Quotes about skill
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“Passion is never enough; neither is skill. But try. For our sake and yours forget your name in the street; tell us what the world has been to you in the dark places and in the light. Don't tell us what to believe, what to fear. Show us belief's wide skirt and the stitch that unravels fear's caul.”

Toni Morrison (1931–2019) American writer

Nobel Prize Lecture (1993)

World, Fear, Light, Passion

“As it is far better to excel in any single art, than to arrive only at a mediocrity in several; so on the other hand, a moderate skill in several is to be preferred, where one cannot attain to excellency in any.”
Ut satius unum aliquid insigniter facere quam plura mediocriter, ita plurima mediocriter, si non possis unum aliquid insigniter.

Pliny the Younger (61–113) Roman writer

Letter 29, 1.
Letters, Book IX

Art

“When we are equipped with leadership skills that complement traditional rank, we are appropriately prepared to provide the inspiration, the motivation and guidance expected of us. The ethos of 'vakaturaga' (chiefly way) will then retain its true place in Fijian culture in this new millennium.”

Josefa Iloilo (1920–2011) President of Fiji

Opening address to the Great Council of Chiefs meeting, 27 July 2005 (excerpts)

Way, Motivation

“The distance at which it can strike, and the destructive power of such a quasi-intelligent machine being for all practical purposes unlimited, the gun, the armor of the battleship and the wall of the fortress, lose their import and significance. One can prophesy with a Daniel's confidence that skilled electricians will settle the battles of the near future. But this is the least. In its effect upon war and peace, electricity offers still much greater and more wonderful possibilities. To stop war by the perfection of engines of destruction alone, might consume centuries and centuries. Other means must be employed to hasten the end.”

Nikola Tesla (1856–1943) Serbian American inventor

A Means for Furthering Peace (1905)

War, Peace, Confidence, Intelligence

“Timidity betrays want of powers, and audacity a want of skill.”

Hippocrates (-460–-370 BC) ancient Greek physician

4.
The Law
Context: Timidity betrays want of powers, and audacity a want of skill. There are, indeed, two things, knowledge and opinion, of which the one makes its possessor really to know, the other to be ignorant.

“In the real world, very smart people fail and mediocre people rise. Part of what makes people fail or succeed are skills that have nothing to do with IQ.”

Camille Paglia (1947) American writer

Playboy interview (May 1995)
Context: In the real world, very smart people fail and mediocre people rise. Part of what makes people fail or succeed are skills that have nothing to do with IQ. Also, the idea that intelligence can be gauged by an IQ test is erroneous.

People, World, Parting

“Those who live in a cold climate and in [northern] Europe are full of spirit, but wanting in intelligence and skill; and therefore they keep their freedom, but have no political organization, and are incapable of ruling over others. Whereas the natives of Asia are intelligent and inventive, but they are wanting in spirit, and therefore they are always in a state of subjection and slavery. But the Hellenic race, which is situated between them, is likewise intermediate in character, being high-spirited and also intelligent. Hence it continues free, and is the best governed of any nation, and, if it could be formed into one state, would be able to rule the world.”

Aristotle book Politics

Book VII, 7, 1327b http://books.google.com/books?id=QiqGAAAAMAAJ, tr. Benjamian Jowett (1908) <br class="br">Politics

World, Intelligence, Freedom

“The personal commitment of a man to his skill, the intellectual commitment and the emotional commitment working together as one, has made the Ascent of Man.”

Jacob Bronowski The Ascent of Man

Sourced to the book, The Ascent of Man (1973), BBC Books: London, Chapter 13: The Long Childhood, p. 330.
The Ascent of Man (1973)
Context: We are all afraid - for our confidence, for the future, for the world. That is the nature of the human imagination. Yet every man, every civilization, has gone forward because of its engagement with what it has set itself to do. The personal commitment of a man to his skill, the intellectual commitment and the emotional commitment working together as one, has made the Ascent of Man.

