{ "type": "topic", "site": { "name": "Leafy Quotes", "language": "en", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com" }, "formats": "Every page has two versions with the same data: JSON (the page address + .json) and markdown (the page address + .md). Append .json or .md to any `url` in this document.", "name": "talent", "slug": "talent", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/talent", "heading": "Quotes about talent", "json": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/talent.json", "markdown": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/talent.md", "quotes_count": 89, "authors_count": 66, "parent": null, "children": [ { "name": "genius", "slug": "genius", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/genius", "heading": "Quotes about genius" } ], "quotes": [ { "id": "df42a2cc-8d03-46b3-b504-87533294d62a", "slug": "genius-begins-beautiful", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert/genius-begins-beautiful", "text": "Genius begins beautiful works, but only labor finishes them.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Joseph Joubert", "slug": "joseph-joubert", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert" }, "book": { "title": "The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert", "slug": "the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "work", "slug": "work", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/work" }, { "name": "talent", "slug": "talent", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/talent" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Joseph_Joubert#The_Notebooks_of_Joseph_Joubert_(1883)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-26T07:49:37" }, { "id": "df53e67b-dab3-4765-8815-b3b7ac63fae4", "slug": "i-knew-that", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jean-jacques-rousseau/confessions/i-knew-that", "text": "I knew that my talent consisted entirely in a certain lively interest in the subjects which I had to treat, and that nothing but the love of the great, the true, and the beautiful, could enliven my genius.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Jean Jacques Rousseau", "slug": "jean-jacques-rousseau", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jean-jacques-rousseau" }, "book": { "title": "Confessions", "slug": "confessions", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jean-jacques-rousseau/confessions" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "beauty", "slug": "beauty", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/beauty" }, { "name": "talent", "slug": "talent", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/talent" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Confessions_(Rousseau)#Quotes", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-26T07:02:03" }, { "id": "eba9528d-5a85-45ea-af8a-90b8e22c572a", "slug": "but-talent-is-a-dreadfully", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/stephen-king/danse-macabre/but-talent-is-a-dreadfully", "text": "...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...", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Stephen King", "slug": "stephen-king", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/stephen-king" }, "book": { "title": "Danse Macabre", "slug": "danse-macabre", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/stephen-king/danse-macabre" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 92, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "work", "slug": "work", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/work" }, { "name": "talent", "slug": "talent", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/talent" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Danse_Macabre_(book)#Quotes", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T23:18:43" }, { "id": "da354242-53ae-4929-9504-e3a09319959a", "slug": "youre-one-of-those", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/patrick-suskind/perfume/youre-one-of-those", "text": "You're one of those people who know whether there is chervil or parsley in the soup at meal-time. That's fine, there's something to be said for that. But that doesn't make you a cook.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Patrick Süskind", "slug": "patrick-suskind", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/patrick-suskind" }, "book": { "title": "Perfume", "slug": "perfume", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/patrick-suskind/perfume" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "humor", "slug": "humor", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/humor" }, { "name": "talent", "slug": "talent", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/talent" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Patrick_S%C3%BCskind#Part_1", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T23:05:49" }, { "id": "03fa0ec6-7483-4442-a605-3890c8498c06", "slug": "whatever-the-art", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/patrick-suskind/perfume/whatever-the-art", "text": "Whatever the art or whatever the craft—and make a note of this before you go—talent means next to nothing, while experience, acquired in humility and with hard work, means everything.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Patrick Süskind", "slug": "patrick-suskind", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/patrick-suskind" }, "book": { "title": "Perfume", "slug": "perfume", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/patrick-suskind/perfume" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "humility", "slug": "humility", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/humility" }, { "name": "experience", "slug": "experience", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/experience" }, { "name": "talent", "slug": "talent", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/talent" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Patrick_S%C3%BCskind#Part_1", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T23:05:49" }, { "id": "98644658-3f06-48e0-8f48-7f7bf465e244", "slug": "most-people-who", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/m-scott-peck/the-road-less-travelled/most-people-who", "text": "Most people who seek psychotherapy are suffering from a sense of personal inadequacy. Yet there are always a few whose problem is just the opposite: they suffer because they cannot accept their greatness. Perhaps ten percent of my patients have had to come to terms not with their inferiority but with their superiority. To accept one's legitimate talents without guilt or fear is as much a responsibility as to accept one's faults.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "M. Scott Peck", "slug": "m-scott-peck", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/m-scott-peck" }, "book": { "title": "The Road Less Travelled", "slug": "the-road-less-travelled", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/m-scott-peck/the-road-less-travelled" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 63, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "talent", "slug": "talent", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/talent" }, { "name": "self-acceptance", "slug": "self-acceptance", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/self-acceptance" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/M._Scott_Peck#The_Road_Less_Travelled:_A_New_Psychology_of_Love,_Traditional_Values_and_Spiritual_Growth_(1978)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T23:05:41" }, { "id": "fa637161-0fe6-413a-aa63-4013283117a9", "slug": "skills-used-unselfishly", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-holdstock/mythago-wood/skills-used-unselfishly", "text": "Skills used unselfishly make for cooperation.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Robert Holdstock", "slug": "robert-holdstock", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-holdstock" }, "book": { "title": "Mythago Wood", "slug": "mythago-wood", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-holdstock/mythago-wood" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 148, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "talent", "slug": "talent", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/talent" }, { "name": "cooperation", "slug": "cooperation", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/cooperation" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Robert_Holdstock#Mythago_Wood_(1984)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T23:04:44" }, { "id": "27cea57a-606f-4577-97b0-ad191a8ea092", "slug": "the-most-important", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robin-wall-kimmerer/braiding-sweetgrass/the-most-important", "text": "The most important thing each of us can know is our unique gift and how to use it in the world. Individuality is cherished and nurtured, because, in order for the whole to flourish, each of us has to be strong in who we are and carry our gifts with conviction, so they can be shared with others.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Robin Wall Kimmerer", "slug": "robin-wall-kimmerer", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robin-wall-kimmerer" }, "book": { "title": "Braiding Sweetgrass", "slug": "braiding-sweetgrass", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robin-wall-kimmerer/braiding-sweetgrass" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 134, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" }, { "name": "talent", "slug": "talent", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/talent" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Robin_Wall_Kimmerer#Braiding_Sweetgrass_(2013)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T23:04:31" }, { "id": "a1014187-a728-4bfc-91cf-e7d0799207c3", "slug": "you-know-what", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/terry-pratchett/moving-pictures/you-know-what", "text": "\"You know what the greatest tragedy in the whole world is?\" said Ginger, not paying him the least attention. \"It's all the people who never find out what it is they really want to do or what it is they're really good at. It's all the sons who become blacksmiths because their fathers were blacksmiths. It's all the people who could be really fantastic flute players who grow old and die without ever seeing a musical instrument, so they become bad plowmen instead. It's all the people with talents who never even find out. Maybe they are never even born in a time when it's even possible to find out.\" (pp. 141-142)", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Terry Pratchett", "slug": "terry-pratchett", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/terry-pratchett" }, "book": { "title": "Moving Pictures", "slug": "moving-pictures", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/terry-pratchett/moving-pictures" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "talent", "slug": "talent", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/talent" }, { "name": "vocation", "slug": "vocation", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/vocation" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Moving_Pictures_(novel)#Quotes", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T23:04:15" }, { "id": "f1ec9914-76a5-4b90-b3d4-bbf7fbf175c7", "slug": "if-you-ever", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/austin-kleon/steal-like-an-artist/if-you-ever", "text": "If you ever find that you're the most talented person in the room, you need to find another room.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Austin Kleon", "slug": "austin-kleon", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/austin-kleon" }, "book": { "title": "Steal Like an Artist", "slug": "steal-like-an-artist", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/austin-kleon/steal-like-an-artist" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "talent", "slug": "talent", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/talent" }, { "name": "personal growth", "slug": "personal-growth", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/personal-growth" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Austin_Kleon#Steal_Like_an_Artist_(2012)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T23:03:59" }, { "id": "f5e441ba-7e4f-4caf-8c10-157183308607", "slug": "the-tragedy-of-the", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/pierce-brown/dark-age/the-tragedy-of-the", "text": "The tragedy of the gifted is the belief they are entitled to greatness, Lysander. As a human, you are entitled only to death.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Pierce Brown", "slug": "pierce-brown", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/pierce-brown" }, "book": { "title": "Dark Age", "slug": "dark-age", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/pierce-brown/dark-age" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "death", "slug": "death", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/death" }, { "name": "talent", "slug": "talent", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/talent" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Pierce_Brown#Dark_Age_(2019)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T23:01:00" }, { "id": "c3585a79-6240-48c4-9c5b-82379bf12d49", "slug": "you-know-the", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/pierce-brown/dark-age/you-know-the", "text": "\"You know the curse of this world?