is genius.”

“To wake the soul by tender strokes of art,
To raise the genius, and to mend the heart;
To make mankind, in conscious virtue bold,
Live o'er each scene, and be what they behold:
For this the Tragic Muse first trod the stage.”

“Any darn fool can make something complex; it takes a genius to make something simple.”

“It takes a lot of time to be a genius, you have to sit around so much doing nothing, really doing nothing.”

“An average person with average talent, ambition and education can outstrip the most brilliant genius in our society, if that person has clear, focused goals.”

“I've concluded that genius is as common as dirt. We suppress genius because we haven't yet figured out how to manage a population of educated men and women. The solution, I think, is simple and glorious. Let them manage themselves.”

“Improvement makes straight roads; but the crooked roads without improvement are roads of genius.”

“It's not my fault so much as my genius”

“Such is the vastness of his genius that he can outwit even himself.”

“Persons of genius, it is true, are, and are always likely to be, a small minority; but in order to have them, it is necessary to preserve the soil in which they grow. Genius can only breathe freely in an atmosphere of freedom.”

“Genius is what a man invents when he is looking for a way out.”

“Calvin: I'm a genius. I can't believe how smart I am.
… I've got more brains than I know what to do with.
Hobbes: So I've noticed.”

“The imagination of the genius vastly surpasses his intellect; the intellect of the academic vastly surpasses his imagination”

“There was never a great genius without a touch of madness.”

“I stopped watching for ridicule, the scorpion's tail hidden in his words. He said what he meant; he was puzzled if you did not. Some people might have mistaken this for simplicity. But is it not a sort of genius to cut always to the heart?”

“Genius is no more than childhood recaptured at will, childhood equipped now with man's physical means to express itself, and with the analytical mind that enables it to bring order into the sum of experience, involuntarily amassed.”

“A child has no trouble believing the unbelievable, nor does the genius or the madman. It’s only you and I, with our big brains and our tiny hearts, who doubt and overthink and hesitate.”

“What is a Gallagher Girl?" Liz asked one final time. "She's a genius, a scientist, a heroine, a spy. And now we are at the end of our time at school, and the one thing I know for certain is this: a Gallagher Girl is”

“Better is possible. It does not take genius. It takes diligence. It takes moral clarity. It takes ingenuity. And above all, it takes a willingness to try.”

“My own experience is that a certain kind of genius among students is best brought out in bed.”

“And is he honest who resists his genius or conscience only for the sake of present ease or gratification”

“A few nights later, I secretly hope that I might be a genius. Why else can no amount of sleeping pills fell my brain? But in the morning my daughter asks me what a cloud is and I cannot say.”

“Genius is talent set on fire by courage.”

“Obsession is the wellspring of genius and madness.”

“The thing about people who are truly and malignantly crazy: their real genius is for making the people around them think theyare crazy. In military science this is called Psy-Ops, for your info.”

“Genius disregards the boundaries of propriety. Genius is permitted to shout if shouting is productive.”

“Because there is no greater evil than ignorance and the destruction of genius. Ignorance has been responsible for more death, more bigotry, and more sin than any other force. It is the destroyer of mankind.”

“There is no such thing as an evil genius, as evil in it's self is stupidity.”

“PHOSPHORESCENCE. Now there's a word to lift your hat to… to find that phosphorescence, that light within, that's the genius behind poetry.”

“The difference between insanity and genius is measured only by success and failure.”

“A genius. A criminal mastermind. A millionaire. And he is only twelve years old.”