Personality

“There exists, then, the "spirit" of the scientist, a thing far above his mere "mechanical skill," and the scientist is at the height of his achievement when the spirit has triumphed over the mechanism. When he has reached this point, science will receive from him not only new revelations of nature, but philosophic syntheses of pure thought.”

Maria Montessori (1870–1952) Italian pedagogue, philosopher and physician

Source: The Montessori Method (1912), Ch. 1 : A Critical Consideration of the New Pedagogy in its Relation to Modern Science, p. 8.
Context: We give the name scientist to the type of man who has felt experiment to be a means guiding him to search out the deep truth of life, to lift a veil from its fascinating secrets, and who, in this pursuit, has felt arising within him a love for the mysteries of nature, so passionate as to annihilate the thought of himself. The scientist is not the clever manipulator of instruments, he is the worshipper of nature and he bears the external symbols of his passion as does the follower of some religious order. To this body of real scientists belong those who, forgetting, like the Trappists of the Middle Ages, the world about them, live only in the laboratory, careless often in matters of food and dress because they no longer think of themselves; those who, through years of unwearied use of the microscope, become blind; those who in their scientific ardour inoculate themselves with tuberculosis germs; those who handle the excrement of cholera patients in their eagerness to learn the vehicle through which the diseases are transmitted; and those who, knowing that a certain chemical preparation may be an explosive, still persist in testing their theories at the risk of their lives. This is the spirit of the men of science, to whom nature freely reveals her secrets, crowning their labours with the glory of discovery.
There exists, then, the "spirit" of the scientist, a thing far above his mere "mechanical skill," and the scientist is at the height of his achievement when the spirit has triumphed over the mechanism. When he has reached this point, science will receive from him not only new revelations of nature, but philosophic syntheses of pure thought.

Nature, Science

“The right to be heard would be, in many cases, of little avail if it did not comprehend the right to be heard by counsel. Even the intelligent and educated layman has small and sometimes no skill in the science of law. If charged with crime, he is incapable, generally, of determining for himself whether the indictment is good or bad. He is unfamiliar with the rules of evidence. Left without the aid of counsel he may be put on trial without a proper charge, and convicted upon incompetent evidence, or evidence irrelevant to the issue or otherwise inadmissible. He lacks both the skill and knowledge adequately to prepare his defense, even though he have a perfect one. He requires the guiding hand of counsel at every step in the proceedings against him. Without it, though he be not guilty, he faces the danger of conviction because he does not know how to establish his innocence. If that be true of men of intelligence, how much more true is it of the ignorant and illiterate, or those of feeble intellect.”

George Sutherland (1862–1942) Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, United States Senator, member of the United States House of Re…

Powell v. Alabama, 287 U.S. 45, 53 (1932)

Men, Education, Law, Intelligence

“America has carried on not simply because of the skill or vision of those in high office, but because We the People have remained faithful to the ideals of our forbearers, and true to our founding documents. So it has been. So it must be with this generation of Americans.”

Barack Obama (1961) 44th President of the United States of America

2009, First Inaugural Address (January 2009)
Context: Forty-four Americans have now taken the presidential oath. The words have been spoken during rising tides of prosperity and the still waters of peace. Yet, every so often the oath is taken amidst gathering clouds and raging storms. At these moments, America has carried on not simply because of the skill or vision of those in high office, but because We the People have remained faithful to the ideals of our forbearers, and true to our founding documents. So it has been. So it must be with this generation of Americans.

People, Faith

“The KGB, in Kalugin’s view, was more successful than the CIA, partly because of its skill in exploiting the corruption which became endemic under Indira Gandhi’s regime. As Inder Malhotra noted, though corruption was not new in India: People expected Indira Gandhi’s party, committed to bringing socialism to the country, to be more honest and cleaner than the old undivided Congress. But this turned out to be a vain hope. On the contrary, compared with the amassing of wealth by some of her close associates, the misdeeds of the discarded Syndicate leaders, once looked upon as godfathers of corrupt Congressmen, began to appear trivial.”