\" I ask, looking at the body the Carver made for me. \"The greatest gifts were given to the worst of us.\" \"Not realizing they are gifts is what makes them the worst,\" he replies.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Pierce Brown", "slug": "pierce-brown", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/pierce-brown" }, "book": { "title": "Dark Age", "slug": "dark-age", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/pierce-brown/dark-age" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "talent", "slug": "talent", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/talent" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Pierce_Brown#Dark_Age_(2019)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T23:01:00" }, { "id": "d4dab0bd-8cd3-4c1d-9657-08b59d8050f3", "slug": "the-key-to-maximizing", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/susan-cain/quiet/the-key-to-maximizing", "text": "The key to maximizing talents is to put yourself into the zone of stimulation that’s right for you.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Susan Cain", "slug": "susan-cain", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/susan-cain" }, "book": { "title": "Quiet", "slug": "quiet", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/susan-cain/quiet" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "talent", "slug": "talent", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/talent" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Susan_Cain#Quiet", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:58:32" }, { "id": "f2e03160-c435-494f-bfa0-fd9b46da12e0", "slug": "everyone-shines-given", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/susan-cain/quiet/everyone-shines-given", "text": "Everyone shines, given the right lighting. For some, it’s a Broadway spotlight, for others, a lamplit desk.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Susan Cain", "slug": "susan-cain", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/susan-cain" }, "book": { "title": "Quiet", "slug": "quiet", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/susan-cain/quiet" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "talent", "slug": "talent", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/talent" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Susan_Cain#Quiet", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:58:31" }, { "id": "b7dbb16e-d917-49c5-9cdf-965dc9cbea40", "slug": "we-have-a-two-tier", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/susan-cain/quiet/we-have-a-two-tier", "text": "We have a two-tier class system when it comes to personality style. To devalue introversion is a waste of talent, energy and happiness.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Susan Cain", "slug": "susan-cain", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/susan-cain" }, "book": { "title": "Quiet", "slug": "quiet", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/susan-cain/quiet" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "talent", "slug": "talent", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/talent" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Susan_Cain#Quiet", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:58:31" }, { "id": "33ad121a-7b16-4fe0-8384-985f271d2875", "slug": "it-might-seem", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/leonard-mlodinow/the-drunkards-walk/it-might-seem", "text": "It might seem daunting to think that effort and chance, as much as innate talent, are what counts. But I find it encouraging because, while our genetic makeup is out of our control, our degree of effort is up to us. And the effects of chance, too, can be controlled to the extent that by committing ourselves to repeated attempts, we can increase our odds of success.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Leonard Mlodinow", "slug": "leonard-mlodinow", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/leonard-mlodinow" }, "book": { "title": "The Drunkard's Walk", "slug": "the-drunkards-walk", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/leonard-mlodinow/the-drunkards-walk" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 162, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "chance", "slug": "chance", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/chance" }, { "name": "talent", "slug": "talent", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/talent" }, { "name": "effort", "slug": "effort", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/effort" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Leonard_Mlodinow#The_Drunkard's_Walk_(2008)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:58:26" }, { "id": "1f02a11e-1a18-409c-a6ef-893270a6b268", "slug": "for-the-first", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ernest-cline/ready-player-one/for-the-first", "text": "For the first time, I knew what is was to be a natural at something. To have a gift.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Ernest Cline", "slug": "ernest-cline", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ernest-cline" }, "book": { "title": "Ready Player One", "slug": "ready-player-one", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ernest-cline/ready-player-one" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "talent", "slug": "talent", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/talent" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Ready_Player_One#0006", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:58:10" }, { "id": "d1adad92-c53b-4144-8409-4403ba4b0738", "slug": "talent-is-not", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/chris-anderson/the-long-tail/talent-is-not", "text": "Talent is not universal but it is widely spread: Give enough people the capacity to create, and inevitably gems will emerge.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Chris Anderson", "slug": "chris-anderson", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/chris-anderson" }, "book": { "title": "The Long Tail", "slug": "the-long-tail", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/chris-anderson/the-long-tail" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 54, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "talent", "slug": "talent", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/talent" }, { "name": "creativity", "slug": "creativity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/creativity" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Chris_Anderson_(writer)#The_Long_Tail:_Why_the_Future_of_Business_Is_Selling_Less_of_More_(2006)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:57:17" }, { "id": "9cbcf5b7-5250-4db3-9c49-fb74cba7ad1a", "slug": "i-wouldnt-call", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ronnie-drew/ronnie/i-wouldnt-call", "text": "I wouldn't call myself an actor or a singer for that matter, just a journeyman. [...] I feel I must have a talent somewhere for doing something but I'm still not terribly sure what it is. I suppose it's a talent for being myself.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Ronnie Drew", "slug": "ronnie-drew", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ronnie-drew" }, "book": { "title": "Ronnie", "slug": "ronnie", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ronnie-drew/ronnie" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 196, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "talent", "slug": "talent", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/talent" }, { "name": "authenticity", "slug": "authenticity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/authenticity" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Ronnie_Drew#Ronnie_(2008,_posthumous)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:56:14" }, { "id": "2b1ba984-44ae-4d49-98d3-ddad04f1cca7", "slug": "craftsmanship-isnt-like", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/lloyd-alexander/taran-wanderer/craftsmanship-isnt-like", "text": "Craftsmanship isn’t like water in an earthen pot, to be taken out by the dipperful until it’s empty. No, the more drawn out the more remains.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Lloyd Alexander", "slug": "lloyd-alexander", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/lloyd-alexander" }, "book": { "title": "Taran Wanderer", "slug": "taran-wanderer", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/lloyd-alexander/taran-wanderer" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "work", "slug": "work", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/work" }, { "name": "talent", "slug": "talent", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/talent" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Lloyd_Alexander#Book_IV:_Taran_Wanderer_(1967)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:56:07" }, { "id": "0e67582b-6827-454f-baa0-99db78d39030", "slug": "as-instanced-by-virgil", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-barth/final-fridays/as-instanced-by-virgil", "text": "As instanced by Virgil and Dante, the vocation of artisthood bears some analogy to those of mythic-herohood and messiahship—conspicuously so for the Romantics and the great early Modernists, with their characteristic conception of the artist as hero (one recalls James Joyce's Stephen Dedalus, originally named Stephen Hero, vowing to \"forge, in the smithy of my soul, the uncreated conscience of my race\"), more modestly so even for Postmoderns. In at least some cases, the present author's included, one's apprentice sense of calling may be far from clear. even to oneself. … One may be uncertain of both one's vocation and one's talent for it, or confident of one of those but not the other, or confident of both but mistaken, or doubtful of both but mistaken, or correct on one or both counts. In the happiest case, one comes to have reasonable faith in both calling and gift and at least some \"objective\" confirmation that that faith is not altogether misplaced. But \"real, non-scripted life\" is slippery terrain, in which templates and prophecies are ill-defined, elastic, arguable, and verdicts are forever subject to reversal. One crosses one's fingers, invokes one's muse and does one's best.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "John Barth", "slug": "john-barth", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-barth" }, "book": { "title": "Final Fridays", "slug": "final-fridays", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-barth/final-fridays" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 306, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "art", "slug": "art", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/art" }, { "name": "talent", "slug": "talent", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/talent" }, { "name": "vocation", "slug": "vocation", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/vocation" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/John_Barth#Final_Fridays_(2012)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:56:04" }, { "id": "34c5e1f3-3fe9-4e1a-8f21-94beeec97f39", "slug": "you-cannot-plant", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/chinua-achebe/no-longer-at-ease/you-cannot-plant", "text": "You cannot plant greatness as you plant yams or maize. Who ever planted an iroko tree — the greatest tree in the forest? You may collect all the iroko seeds in the world, open the soil and put them there. It will be in vain. The great tree chooses where to grow and we find it there, so it is with the greatness in men.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Chinua Achebe", "slug": "chinua-achebe", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/chinua-achebe" }, "book": { "title": "No Longer at Ease", "slug": "no-longer-at-ease", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/chinua-achebe/no-longer-at-ease" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 57, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "talent", "slug": "talent", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/talent" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Chinua_Achebe#No_Longer_at_Ease_(1960)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:55:54" }, { "id": "a9c12da8-884d-4829-bd5c-9c1f4e27c3c2", "slug": "be-good-at-something", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/randy-pausch/the-last-lecture/be-good-at-something", "text": "Be good at something. It makes you valuable.