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Genius quotes

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“To a great mind, nothing is little” Arthur Conan Doyle, “A Study in Scarlet” - 1887

“To be great is to be misunderstood.” Ralph Waldo Emerson, “Self-Reliance” - 1841

“Genius is an infinite capacity for taking pains.” W. Somerset Maugham, “Of Human Bondage” - 1915

“It may be that you are not yourself luminous, but you are a conductor of light. Some people without possessing genius have a remarkable power of stimulating it.” Arthur Conan Doyle, “The Hound of the Baskervilles” - 1902

“Yes: the public is wonderfully tolerant. It forgives everything except genius.” Oscar Wilde, “Intentions” - 1891

“Baby . . . I'm a genius but nobody knows it but me.” Charles Bukowski, “Factotum” - 1975

“A man of genius makes no mistakes. His errors are volitional and are the portals of discovery.” James Joyce, “Ulysses” - 1922

“Do you know how a man makes his way here? By brilliant genius or by skilful corruption. You must either cut your way through these masses of men like a cannon ball, or steal among them like a plague.” Honoré de Balzac, “Father Goriot” - 1835

“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.” Ralph Waldo Emerson, “Self-Reliance” - 1841

“In every work of genius we recognize our own rejected thoughts: they come back to us with a certain alienated majesty.” Ralph Waldo Emerson, “Self-Reliance” - 1841

“The unrecognized genius-that's an old story. Have you ever thought of a much worse one-the genius recognized too well?” Ayn Rand, “The Fountainhead” - 1943

“I have yet to see a genius or a hero who, if stuck with a burning match, would feel less pain than his undistinguished average brother.” Ayn Rand, “The Fountainhead” - 1943

“It takes people a long time to learn the difference between talent and genius, especially ambitious young men and women.” Louisa May Alcott, “Little Women” - 1868

“And then, again, the more distinctly a man knows, the more intelligent he is, the more pain he has; the man who is gifted with genius suffers most of all.” Arthur Schopenhauer, “The World as Will and Representation” - 1819

“Accordingly genius is an intellect which has become untrue to its destination.” Arthur Schopenhauer, “The World as Will and Representation” - 1819

“If we look to the answer as to why for so many years we achieved so much, prospered as no other people on Earth, it was because here in this land we unleashed the energy and individual genius of man to a greater extent than has ever been done before.” Ronald Reagan, “Inaugural Address” - 20 January 1981

“Our day in Toulouse with the Airbus A380 has since brought my mind back time and time again to Howard Hughes and that film and has made me realise just how slim the line is between genius and insanity and between determination and stubbornness.” Richard Branson, “Losing My Virginity” - 1998

“We have no need for genius—genius is dead. We have need for strong hands, for spirits who are willing to give up the ghost and put on flesh… ” Henry Miller, “Tropic of Cancer” - 1934

“And beauty is a form of genius—is higher, indeed, than genius, as it needs no explanation.” Oscar Wilde, “The Picture of Dorian Gray” - 1890

“They say that genius is an infinite capacity for taking pains . . . It’s a very bad definition, but it does apply to detective work.” Arthur Conan Doyle, “A Study in Scarlet” - 1887

“Genius is an exaggeration of dimension. So is elephantiasis. Both may be only a disease.” Ayn Rand, “The Fountainhead” - 1943

Related topics

pain misunderstanding youth mind truth knowledge success beauty spirit greatness corruption stubbornness disease insanity thoughts distinction individualism explanation light universality

Related authors

Ralph Waldo Emerson (3)
Arthur Conan Doyle (3)
Ayn Rand (3)
Oscar Wilde (2)
Arthur Schopenhauer (2)
James Joyce (1)
Louisa May Alcott (1)
Honoré de Balzac (1)
W. Somerset Maugham (1)
Ronald Reagan (1)
Charles Bukowski (1)
Richard Branson (1)
Henry Miller (1)

Related sources

Self-Reliance (3)
The Fountainhead (3)
A Study in Scarlet (2)
The World as Will and Representation (2)
The Picture of Dorian Gray (1)
The Hound of the Baskervilles (1)
Little Women (1)
Father Goriot (1)
Of Human Bondage (1)
Inaugural Address (1)
Losing My Virginity (1)
Tropic of Cancer (1)
Intentions (1)
Factotum (1)
Ulysses (1)