Indíra Gándhí (1917–1984) Indian politician and Prime Minister

The Mitrokhin Archive

People, Hope, Appearance, Success

“As for the position they held in this war … well, I think they’ve been more skillful than the Americans. Certainly they’ve had a lighter touch—had they wanted to, they could have done more for Pakistan. Isn’t that so? It was the Americans who sent the Seventh Fleet into the Bay of Bengal, not the Chinese.”

Indíra Gándhí (1917–1984) Indian politician and Prime Minister

Oriana Fallaci. Interview with Indira Gandhi in New Delhi, February 1972

War, Thinking

“It has been argued that the perfection of guns of great destructive power will stop warfare. So I myself thought for a long time, but now I believe this to be a profound mistake. Such developments will greatly modify, but not arrest it. On the contrary, I think that every new arm that is invented, every new departure that is made in this direction, merely invites new talent and skill, engages new effort, offers new incentive, and so only gives a fresh impetus to further development. Think of the discovery of gun-powder. Can we conceive of any more radical departure than was effected by this innovation? Let us imagine ourselves living in that period: would we not have thought then that warfare was at an end, when the armor of the knight became an object of ridicule, when bodily strength and skill, meaning so much before, became of comparatively little value? Yet gunpowder did not stop warfare: quite the opposite it acted as a most powerful incentive.”

Nikola Tesla (1856–1943) Serbian American inventor

The Problem of Increasing Human Energy (1900)

Imagination, Departure, Thinking, Effort

“He has made contributions to many areas of science; among them are agronomy, anthropology, astronomy, bacteriology, botany, economics, forestry, meteorology, psychology, public health, and-above all-genetics, in which he is recognized as one of the leaders. Out of this varied scientific research and his skill in mathematics, he has evolved systematic principles for the interpretation of empirical data; and he has founded a science of experimental design. On the foundations he has laid down, there has been erected a structure of statistical techniques that are used whenever people attempt to learn about nature from experiment and observation.”

Ronald Fisher (1890–1962) English statistician, evolutionary biologist, geneticist, and eugenicist

W. Allen Wallis (1952) at the University of Chicago while honoring Fisher with the Honorary degree of Doctor of Science; cited in: George E. P. Box (1976) " Science and Statistics http://www-sop.inria.fr/members/Ian.Jermyn/philosophy/writings/Boxonmaths.pdf" Journal of the American Statistical Association, Vol. 71, No. 356. (Dec., 1976), pp. 791-799.

People, Health, Mathematics, Nature

“In the nightmare of a warring world, it takes peculiar skills to get along.”

Kurt Vonnegut book Armageddon in Retrospect

Story: "The commandant's desk" - p.193
Armageddon in Retrospect (2008)

War, World

“The sweet spot is acknowledging that we have pressure on our infrastructure. And I think, actually, that is common ground between all parties that will form this government because there is undoubtedly strain based on the fact that we have had a government that’s entire growth agenda has been based on population growth rather than focusing on making sure that we move to a productive economy. Our view is that it is about the settings. It is about making sure that we are meeting the skills gaps that we have – and we do have them in New Zealand – meeting those skills gaps by making sure that we are undertaking those work tests, by making sure that our export education industry isn’t exploiting people, and by making sure that people on temporary work visas aren’t exploited either. That’s the area we’re focused on, and there’s agreement there.”

Jacinda Ardern (1980) Prime Minister of New Zealand

On her immigration policy.
Interview with Lisa Owen at Newshub Nation, 21 October 2017

People, Education, Making love, Thinking

“Efficient exploitation of “human resources” requires that the structures that refer the others’ actions to the exploiter’s ends must extend beneath the victim’s skin. The exploiter has to bring about the partial disintegration and re(mis)integration of the others’ matter, parts and properties so that as organized systems the exploited are oriented to some degree by habits, skills, schedules, values and tastes to the exploiter’s ends rather than, as they would otherwise be, to ends of their own. In particular, the manipulations which adapt the exploited to a niche in another’s economy must accomplish a great reduction of the victim’s intolerance of coercion.”

