Talent - Quotes

A great deal of talent is lost to the world for want of a little courage. Every day sends to their graves obscure men whose timidity prevented them from making a first effort. - Sydney Smith

Any human anywhere will blossom in a hundred unexpected talents and capacities simply by being given the opportunity to do so. - Doris Lessing

All of us do not have equal talent, but all of us should have an equal opportunity to develop our talents. - John F Kennedy

At the core of every true talent there is an awareness of the difficulties inherent in any achievement, and the confidence that by persistence and patience something worthwhile will be realized. - Eric Hoffer

Because many talents are first identified and nurtured in childhood, it can be difficult to determine whether talent is innate, can be acquired through extensive practice or can only be acquired in the presence of the developing brain. - Francesca Happe & Uta Frith

Brevity is the sister of talent. - Anton Chekhov

But talent – if you don’t encourage it, if you don’t train it, it dies. It might run wild for a little while, but it will never mean anything. Like a wild horse. If you don’t tame it and teach it to run on track, to pace itself and bear a rider, it doesn’t matter how fast it is. It’s useless. - Elizabeth Hand

Concealed talent brings no reputation. - Desiderius Erasmus

Everyone has a talent. What is rare is the courage to follow the talent to the dark place where it leads. - Erica Jong

Genius, without talent, is a wild, and beautiful, and erratic meteor; talent, without genius, is a steady light, which lasts long, but never throws a flood of radiance upon earth or sky. - Unknown

Great talent finds happiness in execution. - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Hide not your talents. They for use were made. What’s a sundial in the shade. - Ben Franklin

However you make your living is where your talent lies. - Ernest Hemingway

I believe in talent. I know you're not supposed to believe in that any more because you're supposed to believe if you just work hard you can do anything. That's how you succeed, maybe. But talent is something you're born with. You cannot acquire it by working hard, and you cannot lose it by lying around either. - Fran Lebowitz

I have no special talents. I am only passionately curious. - Albert Einstein

I see the notion of talent as quite irrelevant. I see instead perseverance, application, industry, assiduity, will, will, will, desire, desire, desire. - Gordon Lish

If a man has talent and cannot use it, he has failed. If he has a talent and uses only half of it, he has partly failed. If he has a talent and learns somehow to use the whole of it, he has gloriously succeeded, and won a satisfaction and  a triumph few men ever know. - Thomas Wolfe

If we have a talent and cannot use it, we have failed. If we have a talent and use only half of it, we  have partly failed. If we have a talent and learn somehow to use all of it, we have gloriously succeeded, and won a satisfaction and a triumph few individuals ever know. - Thomas Wolfe

If you’re young and talented, it’s like you have wings. - Haruki Murakami

It always seemed to me a sort of clever stupidity only to have one sort of talent – almost like a carrier pigeon. - George Eliot

It is a great talent for a ruler to use the talents of men as though he possessed them. - Duke of Tsin

It takes little talent to see what is under one’s nose, but a good deal of it to know in what direction to point that organ. - W. H. Auden

Many times we take our talents for granted. We think because we can do something well, anyone can. Often that's not true. How can you tell when you're overlooking a skill or talent? Listen to what others say. Your strengths will capture the attention of others and draw them to you. On the other hand, when you're working in areas of weakness, few people will show interest. If others are continually praising you in a particular area, start developing it. - John C. Maxwell

Mediocrity knows nothing higher than itself, but talent instantly recognizes genius. - Arthur Conan Doyle

Men of genius are the worst possible models for men of talent. - Murray D. Edwards

More men fail through lack of purpose than lack of talent. - Billy Sunday

Never desert your own line of talent. Be what nature intended you for, and you will succeed. Each of us has some unique capabilities waiting for realization. - Sydney Smith

Not all of us have to possess earthshaking talent. Just common sense and love will do. - Myrtle Auvil

Not he deserves praise that has talents, but he that uses them. - Ivan Panin

Nothing in the world is more common than unsuccessful people with talent. - Unknown

Nothing is more inspiring than a person with seemingly mediocre talent rising against the odds to become a champion by way of hard work, effort, and perseverance toward their goals. - Zig Ziglar

People in their right minds never take pride in their talents. - Harper Lee

Sometimes, indeed, there is such a discrepancy between the genius and his human qualities that one has to ask oneself whether a little less talent might not have been better. - Carl Jung

Sure, the home-field is an advantage – but so is having a lot of talent. - Dan Marino

Talent hits a target no one else can hit. Genius hits a target no one else can see. - Arthur Schopenhauer

