Talent

""Take therefore the talent from him." It is being taken away rapidly, and the shreds of it will very soon be all that is left. Your religious nature will finally become a virtually exterminated organ. The purpose you have at some future time to use your talent avails nothing. It is going from you, and, before you know it, will be utterly, irrevocably gone. My friends, there is not an hour to lose. Only with the greatest difficulty will you be able, now, to gather up yourself and open your closing gates to the entrance of God and His salvation."

"Talent is that which is in a man's power; genius is that in whose power a man is."

"I thought as a kid that talent was God-given, but it’s not. God gives you talent and you should use that talent with the real meaning of that word. I was stubborn. Maybe being young had something to do with it."

"Medium talent."

"Just how rare is mathematical talent? Many observers believe that such talent is indeed rare and that we now come close to discovering all of it. According to them we cannot markedly increase the number of Ph.D.'s in mathematics if we wish to maintain traditional standards — the native ability just isn't there. Others (and might be in this group) believe that many more people could create mathematics if they had the proper instruction. It would be pretty hard to devise a controlled experiment to answer this question."

"It is a very rare thing for a man of talent to succeed by his talent."

"Talent hits a target no one else can hit; Genius hits a target no one else can see. With people with only modest ability, modesty is mere honesty; but with those who possess great talent, it is hypocrisy."

"A man with talent eats, sweats, and cares for his children like any other. And if talent is a natural thing, remember that water is also, and fire, and wind; therefore flood and holocaust and hurricane are as natural as talent, and can consume and destroy you."

"Punitis ingeniis, gliscit auctoritas."

"Every one of us is born with some kind of talent. In early manhood or womanhood each individual begins to see a path, though perhaps dimly, that beckons to him or her. All of us have this leaning toward, or desire for doing ably, a certain kind of work, and only want an opportunity to prove our capacity in that direction. These hunches, these signs of one's natural trend, are usually right, and are not to be thrust aside without regret in later life."

"Magni est ingenii revocare mentem a sensibus, et cogitationem a consuetudine abducere."

"Occultæ musices nullus respectus."

"Ne forçons point notre talent; Nous ne ferions rien avec grâce: Jamais un lourdaud, quoi qu'il fasse, Ne saurait passer pour galant."

"The way to attain to larger gifts is to employ the gifts you have. Give Jesus the one talent, and then He may trust you with two. If you cannot speak glibly in a prayer-meeting, then stammer out your heart's thanks in the best fashion you can. It may be that your few broken words may accomplish more than another man's fluent harangues."

"Men of splendid talents are generally too quick, too volatile, too adventurous, and too unstable to be much relied on; whereas men of common abilities, in a regular, plodding routine of business, act with more regularity and greater certainty. Men of the best intellectual abilities are apt to strike off suddenly, like the tangent of a circle, and cannot be brought into their orbits by attraction or gravity — they often act with such eccentricity as to be lost in the vortex of their own reveries. Brilliant talents in general are like the ignes fatui; they excite wonder, but often mislead. They are not, however, without their use; like the fire from the flint, once produced, it may be converted, by solid, thinking men, to very salutary and noble purposes."

"The man that wrapped up his talent in the napkin and said, "Lo, there thou hast that is thine," was too sanguine. There was never an unused talent rolled up in a handkerchief yet, but when it was taken out and put into the scales, it was lighter than when it was committed to the keeping of the earth."

"Talent must be protected, especially if it's viewed as a threat. And what's more threatening to the status quo than a visionary?"

"Talent is like electricity. We don't understand electricity. We use it."

"Talent is always queer-tempered."

"Genius … means the transcendent capacity of taking trouble."

"To THINK BIG and to use our talent doesn't mean we don't have difficulties on the way. We will - we all do. How we view those problems determines how we end up."

"Anyone with a normal brain has the capacity to do almost anything, but when one has special gifts or talents (and everyone has) and takes advantage of and develops these talents – that person is likely to excel."

"Access to talented and creative people is to modern business what access to coal and iron ore was to steel-making."

"Es bildet ein Talent sich in der Stille,Sich ein Charakter in dem Strom der Welt.Talent develops in quiet places, character in the full current of human life."

"...but 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 and study; a constant process of honing. Talent is a dull knife that will cut nothing unless it is wielded with great force..."

"Talente ohne Tugend sind wie Sklaven ohne Herren: Sie können sich nicht gut benehmen und sind zu allem fähig."

"Das Talent weiß, was zu tun ist; der Takt weiß, wie es zu tun ist."

"Wo wir lieben, gedeiht auch unser Talent."

"Was ich an Ihnen besonders bewundere ist, dass Sie eine grosse Zahl junger Talente wie aus dem Boden gestampft haben. Das ist etwas ganz Eigenartiges. Sie müssen eine Gabe haben, die Geister Ihrer Hörer zu veredeln und zu aktivieren."

"So gehen oft große Talente durch Unglück zugrunde."

"Niemand, der nicht schreibt, weiß, wie fein es ist, zu schreiben. Früher habe ich immer bedauert, nicht gut zeichnen zu können, aber nun bin ich überglücklich, daß ich wenigstens schreiben kann. Und wenn ich nicht genug Talent habe, um Zeitungsartikel oder Bücher zu schreiben, gut, dann kann ich es immer noch für mich selbst tun."

"Jeder Mensch besitzt alle Talente, doch nur die hervorragendsten soll er ausbilden. Hier liegt aber der Grund, weshalb so viele hartnäckig ein unerreichbares Ziel verfolgen: sie haben das Gefühl, nicht ganz auf'm falschen Wege zu seyn."

"Gänsefüßchen benutzen zweierlei Arten von Schriftstellern: die ängstlichen und die ohne Talent. Erstere erschrecken vor der eigenen Courage und Originalität, die zweiten, die irgendein Wort in Gänsefüßchen setzen, wollen damit sagen: Sieh mal, Leser, was für ein originelles, kühnes und neues Wort ich gefunden habe!"

"Es bildet ein Talent sich in der Stille, ein Charakter in dem Strom der Welt."

"Die Unterhaltung als Talent existiert nur in Frankreich."

"Die Talente machen die Arbeit, und die Marktschreier bestimmen wo's lang geht."

"Die Menschheit ist in ihrer größten Vollkommenheit in der Rasse der Weißen. Die gelben Indianer [Inder] haben schon ein geringes Talent. Die Neger sind weit tiefer, und am tiefsten steht ein Theil der amerikanischen Völkerschaften."

"Die Kritik ist eine Steuer, die der Neid dem Talent auferlegt."

"Das Talent arbeitet, das Genie schafft."

"Bewunderung der Tugend ist Talent zur Tugend."