Marilyn Frye book The Politics of Reality

Source: The Politics of Reality: Essays in Feminist Theory (1983), p. 60

Parting

“Forgiveness is choosing to love. It is the first skill of self-giving love.”

Mahatma Gandhi (1869–1948) pre-eminent leader of Indian nationalism during British-ruled India

Love, Forgiveness

“In politics nothing is immutable. Events carry within them an invincible power. The unwise destroy themselves in resistance. The skillful accept events, take strong hold of them and direct them.”

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

Napoleon : In His Own Words (1916)

Strong

“May I ask those who have not differed with me to join with me in this same spirit towards those who have? And now, let me close by asking three hearty cheers for our brave soldiers and seamen, and their gallant and skillful commanders.”

Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865) 16th President of the United States

Source: 1860s, On Democratic Government (1864)

“No man is greater than his will;
No gods to him will lend a hand!
Upon his courage and his skill
The record of his life must stand.
What honors shall befall to him,
What he shall claim of fame or pelf,
Depend not on the favoring whim
Of fortune's god, but on himself.”

Edgar Guest (1881–1959) American writer

Source: Just Folks (1917), There Are No Gods, final stanza.

Life, God, Courage, Dependency

“I love and hate technology.
Texting or emailing is one step away from true and real communication.
What happened to people and their communication skills?”

Stephie Pahlavi Zan

Love, Hate, People, Communication

“… alas, raising a young lady is a mystery even beyond an enchanter's skill.”

Lloyd Alexander book The Castle of Llyr

Source: The Castle of Llyr

“In art as in lovemaking, heartfelt ineptitude has its appeal and so does heartless skill, but what you want is passionate virtuosity.”

John Barth (1930) American writer

Art, Passion

“… love is a skill, not just an enthusiasm.”

Alain de Botton (1969) Swiss writer

Source: The Course of Love

Love

“Never mind that,” said Will. “I’m boasting of my investigative skills, and I would prefer to do it without interruption. Where was I?”

Cassandra Clare book Clockwork Angel

Source: Clockwork Angel

“I, had an excellent instructor. One that you currently have locked up. If you want to talk about skills going to waste, then go look in your own jail.”

Richelle Mead book Spirit Bound

Source: Spirit Bound

“This was a nightmare scenario for any bodyguard: stuck in the middle of a transparent tube, several miles underwater, with a murdering band of fugitives at one end and an enthralled but still highly skilled police officer at the other.”

Eoin Colfer (1965) Irish author of children's books

Source: The Atlantis Complex

“I'm a good neurosugeon. That's not a boast but a way of acknowledging the innate ability God has given to me. Beginning with determination and using my gifted hands, I went on for training and sharpening for my skills.”

Ben Carson book Gifted Hands: The Ben Carson Story

Source: Gifted Hands: The Ben Carson Story

God, Way, Training

“Any weapon is a good weapon as long as ye can use it with honor and skill.”

Brian Jacques book High Rhulain

Source: High Rhulain

“You are the leader here. Obviiusly your skills are far superior to mine. I don't think I could fit into your life. I'm a loner, not the first lady.”

Christine Feehan book Dark Prince

Source: Dark Prince

Life, Thinking

“Habit is the intersection of knowledge (what to do), skill (how to do), and desire (want to do).”

Stephen R. Covey book The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People

Source: The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons in Personal Change

Knowledge

“There were drinks and food in full force, and some Moroi guy had a guitar out and was trying to impress girls with his musical skills—which were nonexistent. In fact, his music was so awful that he might have discovered a new way to kill Strigoi.”

Richelle Mead Blood Promise

Source: Blood Promise

Food, Music, Way, Guy

“We can lift ourselves out of ignorance, we can find ourselves as creatures of excellence and intelligence and skill.”