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Randy Pausch", "slug": "randy-pausch", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/randy-pausch" }, "book": { "title": "The Last Lecture", "slug": "the-last-lecture", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/randy-pausch/the-last-lecture" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "talent", "slug": "talent", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/talent" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Randy_Pausch#The_Last_Lecture_(2007)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:55:46" }, { "id": "4ed7a32f-c48e-4670-bea3-2804e92e87ee", "slug": "when-you-do-something", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/randy-pausch/the-last-lecture/when-you-do-something", "text": "When you do something young enough and you train for it, it just becomes a part of you.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Randy Pausch", "slug": "randy-pausch", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/randy-pausch" }, "book": { "title": "The Last Lecture", "slug": "the-last-lecture", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/randy-pausch/the-last-lecture" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "youth", "slug": "youth", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/youth" }, { "name": "talent", "slug": "talent", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/talent" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Randy_Pausch#The_Last_Lecture_(2007)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:55:46" }, { "id": "38d4e29d-55c2-4e6e-bc68-ccff66efbdf7", "slug": "talent-was-not", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/neal-stephenson/quicksilver/talent-was-not", "text": "\"Talent was not rare; the ability to survive having it was.\"", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Neal Stephenson", "slug": "neal-stephenson", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/neal-stephenson" }, "book": { "title": "Quicksilver", "slug": "quicksilver", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/neal-stephenson/quicksilver" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "talent", "slug": "talent", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/talent" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/The_Baroque_Cycle#Book_One:_Quicksilver", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:55:31" }, { "id": "2f7bc32b-2a46-4dbc-8953-3837b80ab06a", "slug": "skills-can-be-taught", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/anthony-bourdain/kitchen-confidential/skills-can-be-taught", "text": "Skills can be taught. Character you either have or you don't have.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Anthony Bourdain", "slug": "anthony-bourdain", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/anthony-bourdain" }, "book": { "title": "Kitchen Confidential", "slug": "kitchen-confidential", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/anthony-bourdain/kitchen-confidential" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "character", "slug": "character", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/character" }, { "name": "talent", "slug": "talent", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/talent" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Anthony_Bourdain#Kitchen_Confidential_(2000)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:55:10" }, { "id": "0fa8d37a-72dc-484b-ae89-cea8a77f125d", "slug": "abilities-wither-under", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/dale-carnegie/how-to-win-friends-and-influence-people/abilities-wither-under", "text": "Abilities wither under criticism, they blossom under encouragement.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Dale Carnegie", "slug": "dale-carnegie", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/dale-carnegie" }, "book": { "title": "How to Win Friends and Influence People", "slug": "how-to-win-friends-and-influence-people", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/dale-carnegie/how-to-win-friends-and-influence-people" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 220, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "criticism", "slug": "criticism", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/criticism" }, { "name": "talent", "slug": "talent", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/talent" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Dale_Carnegie#How_to_Win_Friends_and_Influence_People_(1936)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:55:09" }, { "id": "72668637-dca8-4bce-989d-5d8ff245e179", "slug": "a-society-that", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/damon-knight/a-for-anything/a-society-that", "text": "A society that put more emphasis on birth than ability was likely to breed ability out of its ruling class.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Damon Knight", "slug": "damon-knight", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/damon-knight" }, "book": { "title": "A for Anything", "slug": "a-for-anything", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/damon-knight/a-for-anything" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 190, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "talent", "slug": "talent", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/talent" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Damon_Knight#A_for_Anything_(1959)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:55:06" }, { "id": "9a123256-3c34-40d2-9fa1-a855cfd66036", "slug": "of-him-to-whom", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/anne-bronte/the-tenant-of-wildfell-hall/of-him-to-whom", "text": "Of him to whom less is given, less will be required, but our utmost exertions are required of us all.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Anne Brontë", "slug": "anne-bronte", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/anne-bronte" }, "book": { "title": "The Tenant of Wildfell Hall", "slug": "the-tenant-of-wildfell-hall", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/anne-bronte/the-tenant-of-wildfell-hall" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "talent", "slug": "talent", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/talent" }, { "name": "duty", "slug": "duty", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/duty" }, { "name": "effort", "slug": "effort", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/effort" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Anne_Bront%C3%AB#The_Tenant_of_Wildfell_Hall_(1848)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:54:28" }, { "id": "05405c65-c4a0-4f14-9096-acb3f33a0f23", "slug": "all-our-talents", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/anne-bronte/the-tenant-of-wildfell-hall/all-our-talents", "text": "All our talents increase in the using, and every faculty, both good and bad, strengthens by exercise: therefore, if you choose to use the bad, or those which tend to evil, till they become your masters, and neglect the good till they dwindle away, you have only yourself to blame.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Anne Brontë", "slug": "anne-bronte", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/anne-bronte" }, "book": { "title": "The Tenant of Wildfell Hall", "slug": "the-tenant-of-wildfell-hall", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/anne-bronte/the-tenant-of-wildfell-hall" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "responsibility", "slug": "responsibility", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/responsibility" }, { "name": "talent", "slug": "talent", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/talent" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Anne_Bront%C3%AB#The_Tenant_of_Wildfell_Hall_(1848)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:54:28" }, { "id": "dd89f913-fd22-472b-8baf-7a54f012e311", "slug": "such-humble-talents", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/anne-bronte/the-tenant-of-wildfell-hall/such-humble-talents", "text": "Such humble talents as God had given me I will endeavour to put to their greatest use; if I am able to amuse I will try to benefit too; and when I feel it my duty to speak an unpalatable truth, with the help of God, I will speak it, though it be to the prejudice of my name and to the detriment of my readers immediate pleasure as well as my own.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Anne Brontë", "slug": "anne-bronte", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/anne-bronte" }, "book": { "title": "The Tenant of Wildfell Hall", "slug": "the-tenant-of-wildfell-hall", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/anne-bronte/the-tenant-of-wildfell-hall" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "truth", "slug": "truth", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/truth" }, { "name": "writing", "slug": "writing", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/writing" }, { "name": "talent", "slug": "talent", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/talent" }, { "name": "duty", "slug": "duty", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/duty" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Anne_Bront%C3%AB#The_Tenant_of_Wildfell_Hall_(1848)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:54:27" }, { "id": "2dc90602-28bc-4871-8895-690930c0663e", "slug": "do-you-see", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ivan-turgenev/rudin/do-you-see", "text": "Do you see that apple tree? It is broken by the weight and abundance of its own fruit. True emblem of a genius.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Ivan Turgenev", "slug": "ivan-turgenev", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ivan-turgenev" }, "book": { "title": "Rudin", "slug": "rudin", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ivan-turgenev/rudin" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "talent", "slug": "talent", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/talent" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Ivan_Turgenev#Rudin_(1856)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:53:58" }, { "id": "0225806f-996f-4d07-bad0-831aad9ab097", "slug": "eccentricities-of-genius", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/charles-dickens/the-pickwick-papers/eccentricities-of-genius", "text": "\"Eccentricities of genius, Sam,\" said Mr. Pickwick. \"You may retire.\"", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Charles Dickens", "slug": "charles-dickens", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/charles-dickens" }, "book": { "title": "The Pickwick Papers", "slug": "the-pickwick-papers", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/charles-dickens/the-pickwick-papers" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "humor", "slug": "humor", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/humor" }, { "name": "talent", "slug": "talent", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/talent" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/The_Pickwick_Papers#Quotes", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:53:42" }, { "id": "e2d63a30-d401-4d6e-ada4-d62294f2fd59", "slug": "in-one-african", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/marie-louise-von-franz/creation-myths/in-one-african", "text": "In one African myth the word for God is even identical with skill and capacity. The Godhead is defined as that thing which appears in man as the mystery of an unusual skill or capacity. It is something divine, a spark of the divinity in him, not his own possession or achievement, but a miracle.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Marie-Louise von Franz", "slug": "marie-louise-von-franz", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/marie-louise-von-franz" }, "book": { "title": "Creation Myths", "slug": "creation-myths", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/marie-louise-von-franz/creation-myths" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 140, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "god", "slug": "god", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/god" }, { "name": "talent", "slug": "talent", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/talent" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Marie-Louise_von_Franz#Deus_Faber", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:53:06" }, { "id": "53a09be5-e6e6-437f-aeed-96a8ed54a6be", "slug": "cooking-is-revelation", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/simone-de-beauvoir/the-second-sex/cooking-is-revelation", "text": "Cooking is revelation and creation; and a woman can find special satisfaction in a successful cake or a flaky pastry, for not every one can do it: one must have the gift.