“ Talent is often to be envied, and genius very commonly to be pitied. ”
Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr., The Professor at the Breakfast-Table (1860). copy citation
| Author | Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr. |
|---|---|
| Source | The Professor at the Breakfast-Table |
| Topic | genius envy |
| Date | 1860 |
| Language | English |
| Reference | |
| Note | |
| Weblink | http://www.gutenberg.org/files/2665/2665-h/2665-h.htm |
Context
“What is a bee's architecture but an unobstructed divine thought?—what is a builder's approximative rule but an obstructed thought of the Creator, a mutilated and imperfect copy of some absolute rule Divine Wisdom has established, transmitted through a human soul as an image through clouded glass?
Talent is a very common family-trait; genius belongs rather to individuals;—just as you find one giant or one dwarf in a family, but rarely a whole brood of either. Talent is often to be envied, and genius very commonly to be pitied. It stands twice the chance of the other of dying in hospital, in jail, in debt, in bad repute. It is a perpetual insult to mediocrity; its every word is a trespass against somebody's vested ideas,—blasphemy against somebody's O'm, or intangible private truth.”
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