Richard Bach book Jonathan Livingston Seagull

Source: Jonathan Livingston Seagull (1970)

Intelligence

“Donner: Skill without imagination is craftsmanship and gives us many useful objects such as wickerwork picnic baskets. Imagination without skill gives us modern art.”

Tom Stoppard (1937) British playwright

Source: Artist Descending a Staircase (1972)

Art, Imagination

“Sing in me, Muse, and through me tell the story
of that man skilled in all ways of contending,
the wanderer, harried for years on end”

Homér The Odyssey (Cowper)

Source: The Odyssey

Way, Singing

“Teachers don't just teach; they can be vital personalities who help young people to mature, to understand the world, and to understand themselves. A good education consists of much more than useful facts and marketable skills.”

Charles Platt (1945) Author, journalist and computer programmer

People, World, Education, Understanding

“For the record, knowing when people are only pretending to like you isn't such a great skill to have.”

Chuck Palahniuk book Diary

Source: Diary

People

“Quick question. Does this magical skill with gray matter come with a total lack of compunction for your kind, or is it just you who were born without a conscience?

V: I beg your pardon?”

Jessica Bird book Lover Unbound

Source: Lover Unbound

Question

“Who cared whether you could change motor oil when you could snap a rottweiler’s neck in 2.8 seconds? Now there was a practical skill.”

Kelley Armstrong book Stolen

Source: Stolen

Change

“Sit down every day and DO IT. Writing is a self-taught craft; the more you work at it, the more skilled you become. And when you're not writing, READ.”

Lois Duncan (1934–2016) American young-adult and children's writer

Reading

“Learn her skills, honor her sword, and keep her secrets.”

Ally Carter book Only the Good Spy Young

Source: Only the Good Spy Young

Secret, Learning

“I want you to invent it. I want you to have that skill. To create your own reality. Your own set of laws. I want to try and teach you that.”

Chuck Palahniuk (1962) American novelist, essayist

Law, Reality

“He wasn't that good looking, he had the social skills of a wet cat and the patience of a caffeinated hummingbird”

Karen Chance American writer

Cats, Patience

“A winner is someone who recognizes his God-given talents, works his tail off to develop them into skills, and uses these skills to accomplish his goals.”

Larry Bird (1956) basketball player and coach

God

“I'm boasting of my… skills, and I would prefer to do it without interruption.”

Cassandra Clare book Clockwork Angel

Source: Clockwork Angel

“Yesterday when we went over the plan again and again, I never thought about Grandad showing up. Because I'm an idiot, basically--an idiot with poor planning skills. Of course he's here. Where else would he be?

Seriously, what else could go wrong?”

Holly Black book White Cat

Source: White Cat

“When a nation forgets her skill in war, when her religion becomes a mockery, when the whole nation becomes a nation of money-grabbers, then the wild tribes, the barbarians drive in… Who will our invaders be? From whence will they come?”

Robert E. Howard (1906–1936) American author

From a letter to Tevis Clyde Smith (July 1923)
Letters

Money, War, Religion, Forgetting

“If you don’t produce, you won’t thrive—no matter how skilled or talented you are.”

Cal Newport (1982) American computer scientist

Source: Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World

“The key to power, then, is the ability to judge who is best able to further your interests in all situations. Keep friends for friendship, but work with the skilled and competent.”

Robert Greene book The 48 Laws of Power

Source: The 48 Laws of Power

Friendship

“It warmed my heart that my children had the right priorities: their skills, their images, their views on YouTube.”

Rick Riordan book The Hidden Oracle

Source: The Hidden Oracle

Children, Heart

“Even so, I must admire your skill.
You are so gracefully insane.”

Anne Sexton (1928–1974) poet from the United States

"Elegy in the Classroom"
Referring to Robert Lowell
To Bedlam and Part Way Back (1960)
Variant: Even so, I must admire your skill.
You are so gracefully insane.

