# Quote — David Brin, Kil’n People

> True brilliance has a well-known positive correlation with decency, much of the time—a fact the rest of us rely on, more than we ever know. The real world doesn’t roil with as many crazed artists, psychotic generals, dyspeptic writers, maniacal statesmen, insatiable tycoons, or mad scientists as you see in dramas.
>
> Still, the exceptions give genius its public image as a mixed blessing—vivid, dramatic, somewhat crazy, and more than a little dangerous. It helps promote the romantic notion, popular among borderline types, that you must be outrageous to be gifted. Insufferable to be remembered. Arrogant to be taken seriously.

- Author: [David Brin](https://www.leafyquotes.com/david-brin.md)
- Book: [Kil’n People](https://www.leafyquotes.com/david-brin/kiln-people.md)
- Page: 351
- Source: [Wikiquote](https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/David_Brin#Kiln_People_(2002)) ([CC BY-SA 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/))
- Quote page: https://www.leafyquotes.com/david-brin/kiln-people/true-brilliance-has

## More from this book

> Oh, there’s no high quite like getting the focused attention of powerful enemies. Nothing is better guaranteed to make you feel important in the world, which may be why conspiracy theories are so popular among frustrated underachievers.

p. 400 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/david-brin/kiln-people/oh-theres-no-high.md)

> Fortunately, there is a famous inverse relation between fanaticism and competence.

p. 64 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/david-brin/kiln-people/fortunately-there-is-a-famous.md)

> None of these problems resolved by the prescriptions of shamans and priests. Not by patronizing mystics or condescending monks.
>
> Technology. That’s what made things better! In fits and starts—and often horribly abused along the way—that’s where we found answers that were consistent, dependable, uncapricious. Answers that applied to lord and vassal alike. Answers that improved life across the board and never went away.

p. 467 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/david-brin/kiln-people/none-of-these.md)