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Simone de Beauvoir", "slug": "simone-de-beauvoir", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/simone-de-beauvoir" }, "book": { "title": "The Second Sex", "slug": "the-second-sex", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/simone-de-beauvoir/the-second-sex" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 506, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "women", "slug": "women", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/women" }, { "name": "talent", "slug": "talent", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/talent" }, { "name": "food", "slug": "food", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/food" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Simone_de_Beauvoir#The_Second_Sex_(1949)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:52:51" }, { "id": "4eb10e47-f40f-441a-8fb1-c3e7ab2cc041", "slug": "one-is-not", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/simone-de-beauvoir/the-second-sex/one-is-not", "text": "One is not born a genius, one becomes a genius; and the feminine situation has up to the present rendered this becoming practically impossible.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Simone de Beauvoir", "slug": "simone-de-beauvoir", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/simone-de-beauvoir" }, "book": { "title": "The Second Sex", "slug": "the-second-sex", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/simone-de-beauvoir/the-second-sex" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 133, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "women", "slug": "women", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/women" }, { "name": "talent", "slug": "talent", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/talent" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Simone_de_Beauvoir#The_Second_Sex_(1949)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:52:51" }, { "id": "4eaba62a-9d5f-4e9c-9bfd-e95a2bcf302c", "slug": "we-grow-up-thinking", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/richard-rodriguez/brown/we-grow-up-thinking", "text": "We grow up thinking that the beautiful and the talented have been born that way, because they are born rich. The boys in the college gym with fine, muscular bodies—I thought they were athletes because of their bodies, not that their bodies were muscular because they were athletes. I thought I was the only one in the world who had to try so hard to become.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Richard Rodriguez", "slug": "richard-rodriguez", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/richard-rodriguez" }, "book": { "title": "Brown", "slug": "brown", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/richard-rodriguez/brown" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "beauty", "slug": "beauty", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/beauty" }, { "name": "wealth", "slug": "wealth", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/wealth" }, { "name": "talent", "slug": "talent", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/talent" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Richard_Rodriguez#Brown_:_The_Last_Discovery_of_America_(2003)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:52:47" }, { "id": "dfeaddbc-ac13-4abf-aafc-1e91d8fa4713", "slug": "eventually-it-comes", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/lorraine-hansberry/to-be-young-gifted-and-black/eventually-it-comes", "text": "Eventually it comes to you: the thing that makes you exceptional, if you are at all, is inevitably that which must also make you lonely.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Lorraine Hansberry", "slug": "lorraine-hansberry", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/lorraine-hansberry" }, "book": { "title": "To Be Young, Gifted and Black", "slug": "to-be-young-gifted-and-black", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/lorraine-hansberry/to-be-young-gifted-and-black" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 137, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "loneliness", "slug": "loneliness", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/loneliness" }, { "name": "talent", "slug": "talent", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/talent" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Lorraine_Hansberry#To_Be_Young,_Gifted_and_Black_(1969)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:51:15" }, { "id": "9efbec0b-87ea-4781-93e6-234a24841a83", "slug": "i-am-personally", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/noam-chomsky/the-chomsky-reader/i-am-personally", "text": "I am personally quite convinced that no matter what training or education I might have received, I could never have run a four-minute mile, discovered Gödel's theorems, composed a Beethoven quartet, or risen to any of other innumerable heights of human achievement. I feel in no way demeaned by these inadequacies. It is quite enough that I am capable, as I think any person of normal endowments probably is, of appreciating and in part understanding what others have accomplished, while making my own personal contributions in whatever measure and manner I am able to do so. Human talents vary considerably, within a fixed framework that is characteristic of the species and that permits ample scope for creative work, including the creative work of appreciating the achievements of others. This should be a matter for delight rather than a condition to be abhorred. Those who assume otherwise must be adopting the tacit premise that people's rights or social reward are somehow contingent on their abilities. As for human rights, there is an element of plausibility in this assumption in the single respect already noted: in a decent society, opportunities should conform as far as possible to personal needs, and such needs may be specialized and related to particular talents and capacities. My pleasure in life is enhanced by the fact that others can do many things that I cannot, and I see no reason to want to deny these people the opportunity to cultivate their talents, consistent with general social needs. Difficult questions of practice are sure to arise in any functioning social group, but I see no problem of principle.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Noam Chomsky", "slug": "noam-chomsky", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/noam-chomsky" }, "book": { "title": "The Chomsky Reader", "slug": "the-chomsky-reader", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/noam-chomsky/the-chomsky-reader" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 198, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "equality", "slug": "equality", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/equality" }, { "name": "talent", "slug": "talent", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/talent" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/The_Chomsky_Reader#Quotes", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:50:47" }, { "id": "41f0d7cf-0e52-4dde-93b8-668e9e3537b0", "slug": "i-was-not", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-fowles/daniel-martin/i-was-not", "text": "I was not a poet. I felt no consolation in this knowledge, but only a red anger that evolution could allow such sensitivity and such inadequacy to coexist in the same mind. In one ego, my ego, screaming like a hare caught in a gin.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "John Fowles", "slug": "john-fowles", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-fowles" }, "book": { "title": "Daniel Martin", "slug": "daniel-martin", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-fowles/daniel-martin" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "poetry", "slug": "poetry", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/poetry" }, { "name": "talent", "slug": "talent", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/talent" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/John_Fowles#Daniel_Martin_(1977)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:48:31" }, { "id": "f0c9ca53-f608-4c5a-abaa-d9316cbcd4d8", "slug": "childrens-lies-are", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/gabriel-garcia-marquez/living-to-tell-the-tale/childrens-lies-are", "text": "Children's lies are signs of great talent.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Gabriel García Márquez", "slug": "gabriel-garcia-marquez", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/gabriel-garcia-marquez" }, "book": { "title": "Living to Tell the Tale", "slug": "living-to-tell-the-tale", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/gabriel-garcia-marquez/living-to-tell-the-tale" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "lies", "slug": "lies", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/lies" }, { "name": "children", "slug": "children", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/children" }, { "name": "talent", "slug": "talent", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/talent" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Gabriel_Garc%C3%ADa_M%C3%A1rquez#Living_to_Tell_the_Tale_(2002)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:47:53" }, { "id": "cc3aa8d1-c342-4f73-8848-c94f50f4376a", "slug": "people-in-their", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/harper-lee/to-kill-a-mockingbird/people-in-their", "text": "People in their right minds never take pride in their talents.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Harper Lee", "slug": "harper-lee", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/harper-lee" }, "book": { "title": "To Kill a Mockingbird", "slug": "to-kill-a-mockingbird", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/harper-lee/to-kill-a-mockingbird" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "pride", "slug": "pride", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/pride" }, { "name": "talent", "slug": "talent", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/talent" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Harper_Lee#To_Kill_a_Mockingbird_(1962)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:47:35" }, { "id": "e23463fb-a586-436f-99ac-73861b8da02a", "slug": "its-easy-to-run", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ayn-rand/the-fountainhead/its-easy-to-run", "text": "\"It's easy to run to others. It's so hard to stand on one's own record. You can fake virtue for an audience. You can't fake it in your own eyes. Your ego is your strictest judge. They run from it. They spend their lives running. It's easier to donate a few thousand to charity and think oneself noble than to base self-respect on personal standards of personal achievement. It's simple to seek substitutes for competence—such easy substitutes; love, charm, kindness, charity. But there is no substitute for competence.\"", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Ayn Rand", "slug": "ayn-rand", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ayn-rand" }, "book": { "title": "The Fountainhead", "slug": "the-fountainhead", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ayn-rand/the-fountainhead" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 658, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "talent", "slug": "talent", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/talent" }, { "name": "self-esteem", "slug": "self-esteem", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/self-esteem" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/The_Fountainhead#Part_IV_(_Howard_Roark_)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:47:09" }, { "id": "d19edc9f-24e1-47d1-8859-da71cafd8f26", "slug": "if-you-have", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/paracelsus/paracelsus/if-you-have", "text": "If you have been given a talent, exercise it freely and happily like the sun: give everyone from your splendour.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Paracelsus", "slug": "paracelsus", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/paracelsus" }, "book": { "title": "Paracelsus", "slug": "paracelsus", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/paracelsus/paracelsus" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "talent", "slug": "talent", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/talent" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Paracelsus#Paracelsus_-_Doctor_of_our_Time_(1992)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:47:07" }, { "id": "b487eac1-8609-4ccf-873c-54f9052eca6e", "slug": "thats-wrong-she", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/haruki-murakami/hard-boiled-wonderland-and-the-end-of-the-world/thats-wrong-she", "text": "“That's wrong,\" she declared. \"Everyone must have one thing that they can excel at. It's just a matter of drawing it out, isn't it? But school doesn't know how to draw it out. It crushes the gift. It's no wonder most people never get to be what they want to be. They just get ground down.”", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Haruki Murakami", "slug": "haruki-murakami", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/haruki-murakami" }, "book": { "title": "Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World", "slug": "hard-boiled-wonderland-and-the-end-of-the-world", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/haruki-murakami/hard-boiled-wonderland-and-the-end-of-the-world" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "education", "slug": "education", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/education" }, { "name": "talent", "slug": "talent", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/talent" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Haruki_Murakami#Hard-Boiled_Wonderland_and_the_End_of_the_World_(1985)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:47:01" }, { "id": "b65a618d-502c-4afd-b540-254ddb183c98", "slug": "talent-and-genius", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/carl-von-clausewitz/on-war/talent-and-genius", "text": "...talent and genius operate outside the rules, and theory conflicts with practice.