“The queen's guards might have been the best of the best, but Dimitri… well, my former lover and instructor was in a category all his own. His fighting skills were beyond anyone else's, and he was using them all in defense of me.”

Richelle Mead book Spirit Bound

Variant: ... but Dimitri... well, my former lover and instructor was in a category all his own. His fighting skills were beyond anyone else's, and he was using them all in defense of me.
"Stay back," he ordered me. "They aren't laying a hand on you.
Source: Spirit Bound

Lovers, Fight

“You replaced me with a shaved poodle?”

“He’s got mad skills.”

Derek’s eyebrows crept up.

“He can vomit and urinate at the same time and he doesn’t make fun of my car.”

Ilona Andrews American husband-and-wife novelist duo

Source: Magic Bleeds

Cars, Time, Madness

“acquisition of skills requires a regular environment, an adequate opportunity to practice, and rapid and unequivocal feedback about the correctness of thoughts and actions.”

Daniel Kahneman book Thinking, Fast and Slow

Source: Thinking, Fast and Slow

“As the eagle was killed by the arrow winged with his own feather, so the hand of the world is wounded by its own skill.”

Helen Keller (1880–1968) American author and political activist

World

“Few things are impossible to diligence and skill.”

Samuel Johnson book The History of Rasselas, Prince of Abissinia

Source: The History of Rasselas, Prince of Abissinia (1759), Chapter 12

“… where's the skill in being a hero if you were always destined to do it?”

China Miéville book Un Lun Dun

Source: Un Lun Dun

“Maybe getting around in life was nothing but map-reading. A skill that required practice. A key to unlock where you wanted to go. A legend to show where you were.”

Justina Chen (1968) American writer

Source: North of Beautiful

Life, Reading

“Sex, whatever else it is, is an athletic skill. The more you practice, the more you can, the more you want to, the more you enjoy it, the less it tires you.”

Robert A. Heinlein book The Cat Who Walks Through Walls

Source: The Cat Who Walks Through Walls

Sex

“people have character strength but they lack communication skills, and that undoubtedly affects the quality of relationships as well.”

Stephen R. Covey book The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People

Source: The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons in Personal Change

People, Communication

“Relational skills are the most important abilities in leadership.”

John C. Maxwell (1947) American author, speaker and pastor

Book Sometimes you win Sometimes you Learn
Variant: Responsibility is the most important ability that a person can possess.
Source: Developing the Leaders Around You: How to Help Others Reach Their Full Potential

“I should be doing my homework now. But the way I look at it, playing in the snow is a lot more important. Out here I'm learning real skills that I can apply throughout the rest of my life.

- Such as?

- Procrastination and rationalization.”

Bill Watterson Calvin and Hobbes

Source: Calvin and Hobbes

Life, Way, Learning

“I'm brilliant as well as skilled," he said modestly. "It's a great burden, all of that on top of my angelic good looks. But I try to soldier on as best I can.”

Jim Butcher Dead Beat

Source: Dead Beat

Angels

“I'd had years of practise looking dumb when people threw out Greek names I didn't know. It's a skill of mine. Annabeth keeps telling me to read a book of Greek myths, but I don't see the need. It's easier just to have folks explain stuff.”

Rick Riordan book The Demigod Diaries

Variant: Cacus.” I’d had years of practice looking dumb when people threw out Greek names I didn’t know. It’s a skill of mine. Annabeth keeps telling me to read a book of Greek myths, but I don’t see the need. It’s easier just to have folks explain stuff.
Source: The Demigod Diaries

People, Books, Reading

“We all have our different skills. You’re patient to a fault, which sometimes doesn’t work to your advantage. I, on the other hand, have the patience of a wet cat. Only on rare occasions does that come in handy.”

Mary E. Pearson book The Kiss of Deception

Source: The Kiss of Deception

Cats, Patience

“Attitude is more important than the past, than education, than money, than circumstances, than what people do or say. It is more important than appearance, giftedness, or skill.”

