The true genius is a mind of large general powers, accidentally determined to some particular direction. Samuel Johnson
No great genius is without an admixture of madness. Aristotle.
Talent without genius isn’t much, but genius without talent is nothing whatever. Paul Valery
In the republic of mediocrity genius is dangerous. Robert G Ingersoll
Doing easily what others find difficult is talent; doing what is impossible for talent is genius. Henri-Frederic Amiel
Thousands of geniuses live and die undiscovered – either by themselves or by others. Mark Twain
A man who is a genius and doesn’t know it probably isn’t. Stanislaus Lec
Everyone is a genius at least once a year. The real geniuses simply have their bright ideas closer together. Georg Christoph Lichtenberg
When a true genius appears in this world, you may know him by this sign, that the dunces are all in confederacy against him. Jonathan Swift
Genius is the ability to put into effect what is on your mind. F Scott Fitzgerald
Conceit spoils the finest genius. Louisa May Alcott
There is in every madman a misunderstood genius whose idea, shining in his head, frightened people, and for whom delirium was the only solution to the strangulation that life had prepared for him. Antonin Artaud
Genius is present in every age, but the men carrying it within them remain benumbed unless extraordinary events occur to heat up and melt the mass so that it flows forth. Denis Diderot
Genius is independent of situation. Charles Churchill
I can’t tell you if genius is hereditary, because heaven has granted me no offspring. James McNeill Whistler
Many a genius has been slow of growth. Oaks that flourish for a thousand years do not spring up into beauty like a reed. George Henry Lewes
There is a fine line between genius and insanity. I have erased this line. Oscar Levant
The true genius shudders at incompleteness – and usually prefers silence to saying something which is not everything it should be. Edgar Allan Poe
Real genius is nothing else but the supernatural virtue of humility in the domain of thought. Simone Weil
One is not born a genius, one becomes a genius. Simone de Beauvoir
A genius is one who can do anything except make a living. Joey Adams
Precocity is not a sign of genius, but genius is perhaps always accompanied by precocity. Andrew Lang
Genius without religion is only a lamp on the outer gate of a palace; it may serve to cast a gleam of light on those that are without, while the inhabitant sits in darkness. Hannah More
The mark of genius is an incessant activity of mind. Genius is a spiritual greed. V S Pritchett
But the fact that some geniuses were laughed at does not imply that all who are laughed at are geniuses. They laughed at Columbus, they laughed at Fulton, they laughed at the Wright Brothers. But they also laughed at Bozo the Clown. Carl Sagan
A man possesses talent; genius possesses the man. Isaac Stern
Almost everybody is born a genius and buried an idiot. Charles Bukowski