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Carl von Clausewitz", "slug": "carl-von-clausewitz", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/carl-von-clausewitz" }, "book": { "title": "On War", "slug": "on-war", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/carl-von-clausewitz/on-war" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "talent", "slug": "talent", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/talent" }, { "name": "genius", "slug": "genius", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/genius" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Carl_von_Clausewitz#Book_2", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:45:37" }, { "id": "28ccfa93-3f4c-46f4-8a17-f714a4a6d7f9", "slug": "any-complex-activity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/carl-von-clausewitz/on-war/any-complex-activity", "text": "Any complex activity, if it is to be carried on with any degree of virtuosity, calls for appropriate gifts of intellect and temperament. If they are outstanding and reveal themselves in exceptional achievements, their possessor is called a 'genius'.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Carl von Clausewitz", "slug": "carl-von-clausewitz", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/carl-von-clausewitz" }, "book": { "title": "On War", "slug": "on-war", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/carl-von-clausewitz/on-war" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "talent", "slug": "talent", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/talent" }, { "name": "genius", "slug": "genius", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/genius" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Carl_von_Clausewitz#(no_chapter_info)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:45:37" }, { "id": "b0c91e52-5b7b-4494-8c44-ccb29646452e", "slug": "strength-is-not", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert/strength-is-not", "text": "Strength is not energy. Some writers have more muscles than talent.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Joseph Joubert", "slug": "joseph-joubert", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert" }, "book": { "title": "The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert", "slug": "the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "talent", "slug": "talent", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/talent" }, { "name": "writers", "slug": "writers", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/writers" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Joseph_Joubert#The_Notebooks_of_Joseph_Joubert_(1883)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:45:09" }, { "id": "f0cbdd5c-b5b8-4540-abf6-fbcc31e92ef4", "slug": "when-you-write", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert/when-you-write", "text": "When you write easily, you always think you have more talent than you really do.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Joseph Joubert", "slug": "joseph-joubert", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert" }, "book": { "title": "The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert", "slug": "the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "writing", "slug": "writing", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/writing" }, { "name": "talent", "slug": "talent", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/talent" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Joseph_Joubert#The_Notebooks_of_Joseph_Joubert_(1883)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:45:07" }, { "id": "12b5b688-fbcf-42a3-a654-61b80305d035", "slug": "does-talent-have", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert/does-talent-have", "text": "Does talent have any need of passions? Yes, of many passions — repressed.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Joseph Joubert", "slug": "joseph-joubert", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert" }, "book": { "title": "The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert", "slug": "the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "passion", "slug": "passion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/passion" }, { "name": "talent", "slug": "talent", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/talent" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Joseph_Joubert#The_Notebooks_of_Joseph_Joubert_(1883)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:45:07" }, { "id": "475e4ccb-b0c1-4b21-921f-0d8c32cb75a1", "slug": "they-boo-you", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/philip-roth/the-facts/they-boo-you", "text": "They boo you, they whistle, they stamp their feet — you hate it but you thrive on it. Because the things that wear you down are the things that nurture you and your talent.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Philip Roth", "slug": "philip-roth", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/philip-roth" }, "book": { "title": "The Facts", "slug": "the-facts", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/philip-roth/the-facts" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "criticism", "slug": "criticism", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/criticism" }, { "name": "talent", "slug": "talent", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/talent" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Philip_Roth#The_Facts:_A_Novelist's_Autobiography_(1988)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:44:08" }, { "id": "34b7e86c-fe8f-4990-913c-8b30b74aa876", "slug": "remember-my-dear", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jack-vance/wyst-alastor-1716/remember-my-dear", "text": "“Remember, my dear, Jantiff isn’t an egalist like the rest of us; he wants to do something quite extraordinary and individualistic.” “Yes, partly that,” said Jantiff, wishing that he had never ventured an opinion. “But it’s more like this: here I am, born into life with certain capabilities. If I don’t use these capabilities and achieve my utmost then I’m cheating myself, and living a soiled life. “Hmm,” said Tanzel sagely. “If everyone were like you, the world would be a very nervous place.” Jantiff gave an embarrassed laugh. “No cause for worry; there don’t seem to be many people like me.”", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Jack Vance", "slug": "jack-vance", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jack-vance" }, "book": { "title": "Wyst: Alastor 1716", "slug": "wyst-alastor-1716", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jack-vance/wyst-alastor-1716" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 321, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "ambition", "slug": "ambition", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/ambition" }, { "name": "talent", "slug": "talent", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/talent" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Jack_Vance#Wyst:_Alastor_1716_(1978)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:43:02" }, { "id": "2cc83caf-076d-4ad0-aa1c-913568f08739", "slug": "a-man-with", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/theodore-sturgeon/to-marry-medusa/a-man-with", "text": "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.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Theodore Sturgeon", "slug": "theodore-sturgeon", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/theodore-sturgeon" }, "book": { "title": "To Marry Medusa", "slug": "to-marry-medusa", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/theodore-sturgeon/to-marry-medusa" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 27, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "talent", "slug": "talent", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/talent" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Theodore_Sturgeon#To_Marry_Medusa_(1958)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:42:49" }, { "id": "622cb548-6c54-4f08-af9c-6d7c9028cd6b", "slug": "only-in-recent", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/nassim-nicholas-taleb/the-bed-of-procrustes/only-in-recent", "text": "Only in recent history has “working hard” signaled pride rather than shame for lack of talent, finesse and, mostly, sprezzatura.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Nassim Nicholas Taleb", "slug": "nassim-nicholas-taleb", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/nassim-nicholas-taleb" }, "book": { "title": "The Bed of Procrustes", "slug": "the-bed-of-procrustes", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/nassim-nicholas-taleb/the-bed-of-procrustes" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 39, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "work", "slug": "work", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/work" }, { "name": "talent", "slug": "talent", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/talent" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Nassim_Nicholas_Taleb#The_Bed_of_Procrustes:_Philosophical_and_Practical_Aphorisms_(2010)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:42:32" }, { "id": "18270188-3fc1-4cdc-aa1a-a0071b43bf30", "slug": "this-is-alvin", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/orson-scott-card/heartfire/this-is-alvin", "text": "“This is Alvin Smith,” said Cooper. “He’s a man of inestimable abilities, but only because nobody has cared enough to estimate them.”", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Orson Scott Card", "slug": "orson-scott-card", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/orson-scott-card" }, "book": { "title": "Heartfire", "slug": "heartfire", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/orson-scott-card/heartfire" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "humor", "slug": "humor", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/humor" }, { "name": "talent", "slug": "talent", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/talent" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Orson_Scott_Card#Heartfire_(1998)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:42:14" }, { "id": "4d2f19d7-70c8-4d1d-b065-b4bc1e8f5132", "slug": "to-note-an-artists", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/willa-cather/not-under-forty/to-note-an-artists", "text": "To note an artist's limitations is but to define his talent. A reporter can write equally well about everything that is presented to his view, but a creative writer can do his best only with what lies within the range and character of his deepest sympathies.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Willa Cather", "slug": "willa-cather", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/willa-cather" }, "book": { "title": "Not Under Forty", "slug": "not-under-forty", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/willa-cather/not-under-forty" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "writing", "slug": "writing", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/writing" }, { "name": "talent", "slug": "talent", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/talent" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Willa_Cather#Not_Under_Forty_(1936)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:42:04" }, { "id": "c73ffbd1-efa1-4a2e-9d0f-166161b18c9f", "slug": "all-the-intelligence", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/willa-cather/the-song-of-the-lark/all-the-intelligence", "text": "All the intelligence and talent in the world can't make a singer. The voice is a wild thing. It can't be bred in captivity. It is a sport, like the silver fox. It happens.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Willa Cather", "slug": "willa-cather", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/willa-cather" }, "book": { "title": "The Song Of The Lark", "slug": "the-song-of-the-lark", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/willa-cather/the-song-of-the-lark" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "talent", "slug": "talent", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/talent" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Willa_Cather#The_Song_of_the_Lark_(1915)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:42:02" }, { "id": "ae846afb-8998-4bed-b72f-8d4c1b06b610", "slug": "the-world-will", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/chuck-palahniuk/haunted/the-world-will", "text": "The world will always punish the few people with special talents the rest of us don't recognize as real.