W.C. Fields (1880–1946) actor

Money, People, Education, Appearance

“Smart people believe weird things because they are skilled at defending beliefs they arrived at for non-smart reasons.”

Michael Shermer (1954) American science writer

People

“Cooking is 80 percent confidence, a skill best acquired starting from when the apron strings wrap around you twice.”

Barbara Kingsolver book Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life

Source: Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life

Confidence, Cooking

“It stands to reason that anyone who learns to live well will die well. The skills are the same: being present in the moment, and humble, and brave, and keeping a sense of humor. (361)”

Victoria Moran (1950) American writer

Source: Younger by the Day: 365 Ways to Rejuvenate Your Body and Revitalize Your Spirit

Sense, Learning

“She seemed glad to see me when I appeared in the kitchen, and by watching her I began to think there was some skill involved in being a girl.”

Harper Lee book To Kill a Mockingbird

Pt. 2, ch. 12
Jean Louise (Scout) Finch
Source: To Kill a Mockingbird (1962)

Girl, Thinking, Appearance

“Beauty, grace, and charm my foot. It's a school for sadists with good tea-serving skills.”

Libba Bray A Great and Terrible Beauty

Source: A Great and Terrible Beauty

School, Beauty, Tea

“Disgust with injustice may sharpen the desire for justice. Readers who don’t see this connection merely wish to be entertained, and I have neither skill nor desire to turn the agony of a people into entertainment.”

Ayi Kwei Armah book The Beautyful Ones Are Not Yet Born

Source: The Beautyful Ones Are Not Yet Born

People, Justice

“The future belongs to those who learn more skills and combine them in creative ways.”

Robert Greene book Mastery

Source: Mastery

Way, Learning, Future

“The love in his eyes was so powerful, I needed to look away. Seth had an amazing grasp of the English language, but there were days when that skill was nothing compared to what he told me in his looks.”

Richelle Mead (1976) American writer

Source: Succubus Dreams

Love

“Tis a well-known fact that a man is either skilled in matters of loving or matters of war. ’Tis obvious that fighting is your skill.”

Maya Banks (1964) Author

Source: In Bed with a Highlander

Love, War, Fight

“Downworld?" Tessa echoed, puzzled. "Is that a place in London?"

"Never mind that," said Will. "I'm boasting of my investigative skills, and I would prefer to do it without interruption.”

Cassandra Clare book Clockwork Angel

Source: Clockwork Angel

“I'm no good at anything. Not men. Not social skills. Not work. Nothing.”

Helen Fielding book Bridget Jones's Diary

Source: Bridget Jones's Diary

Men

“My whole life is about forgetting. It's my most valuable job skill.”

Chuck Palahniuk book Survivor

Source: Survivor

Life, Forgetting

“When you have to kill the same terrorist twice in one week, then there's either something wrong with your skills or something wrong with your world.
And there's nothing wrong with my skills.”

Jonathan Maberry (1958) writer

Source: Patient Zero

World

“I really am impressed that you have been shot so often. Really.”
“Getting hit’s not really that impressive,” Wayne noted. “It don’t take much skill to get shot. It’sthe bullets that’s tough.”

Brandon Sanderson (1975) American fantasy writer

Source: The Alloy of Law

“You've been busy using your breaking and entering skills," I said.
"I just enter. I don't usually break."
"You broke down Pitch's door."
"Lost my temper."

-Ranger and Stephanie”

Janet Evanovich book To the Nines

Source: To the Nines

Business

“Evil happens without effort, naturally, inevitably; good is always the product of skill.”

Charles Baudelaire Le Peintre de la vie moderne

Le mal se fait sans effort, naturellement, par fatalité; le bien est toujours le produit d'un art. <br class="br">XI: "Éloge du maquillage" http://fr.wikisource.org/wiki/%C3%89loge_du_maquillage <br class="br">Le peintre de la vie moderne (1863)

Nature, Effort, Evil

“Life is a thing to be lived, not spent; to be faced, not ordered. Life is not a game of chess, the victory to the most knowing; it is a game of cards, one's hand by skill to be made the best of.”

