Quotes about talent page 3
“A woman of many talents. And intelligent, too. He'd probably have to kill her soon.”
Robin Hobb (1952) American fiction writer (pseudonym)
Ben Carson (1951) 17th and current United States Secretary of Housing and Urban Development; American neurosurgeon
“The gift of fantasy has meant more to me than my talent for absorbing positive knowledge.”
Albert Einstein (1879–1955) German-born physicist and founder of the theory of relativity
Masashi Kishimoto book Naruto
Source: Naruto, Vol. 19: Successor
Brian Tracy (1944) American motivational speaker and writer
Ken Robinson (1950) UK writer
TED Conference http://www.ted.com/talks/sir_ken_robinson_bring_on_the_revolution.html
“It is a happy talent to know how to play.”
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882) American philosopher, essayist, and poet
“I restore myself when I'm alone. A career is born in public — talent in privacy.”
Marilyn Monroe (1926–1962) American actress, model, and singer
As quoted in Ms. magazine (August 1972) p. 40
Variant: I restore myself when I'm alone. A career is born in public — talent in privacy.
“Talent is a long patience, and originality an effort of will and intense observation.”
Gustave Flaubert (1821–1880) French writer (1821–1880)
James Baldwin (1924–1987) (1924-1987) writer from the United States
which attitude certainly has a great deal to support it. On the other hand, it is only because the world looks on his talent with such a frightening indifference that the artist is compelled to make his talent important. So that any writer, looking back over even so short a span of time as I am here forced to assess, finds that the things which hurt him and the things which helped him cannot be divorced from each other; he could be helped in a certain way only because he was hurt in a certain way; and his help is simply to be enabled to move from one conundrum to the next — one is tempted to say that he moves from one disaster to the next.
Autobiographical Notes (1952)
“Unhappiness is best defined as the difference between our talents and our expectations.”
Edward de Bono (1933) Maltese physician
Quoted in Observer (London, June 12, 1977).
Marcus Buckingham (1966) British writer
Source: First, Break All the Rules: What the World's Greatest Managers Do Differently
“Thankfully, persistence is a great substitute for talent.”
Steve Martin (1945) American actor, comedian, musician, author, playwright, and producer
Source: Born Standing Up: A Comic's Life
“He has no talent at all, that boy! You, who are his friend, tell him please to give up painting.”
Edouard Manet (1832–1883) French painter
spoken to Claude Monet about Pierre-Auguste Renoir (1874), as quoted by John Rewald, The History of Impressionism, Vol.1 (1961).
1850 - 1875
Gregory Maguire book Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West
Source: Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West
“Talent does what it can: Genius does what it must.”
Edward Bulwer-Lytton (1803–1873) English novelist, poet, playwright, and politician
George Lois (1931) American art director, designer and author
Robert Benchley (1889–1945) American comedian
Quoted in Robert Benchley (1955) by Nathaniel Benchley, ch. 1
“You cannot fake effort; talent is great, but perseverance is necessary.”
Amy Bloom (1953) Fiction writer, screenwriter, social worker, psychotherapist
Norman Mailer (1923–2007) American novelist, journalist, essayist, playwright, film maker, actor and political candidate
Robert McKee (1941) American academic specialised in seminars for screenwriters
Source: Story: Substance, Structure, Style, and the Principles of Screenwriting
“Celebrity is the chastisement of merit and the punishment of talent.”
Emily Dickinson (1830–1886) American poet
Patrick Süskind (1949) German writer and screenwriter
Source: Perfume: The Story of a Murderer
Woody Allen (1935) American screenwriter, director, actor, comedian, author, playwright, and musician
Source: Woody Allen on Woody Allen
Paul Taylor (1923–2015) american philosopher, born 1923
Source: Private Domain: An Autobiography
“its not bad to be different. Sometimes it's the mark of being very very talented.”
Chris Van Allsburg (1949) US children's writer and illustrator
“Children's talent to endure stems from their ignorance of alternatives.”
Maya Angelou book I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings (1969), Ch. 17. ISBN 978-0-375-50789-2
Robert Hughes (1938–2012) Australian critic, historian, writer
"Modernism's Patriarch (Cezanne)", Time Magazine, June 10, 1996
Time Magazine (1996)
“The most valuable of all talents is that of never using two words when one will do.”
Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826) 3rd President of the United States of America
“Everyone has talent. What's rare is the courage to follow it to the dark places where it leads.”
Erica Jong (1942) Novelist, poet, memoirist, critic
Clive James (1939–2019) Australian author, critic, broadcaster, poet, translator and memoirist
'Congratulations!', on scams, frauds and hoaxes.
Television and radio, Radio 4: A Point of View
Nastassja Kinski (1961) German actress
On Roman Polanski, as quoted in Nastassja Kinski: June 2004 Interview with Tony Bray http://www.nastassja-kinski.jp/article/tvnow_jun04/index.html
Norman Mailer (1923–2007) American novelist, journalist, essayist, playwright, film maker, actor and political candidate
As quoted in The Sunday Herald http://web.archive.org/web/20071112125539/http://www.sundayherald.com/news/heraldnews/display.var.1824217.0.norman_mailer_1923_2007.php [Scotland] (11 November 2007)
Ruth Bader Ginsburg (1933) Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States
Writing for the court, United States v. Virginia, 518 U.S. 515 (1996)
Arthur Rubinstein (1887–1982) Polish-American classical pianist
Antonio de Almeida — reported in Paul Hume (July 28, 1981) "Odyssey Of a Conductor", The Washington Post, p. C4.
About
Hilary Bok (1959) American philosopher
"Now That's What I Call Toxic!," http://obsidianwings.blogs.com/obsidian_wings/2009/02/now-thats-what-i-call-toxic.html Obsidian Wings (2009-02-27)
Henry Temple, 3rd Viscount Palmerston (1784–1865) British politician
Speech http://hansard.millbanksystems.com/commons/1813/mar/01/mr-grattans-motion-for-a-committee-on in the House of Commons in favour of Catholic Emancipation (1 March 1813). <br class="br">1810s
Stewart Copeland (1952) American musician; drummer of The Police
From an interview published at JamBase.com http://www.JamBase.com
Debbie Reynolds (1932–2016) American actress, singer, and dancer
Post to Facebook (27 December 2016) https://www.facebook.com/thedebbiereynolds/posts/811585312313920
Anne Brontë book The Tenant of Wildfell Hall
Source: The Tenant of Wildfell Hall (1848), Ch. XXIII : First weeks of Matrimony; Helen to Arthur
“All you need is passion. If you have a passion for something, you'll create the talent.”
Yanni (1954) Greek pianist, keyboardist, composer, and music producer
Yanni in Words. Miramax Books. Co-author David Rensin
Marcus Buckingham (1966) British writer
Source: The One Thing You Need to Know (2005), p. 145
Jane Roberts (1929–1984) American Writer
Source: Adventures In Consciousness: An Introduction to Aspect Psychology (1975), pp.118-119
Donald J. Trump (1946) 45th President of the United States of America
2010s, 2016, July, This Week Interview (July 30, 2016)
Marianne von Werefkin (1860–1938) expressionist painter
Vol. 1: 'My beautiful One, My Unique!', pp. 130-140
1895 - 1905, Lettres à un Inconnu, 1901 – 1905; Museo Communale, Ascona
“In your choices lies your talent.”
Stella Adler (1901–1992) American actress and teaching coach
Quoted in Mark Ruffalo & James Lipton, "Stella Adler Technique" http://www.actingschoolsinlosangeles.us/stella-adler-technique/
“For neither talent without instruction nor instruction without talent can produce the perfect craftsman.”
Neque enim ingenium sine disciplina aut disciplina sine ingenio perfectum artificem potest efficere.
Vitruvius book De architectura
Neither natural ability without instruction nor instruction without natural ability can make the perfect artist.
Morris Hicky Morgan translation
Source: De architectura (The Ten Books On Architecture) (~ 15BC), Book I, Chapter I, Sec. 3; translation by Frank Granger
Confucius (-551–-479 BC) Chinese teacher, editor, politician, and philosopher
Source: The Analects, Chapter VI
Nicholas Sparks (1965) American writer and novelist
Ira Levinson, Chapter 28, p. 326-327
2009, The Longest Ride (2013)