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Chuck Palahniuk", "slug": "chuck-palahniuk", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/chuck-palahniuk" }, "book": { "title": "Haunted", "slug": "haunted", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/chuck-palahniuk/haunted" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "talent", "slug": "talent", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/talent" }, { "name": "being different", "slug": "being-different", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/being-different" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Chuck_Palahniuk#Haunted_(2005)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:41:59" }, { "id": "eed632cc-6abb-4bf4-b31c-eef85b9a2f2f", "slug": "mediocrity-knows-nothing", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/arthur-conan-doyle/the-valley-of-fear/mediocrity-knows-nothing", "text": "Mediocrity knows nothing higher than itself; but talent instantly recognizes genius.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Arthur Conan Doyle", "slug": "arthur-conan-doyle", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/arthur-conan-doyle" }, "book": { "title": "The Valley of Fear", "slug": "the-valley-of-fear", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/arthur-conan-doyle/the-valley-of-fear" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 773, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "talent", "slug": "talent", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/talent" }, { "name": "genius", "slug": "genius", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/genius" }, { "name": "mediocrity", "slug": "mediocrity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/mediocrity" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Sherlock_Holmes#The_Valley_of_Fear_(1915)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:41:44" }, { "id": "86da291f-db95-494e-80fb-9a92fd117170", "slug": "it-takes-people", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/louisa-may-alcott/little-women/it-takes-people", "text": "It takes people a long time to learn the difference between talent and genius, especially ambitious young men and women.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Louisa May Alcott", "slug": "louisa-may-alcott", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/louisa-may-alcott" }, "book": { "title": "Little Women", "slug": "little-women", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/louisa-may-alcott/little-women" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "talent", "slug": "talent", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/talent" }, { "name": "genius", "slug": "genius", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/genius" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Louisa_May_Alcott#Little_Women_(1868)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:41:28" }, { "id": "001d4c07-0c4c-4b47-972e-3763aeaa2f7d", "slug": "thats-just-why", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/louisa-may-alcott/little-women/thats-just-why", "text": "That's just why, because talent isn't genius, and no amount of energy can make it so. I want to be great, or nothing. I won't be a common-place dauber, so I don't intend to try any more.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Louisa May Alcott", "slug": "louisa-may-alcott", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/louisa-may-alcott" }, "book": { "title": "Little Women", "slug": "little-women", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/louisa-may-alcott/little-women" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "ambition", "slug": "ambition", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/ambition" }, { "name": "talent", "slug": "talent", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/talent" }, { "name": "genius", "slug": "genius", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/genius" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Louisa_May_Alcott#Little_Women_(1868)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:41:28" }, { "id": "e372a87b-f36c-4ef8-9f92-a67af120fb99", "slug": "for-it-needs", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/virginia-woolf/a-room-of-ones-own/for-it-needs", "text": "For it needs little skill in psychology to be sure that a highly gifted girl who had tried to use her gift for poetry would have been so thwarted and hindered by other people, so tortured and pulled asunder by her own contrary instincts, that she must have lost her health and sanity to a certainty.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Virginia Woolf", "slug": "virginia-woolf", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/virginia-woolf" }, "book": { "title": "A Room of One's Own", "slug": "a-room-of-ones-own", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/virginia-woolf/a-room-of-ones-own" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 51, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "women", "slug": "women", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/women" }, { "name": "poetry", "slug": "poetry", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/poetry" }, { "name": "talent", "slug": "talent", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/talent" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Virginia_Woolf#A_Room_of_One's_Own_(1929)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:41:16" }, { "id": "ca6b7b4c-3c5d-4367-a44e-55a8e770d890", "slug": "if-i-have", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/quentin-crisp/the-naked-civil-servant/if-i-have", "text": "If I have any talent at all, it is not for doing but for being.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Quentin Crisp", "slug": "quentin-crisp", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/quentin-crisp" }, "book": { "title": "The Naked Civil Servant", "slug": "the-naked-civil-servant", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/quentin-crisp/the-naked-civil-servant" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "talent", "slug": "talent", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/talent" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Quentin_Crisp#The_Naked_Civil_Servant_(1968)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:41:11" }, { "id": "a51cc766-feb3-44a0-9176-4cde677b63f2", "slug": "but-an-artist", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/philip-k-dick/the-three-stigmata-of-palmer-eldritch/but-an-artist", "text": "But an artist, he realized. Or rather so-called artist. Bohemian. That’s closer to it. The artistic life without the talent.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Philip K. Dick", "slug": "philip-k-dick", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/philip-k-dick" }, "book": { "title": "The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch", "slug": "the-three-stigmata-of-palmer-eldritch", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/philip-k-dick/the-three-stigmata-of-palmer-eldritch" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 168, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "art", "slug": "art", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/art" }, { "name": "talent", "slug": "talent", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/talent" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Philip_K._Dick#The_Three_Stigmata_of_Palmer_Eldritch_(1965)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:41:05" }, { "id": "7b5f7935-66ad-4b68-acaa-496abebf899c", "slug": "if-you-havent", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/zora-neale-hurston/dust-tracks-on-a-road/if-you-havent", "text": "If you haven’t got it, you can’t show it. If you have got it, you can’t hide it.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Zora Neale Hurston", "slug": "zora-neale-hurston", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/zora-neale-hurston" }, "book": { "title": "Dust Tracks On A Road", "slug": "dust-tracks-on-a-road", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/zora-neale-hurston/dust-tracks-on-a-road" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "talent", "slug": "talent", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/talent" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Zora_Neale_Hurston#Dust_Tracks_on_a_Road_(1942)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:40:17" }, { "id": "fa005fc9-65e3-420c-bfbe-4c182423fa5f", "slug": "thats-the-beauty", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/david-sedaris/naked/thats-the-beauty", "text": "that's the beauty of an art school: as long as you can pay the tuition, they will never, even in the gentlest way, suggest that you have no talent.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "David Sedaris", "slug": "david-sedaris", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/david-sedaris" }, "book": { "title": "Naked", "slug": "naked", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/david-sedaris/naked" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 238, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "art", "slug": "art", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/art" }, { "name": "education", "slug": "education", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/education" }, { "name": "talent", "slug": "talent", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/talent" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/David_Sedaris#Naked_(1997)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:39:58" }, { "id": "fc9fc03d-cd15-48e2-985c-2a05ae20e55c", "slug": "angling-is-somewhat", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/izaak-walton/the-compleat-angler/angling-is-somewhat", "text": "Angling is somewhat like poetry, men are to be born so: I mean, with inclinations to it, though both may be heightened by discourse and practice", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Izaak Walton", "slug": "izaak-walton", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/izaak-walton" }, "book": { "title": "The Compleat Angler", "slug": "the-compleat-angler", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/izaak-walton/the-compleat-angler" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "poetry", "slug": "poetry", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/poetry" }, { "name": "talent", "slug": "talent", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/talent" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Izaak_Walton#The_Compleat_Angler_(1653-1655)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:39:48" }, { "id": "ac8ec45e-3978-4bfb-99f2-a6d7a66250f5", "slug": "as-no-man", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/izaak-walton/the-compleat-angler/as-no-man", "text": "As no man is born an artist, so no man is born an angler.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Izaak Walton", "slug": "izaak-walton", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/izaak-walton" }, "book": { "title": "The Compleat Angler", "slug": "the-compleat-angler", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/izaak-walton/the-compleat-angler" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "talent", "slug": "talent", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/talent" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Izaak_Walton#The_Compleat_Angler_(1653-1655)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:39:48" }, { "id": "8a555210-24f0-4f76-9bd8-5d296207e149", "slug": "we-say-he-has", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/emil-cioran/the-trouble-with-being-born/we-say-he-has", "text": "We say: he has no talent, only tone. But tone is precisely what cannot be invented — we're born with it. Tone is an inherited grace, the privilege some of us have of making our organic pulsations felt — tone is more than talent, it is its essence.