Jerome K. Jerome (1859–1927) English humorist

Source: Second Thoughts Of An Idle Fellow

Life, Game, Victory

“Lawyer – One skilled in the circumvention of the law.”

Ambrose Bierce (1842–1914) American editorialist, journalist, short story writer, fabulist, and satirist

Law

“No amount of skillful invention can replace the essential element of imagination.”

Edward Hopper (1882–1967) prominent American realist painter and printmaker

Imagination

“Horace normally didn't need anyone else to save his life. He was pretty skilled at doing it for himself.”

John Flanagan (1873–1938) Irish-American hammer thrower

Source: The Emperor of Nihon-Ja

Life

“We recruit for attitude and train for skill”

Atul Gawande (1965) American surgeon

Training

“We give all we have, lives, property, safety, skill… we fight, we die, for a simple thing. Only that a man can stand up.”

Esther Forbes book Johnny Tremain

Source: Johnny Tremain

Fight

“Waiting. Like it or not, it's a skill all spies have to master eventually.”

Ally Carter Out of Sight, Out of Time

Source: Out of Sight, Out of Time

Waiting

“As far as I could see, life demanded skills I didn’t have.”

Susanna Kaysen book Girl, Interrupted

Source: Girl, Interrupted (1994)

Life

“Please, sit down," Sharon said with another hair toss. I made a mental note to practice doing that in a mirror the next time I saw one. it seemed a useful skill, right up there with roundhouse kicks.”

James Patterson (1947) American author

Time

“I hate this shallow Americanism which hopes to get rich by credit, to get knowledge by raps on midnight tables, to learn the economy of the mind by phrenology, or skill without study, or mastery without apprenticeship.”

Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882) American philosopher, essayist, and poet

Hate, Hope, Knowledge, Study

“Be warned - Hammond does tend to be a bit optimistic about these kind of things. If the army were made up of one-legged mutes, he would praise their balance and their listening skills.”

Brandon Sanderson (1975) American fantasy writer

Source: The Final Empire

“Who is that?”
“Your replacement.”
“You replaced me with a shaved poodle?”
“He's got mad skills.”

Ilona Andrews American husband-and-wife novelist duo

Source: Magic Bleeds

Madness

“You have no idea how to comfort anyone, do you? (Astrid)
In case you haven’t noticed, princess, social skills aren’t my forte. Hell, you’re lucky I’m housebroke. (Zarek)”

Sherrilyn Kenyon book Dance with the Devil

Source: Dance with the Devil

Idea, Hell, Princess

“He’s very pretty. For a human.”
“He’s very broken,” said Magnus. “Like a lovely vase that someone has smashed. Only luck and skill can put it back together the way it was before.”

Cassandra Clare book Clockwork Prince

Source: Clockwork Prince

Love, Way

“He that wrestles with us strengthens our nerves and sharpens our skill. Our antagonist is our helper.”

Edmund Burke book Reflections on the Revolution in France

Volume iii, p. 453
Reflections on the Revolution in France (1790)
Context: Difficulty is a severe instructor, set over us by the supreme ordinance of a parental Guardian and Legislator, who knows us better than we know ourselves, as he loves us better too. Pater ipse colendi haud facilem esse viam voluit. He that wrestles with us strengthens our nerves, and sharpens our skill. Our antagonist is our helper.

“My negotiation skills are are on par with George Bush's reading ability. And just like Dubya, every time I've tried to put forth an effort, I am reminded that my only true strength lies in drinking.”

Chelsea Handler book Are You There, Vodka? It's Me, Chelsea

Source: Are You There, Vodka? It's Me, Chelsea

Drink, Effort, Time, Reading

Quotes about skill page 2

Quotes about skill
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