Talent is a dreadfully cheap commodity, cheaper than table salt. What separates the talented individual from the successful one is a lot of hard work. - Stephen King

Talent is a dull knife that will cut nothing unless it is wielded with great force. - Stephen King

Talent is a tenant in the house owned by genius. - Austin O’Malley

Talent is cheaper than table salt. What separates the talented individual from the successful one is a lot of hard work. - Stephen King

The luck of having talent is not enough; one must also have a talent for luck. - Hector Berlioz

Talent is never enough. With few exceptions the best players are the hardest workers. - Magic Johnson

Talent is never static. It's always growing or dying. - Stephen King

Talent is nothing but a prolonged period of attention and a shortened period of mental assimilation. - Konstantin Stanislavsky

Talent is often mistaken for genius, especially by the man who has it. - Evan Esar

Talent must be viewed as the most indispensable ingredient for success, but success also depends on how that talent is managed. - Allan Schweyer

Talent only gives an imperfect image – the broken glimmer of a countenance. But the features of Genius remain unruffled. - Robert Eldridge Aris Willmott

Talent, for talent's sake, is a bauble and a show. Talent working with joy in the cause of universal truth lifts the possessor to new power as a benefactor. - Ralph Waldo Emerson

Talents, to strike the eye of posterity, should be concentrated: rays powerless while they are scattered, burn in a point. - Robert Eldridge Aris Willmott

Thankfully, persistence is a great substitute for talent. - Steve Martin

The best way to get more talents is to improve the talents we have. - Edward Bickersteth 

The man who was born with a talent which he was meant to use finds his greatest happiness in using it. - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

The more talents you have, the greater is your responsibility to use them for your own benefit and those of mankind. - Unknown

The most eminent authority does not always have the right answer. No matter what the source of discouraging advice, pay no attention to it until you have given your talent a fair trial. - Henry N. Gerguson

The most valuable of all talents is that of never using two words when one will do. - Thomas Jeffeson

The person born with a talent they are meant to use will find their greatest happiness in using it. - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

The possession of superior talent creates more wishes than it gratifies. - Eliza Cook

The real tragedy of life is not in being limited to one talent, but in the failure to use that one talent. - Edgar W. Work

The talent of success is nothing more than doing what you can do well, and doing well whatever you do without thought of fame. If it comes at all it will come because it is deserved, not because it is sought after. - Henry Wadworth Longfellow

The world is always ready to receive talent with open arms; very often it does not know what to do with genius. Talent is a docile creature; it bows its head meekly while the world slips the collar over it; it backs into the shafts like a lamb. It draws its load cheerfully, and is patient of the bit and of the whip. But genius is always impatient of its harness; its wild blood makes it hard to train. - Oliver Wendell Holmes

There is no such thing as a great talent without great willpower. - Unknown

To do easily what is difficult for others is the mark of talent. - Henri-Frédéric Amiel

Unused talents gives you no advantage over someone who has no talent at all. - Mark Twain

Use what talents you possess: the woods would be very silent if no birds sang there except those that sang best. - Henry Van Dyke

We are told that talent creates its own opportunities. But it sometimes seems that intense desire creates not only its own opportunities but also its own talents. - Eric Hoffer

We each after a while have to become reconciled to what it is that our talents and appetites lead us to. - Tobias Wolff

We must despise no sort of talents: they all have their separate duties and uses, all the happiness of man for their object; they all improve, exalt, and gladden life. - Sydney Smith

Well-matured and well-disciplined talent is always sure of a market, provided it exerts itself; but it must not cower at home and expect to be sought for. - Washington Irving

When a man has displayed talent in some particular path, and left all competitors behind him in it, the world are too apt to give him credit for universality of genius, and to anticipate for him success in all that he undertakes. - Charles Caleb Colton

When you are able to set free the talents in others, you automatically set free some of your own in the process. - Unknown

With ordinary talent and extraordinary perseverance, all things are attainable. - Unknown

When your camels find no more nourishment, remove to a more fertile spot; and when your talents are not appreciated, seek another country. - Ibn Munir

Where your talents and the needs of the world cross, there lies your vocation. - Aristotle

While you have a talent, and time to use it, be diligent. - John Thornton

Work while you have the light. You are responsible for the talent that has been entrusted to you. - Henri Frederic Amiel

You have a unique talent and a unique way of expressing it. There is something that you can do better than anyone else in the whole world – and for every unique talent and unique expression of that talent, there are also unique needs. When these needs are matched with the creative expression of your talent, that is the spark that creates affluence. Expressing your talents to fulfil needs creates unlimited wealth and abundance. - Deepak Chopra