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Emil Cioran", "slug": "emil-cioran", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/emil-cioran" }, "book": { "title": "The Trouble With Being Born", "slug": "the-trouble-with-being-born", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/emil-cioran/the-trouble-with-being-born" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "talent", "slug": "talent", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/talent" }, { "name": "literary style", "slug": "literary-style", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/literary-style" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Emil_Cioran#The_Trouble_With_Being_Born_(1973)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:39:42" }, { "id": "d9dbfa7d-5874-4562-a90d-9672b2fbc531", "slug": "when-we-review", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jean-jacques-rousseau/emile-or-on-education/when-we-review", "text": "When we review with the child the productions of art and nature, when we stimulate his curiosity and follow its lead, we have great opportunities of studying his tastes and inclinations, and perceiving the first spark of genius, if he has any decided talent in any direction. You must, however, be on your guard against the common error which mistakes the effects of environment for the ardour of genius, or imagines there is a decided bent towards any one of the arts, when there is nothing more than that spirit of emulation, common to men and monkeys, which impels them instinctively to do what they see others doing, without knowing why. The world is full of artisans, and still fuller of artists, who have no native gift for their calling, into which they were driven in early childhood, either through the conventional ideas of other people, or because those about them were deceived by an appearance of zeal, which would have led them to take to any other art they saw practised. One hears a drum and fancies he is a general; another sees a building and wants to be an architect. Every one is drawn towards the trade he sees before him if he thinks it is held in honour.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Jean Jacques Rousseau", "slug": "jean-jacques-rousseau", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jean-jacques-rousseau" }, "book": { "title": "Emile; or On Education", "slug": "emile-or-on-education", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jean-jacques-rousseau/emile-or-on-education" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "children", "slug": "children", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/children" }, { "name": "talent", "slug": "talent", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/talent" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Emile,_or_On_Education#Book_III", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:39:33" }, { "id": "917c646a-f35a-4654-9b3d-1ca0011f15bd", "slug": "perseverance-does-instead", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jean-jacques-rousseau/emile-or-on-education/perseverance-does-instead", "text": "Perseverance does instead of talent up to a certain point; he got so far, but no further. This honest lad's perseverance and ambition are praiseworthy; he will always be respected for his industry and steadfastness of purpose, but his paintings will always be third-rate. Who would not have been deceived by his zeal and taken it for real talent! There is all the difference in the world between a liking and an aptitude. To make sure of real genius or real taste in a child calls for more accurate observations than is generally suspected, for the child displays his wishes not his capacity, and we judge by the former instead of considering the latter.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Jean Jacques Rousseau", "slug": "jean-jacques-rousseau", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jean-jacques-rousseau" }, "book": { "title": "Emile; or On Education", "slug": "emile-or-on-education", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jean-jacques-rousseau/emile-or-on-education" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "perseverance", "slug": "perseverance", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/perseverance" }, { "name": "talent", "slug": "talent", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/talent" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Emile,_or_On_Education#Book_III", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:39:33" }, { "id": "8f0df625-cb4a-4fd2-a324-5c96e4c878a3", "slug": "his-talent-was", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ernest-hemingway/a-moveable-feast/his-talent-was", "text": "His talent was as natural as the pattern that was made by the dust on a butterfly's wings. At one time he understood it no more than the butterfly did and he did not know when it was brushed or marred. Later he became conscious of his damaged wings and of their construction and he learned to think and could not fly any more because the love of flight was gone and he could only remember when it had been effortless.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Ernest Hemingway", "slug": "ernest-hemingway", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ernest-hemingway" }, "book": { "title": "A Moveable Feast", "slug": "a-moveable-feast", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ernest-hemingway/a-moveable-feast" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "talent", "slug": "talent", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/talent" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Ernest_Hemingway#A_Moveable_Feast_(1964)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:39:07" }, { "id": "3e0d5de7-6297-4d17-bb76-9ceb62e8f6d0", "slug": "the-individual-the", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ernest-hemingway/death-in-the-afternoon/the-individual-the", "text": "The individual, the great artist when he comes, uses everything that has been discovered or known about his art up to that point, being able to accept or reject in a time so short it seems that the knowledge was born with him, rather than that he takes instantly what it takes the ordinary man a lifetime to know, and then the great artist goes beyond what has been done or known and makes something of his own.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Ernest Hemingway", "slug": "ernest-hemingway", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ernest-hemingway" }, "book": { "title": "Death in the Afternoon", "slug": "death-in-the-afternoon", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ernest-hemingway/death-in-the-afternoon" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "art", "slug": "art", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/art" }, { "name": "talent", "slug": "talent", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/talent" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Ernest_Hemingway#Death_in_the_Afternoon_(1932)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:39:04" }, { "id": "0133cde3-7dfa-49c1-90ec-f0e8df40790b", "slug": "i-certainly-have", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jane-austen/pride-and-prejudice/i-certainly-have", "text": "\"I certainly have not the talent which some people possess,\" said Darcy, \"of conversing easily with those I have never seen before. I cannot catch their tone of conversation, or appear interested in their concerns, as I often see done.\" \"My fingers,\" said Elizabeth, \"do not move over this instrument in the masterly manner which I see so many women's do. They have not the same force or rapidity, and do not produce the same expression. But then I have always supposed it to be my own fault- because I would not take the trouble of practising...\"", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Jane Austen", "slug": "jane-austen", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jane-austen" }, "book": { "title": "Pride and Prejudice", "slug": "pride-and-prejudice", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jane-austen/pride-and-prejudice" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "relationships", "slug": "relationships", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/relationships" }, { "name": "talent", "slug": "talent", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/talent" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Pride_and_Prejudice#Chapters_31-40", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:38:52" }, { "id": "d0f65afa-73c3-4624-af5a-9269a430ecd7", "slug": "he-possessed-a-peculiar", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/tacitus/the-histories/he-possessed-a-peculiar", "text": "He possessed a peculiar talent of producing effect in whatever he said or did.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Tacitus", "slug": "tacitus", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/tacitus" }, "book": { "title": "The Histories", "slug": "the-histories", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/tacitus/the-histories" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "talent", "slug": "talent", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/talent" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Tacitus#Histories_(100-110)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:38:43" }, { "id": "5e126a72-38da-4679-8cfc-2971a844d6c9", "slug": "men-who-undertake", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/edmund-burke/reflections-on-the-revolution-in-france/men-who-undertake", "text": "Men who undertake considerable things, even in a regular way, ought to give us ground to presume ability.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Edmund Burke", "slug": "edmund-burke", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/edmund-burke" }, "book": { "title": "Reflections on the Revolution in France", "slug": "reflections-on-the-revolution-in-france", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/edmund-burke/reflections-on-the-revolution-in-france" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "ambition", "slug": "ambition", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/ambition" }, { "name": "talent", "slug": "talent", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/talent" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Edmund_Burke#Reflections_on_the_Revolution_in_France_(1790)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:38:38" }, { "id": "954f35b7-b223-49fc-973a-71edcdd8cb5e", "slug": "of-shakespeare-a-man", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/james-joyce/ulysses/of-shakespeare-a-man", "text": "(Of Shakespeare) A man of genius makes no mistakes. His errors are volitional and are the portals of discovery (243)", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "James Joyce", "slug": "james-joyce", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/james-joyce" }, "book": { "title": "Ulysses", "slug": "ulysses", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/james-joyce/ulysses" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "mistakes", "slug": "mistakes", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/mistakes" }, { "name": "talent", "slug": "talent", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/talent" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/James_Joyce#Ulysses_(1922)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:38:33" }, { "id": "e99dd2b0-6fd2-40ec-a02a-1219c15d5b19", "slug": "bosh-stephen-said", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/james-joyce/ulysses/bosh-stephen-said", "text": "Bosh! Stephen said rudely. A man of genius makes no mistakes. His errors are volitional and are the portals of discovery.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "James Joyce", "slug": "james-joyce", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/james-joyce" }, "book": { "title": "Ulysses", "slug": "ulysses", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/james-joyce/ulysses" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "mistakes", "slug": "mistakes", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/mistakes" }, { "name": "talent", "slug": "talent", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/talent" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Ulysses_(novel)#Quotes", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:38:32" }, { "id": "ce90c547-959e-4a16-9929-b49ed108ab92", "slug": "his-own-image", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/james-joyce/ulysses/his-own-image", "text": "His own image to a man with that queer thing genius is the standard of all experience, material and moral.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "James Joyce", "slug": "james-joyce", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/james-joyce" }, "book": { "title": "Ulysses", "slug": "ulysses", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/james-joyce/ulysses" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "talent", "slug": "talent", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/talent" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Ulysses_(novel)#Quotes", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:38:32" }, { "id": "298dc4c3-3409-4b5b-9b85-969ea1f322b5", "slug": "alike-in-the", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-stuart-mill/autobiography/alike-in-the", "text": "Alike in the highest regions of speculation and in the smaller practical concerns of daily life, her mind was the same perfect instrument, piercing to the very heart and marrow of the matter; always seizing the essential idea or principle. The same exactness and rapidity of operation, pervading as it did her sensitive as well as her mental faculties, would, with her gifts of feeling and imagination, have fitted her to be a consummate artist, as her fiery and tender soul and her vigorous eloquence would certainly have made her a great orator, and her profound knowledge of human nature and discernment and sagacity in practical life, would, in the times when such a carrière was open to women, have made her eminent among the rulers of mankind. Her intellectual gifts did but minister to a moral character at once the noblest and the best balanced which I have ever met with in life.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "John Stuart Mill", "slug": "john-stuart-mill", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-stuart-mill" }, "book": { "title": "Autobiography", "slug": "autobiography", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-stuart-mill/autobiography" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 186, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "character", "slug": "character", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/character" }, { "name": "talent", "slug": "talent", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/talent" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/John_Stuart_Mill#Ch._6:_Commencement_of_the_Most_Valuable_Friendship_of_My_Life.", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:38:31" }, { "id": "b9f02a43-6a7d-4bc5-a7b6-944f2f9dc2df", "slug": "persons-of-genius", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-stuart-mill/on-liberty/persons-of-genius", "text": "Persons of genius, it is true, are, and are always likely to be, a small minority; but in order to have them, it is necessary to preserve the soil in which they grow. Genius can only breathe freely in an atmosphere of freedom.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "John Stuart Mill", "slug": "john-stuart-mill", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-stuart-mill" }, "book": { "title": "On Liberty", "slug": "on-liberty", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-stuart-mill/on-liberty" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "freedom", "slug": "freedom", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/freedom" }, { "name": "talent", "slug": "talent", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/talent" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/John_Stuart_Mill#On_Liberty_(1859)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:38:30" }, { "id": "23aebb47-146f-4523-bb13-42afdcb4867c", "slug": "if-i-had", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-stuart-mill/autobiography/if-i-had", "text": "If I had been by nature extremely quick of apprehension, or had possessed a very accurate and retentive memory or were of a remarkably active and energetic character, the trial would not be conclusive; but in all these natural gifts I am rather below than above par; what I could do, could assuredly be done by any boy or girl of average capacity and healthy physical constitution: and if I have accomplished anything, I owe it, among other fortunate circumstances, to the fact that through the early training bestowed on me by my father, I started, I may fairly say, with an advantage of a quarter of a century over my contemporaries.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "John Stuart Mill", "slug": "john-stuart-mill", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-stuart-mill" }, "book": { "title": "Autobiography", "slug": "autobiography", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-stuart-mill/autobiography" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 30, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "science", "slug": "science", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/science" }, { "name": "talent", "slug": "talent", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/talent" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/John_Stuart_Mill#Ch._1:_Childhood_and_Early_Education", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:38:30" }, { "id": "d79b5272-2706-40d9-b785-ff137932f2b9", "slug": "why-is-it-i-wonder", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/isaac-asimov/i-asimov/why-is-it-i-wonder", "text": "Why is it, I wonder, that anyone who displays superior athletic ability is an object of admiration to his classmates, while one who displays superior mental ability is an object of hatred? Is there some hidden understanding that it is brains, not muscles, that define the human being and that children who are not good at athletics are simply not good, while those who are not smart feel themselves to be subhuman? I don’t know.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Isaac Asimov", "slug": "isaac-asimov", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/isaac-asimov" }, "book": { "title": "I, Asimov", "slug": "i-asimov", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/isaac-asimov/i-asimov" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 4, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "talent", "slug": "talent", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/talent" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Isaac_Asimov#I._Asimov:_A_Memoir_(1994)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:38:24" }, { "id": "dde6c70a-cfb6-4f49-b3fd-15cbc6915590", "slug": "you-wont-be-an-artist", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/arthur-c-clarke/the-collected-stories-of-arthur-c-clarke/you-wont-be-an-artist", "text": "You won’t be an artist if you live a thousand years. You’re merely an expert, and you know it. Those who can—do, those who can’t—criticise.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Arthur C. Clarke", "slug": "arthur-c-clarke", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/arthur-c-clarke" }, "book": { "title": "The Collected Stories Of Arthur C. Clarke", "slug": "the-collected-stories-of-arthur-c-clarke", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/arthur-c-clarke/the-collected-stories-of-arthur-c-clarke" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 294, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "art", "slug": "art", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/art" }, { "name": "talent", "slug": "talent", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/talent" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Arthur_C._Clarke#The_Collected_Stories_of_Arthur_C._Clarke_(2001)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:38:17" }, { "id": "d52d3d08-1933-47c2-9661-f5aa22213a1a", "slug": "the-mathematician-is-born", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/henri-poincare/the-value-of-science/the-mathematician-is-born", "text": "The mathematician is born, not made.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Henri Poincaré", "slug": "henri-poincare", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/henri-poincare" }, "book": { "title": "The Value of Science", "slug": "the-value-of-science", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/henri-poincare/the-value-of-science" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "talent", "slug": "talent", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/talent" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Henri_Poincar%C3%A9#Introduction", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:37:49" }, { "id": "3ca4a982-2669-42b3-8504-0fabe0279570", "slug": "despite-countless-hours", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/dave-barry/tricky-business/despite-countless-hours", "text": "Despite countless hours of practice, dozens of auditions, many artistic disputes, seven demo CDs, and two radical changes in hairstyle, Arrival never arrived. It wasn't that they were bad; it was just that, as they reluctantly came to understand, they really weren't anything special. They were competent. The problem was, there were competent bands everywhere. Competence wasn't the key to stardom; you needed something else. Whatever it was, Arrival didn't have it. (Chapter 3)", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Dave Barry", "slug": "dave-barry", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/dave-barry" }, "book": { "title": "Tricky Business", "slug": "tricky-business", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/dave-barry/tricky-business" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "success and failure", "slug": "success-and-failure", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/success-and-failure" }, { "name": "talent", "slug": "talent", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/talent" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Dave_Barry#Tricky_Business_(2002)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:37:42" }, { "id": "7987d807-37e8-40ae-8368-d7e64b930e00", "slug": "i-have-over", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/dave-barry/ill-mature-when-im-dead/i-have-over", "text": "I have, over the years, received in the mail approximately 17 million manuscripts from people whose goal is to become professional writers. They want me to discover them, encourage them, mentor them, find them an agent, etc. Some of these people have talent; some of them have actually become professional writers. But a great many of them will never become professional writers, because- follow me closely here- they are not good at writing. Of course I don't tell them that. Probably nobody will ever tell them that. They will continue to try and fail, and in the end they'll be bitter, like the early-round contestants on American Idol who think they got booted because Simon Cowell is mean, rather than because their singing sounds like a bull being castrated with a hockey stick. These contestants humiliated themselves on national TV because when they were growing up, loving to sing, always singing around the house, no thoughtful family member or caring friend ever had the kindness to put a hand on their shoulder and say, in a gentle and loving voice, \"You suck.\" They needed Simon Cowells, but instead they were surrounded by Randy Jacksons and Paula Abduls, trying to be nice, not wanting to hurt their feelings, and thus setting them up for failure.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Dave Barry", "slug": "dave-barry", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/dave-barry" }, "book": { "title": "I'll Mature When I'm Dead", "slug": "ill-mature-when-im-dead", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/dave-barry/ill-mature-when-im-dead" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 240, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "writing", "slug": "writing", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/writing" }, { "name": "honesty", "slug": "honesty", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/honesty" }, { "name": "talent", "slug": "talent", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/talent" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Dave_Barry#I'll_Mature_When_I'm_Dead_(2010)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:37:41" }, { "id": "bdf8cfc5-1299-4cd3-9227-b013e1008fe8", "slug": "but-the-greatest", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/aristotle/poetics/but-the-greatest", "text": "But the greatest thing by far is to have a command of metaphor. This alone cannot be imparted by another; it is the mark of genius, for to make good metaphors implies an eye for resemblances.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Aristotle", "slug": "aristotle", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/aristotle" }, "book": { "title": "Poetics", "slug": "poetics", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/aristotle/poetics" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "poetry", "slug": "poetry", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/poetry" }, { "name": "talent", "slug": "talent", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/talent" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Aristotle#Poetics", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:37:38" }, { "id": "8ee3f876-ee39-428d-9e6f-39d2b15aafb0", "slug": "you-see-lots", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/george-bernard-shaw/pygmalion/you-see-lots", "text": "You see, lots of the real people can't do it at all: they're such fools that they think style comes by nature to people in their position; and so they never learn. There's always something professional about doing a thing superlatively well.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "George Bernard Shaw", "slug": "george-bernard-shaw", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/george-bernard-shaw" }, "book": { "title": "Pygmalion", "slug": "pygmalion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/george-bernard-shaw/pygmalion" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "science", "slug": "science", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/science" }, { "name": "talent", "slug": "talent", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/talent" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/George_Bernard_Shaw#Pygmalion_(1912)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:32:36" } ] }