"Genius is to other gifts what the carbuncle is to the precious stones. It sends forth its own light, whereas other stones only reflect borrowed light."
Read quote
6 likes
Genius quotes
Genius
1.7K quotes on this topic — from poets, philosophers, and thinkers across history.
Explore further
Topics related to Genius
Browse quotes that often appear alongside genius — connected by shared ideas and recurring themes.
Quote collection
Genius quotes (page 16 of 84)
Follow a thought to its author, or read the full quote page.
"And human instinct is ancient and reliable, utterly mysterious and possibly capable of great genius. I believe that refined, fluent instincts are a person's most valuable asset. My own instincts have repeatedly guided me against the grain of logic and probability. When I have trusted and followed their direction, they have never been wrong. I don't know how or why. But I know that every significant experience-positive or negative-sharpens them and makes them more accurate."
Read quote
6 likes
"Democracy is still upon its trial. The civic genius of our people is its only bulwark."
Read quote
6 likes
"When a superior intellect and a psychopathic temperament coalesce in the same individual, we have the best possible condition for the kind of effective genius that gets into the biographical dictionaries."
Read quote
6 likes
"There is none but he Whose being I do fear; and under him My genius is rebuked, as it is said Mark Antony's was by Caesar."
Read quote
6 likes
"Taste is the common sense of genius."
Read quote
6 likes
"Genius is a promontory jutting out into the infinite."
Read quote
6 likes
"Genius Borrows nobly."
Read quote
6 likes
"Genius, even, as it is the greatest good, is he greatest harm."
Read quote
6 likes
"The greatest genius is the most indebted person."
Read quote
6 likes
"The miracles of genius always rest on profound convictions which refuse to be analyzed."
Read quote
6 likes
"There is genius as well in virtue as in intellect. 'Tis the doctrine of faith over works."
Read quote
6 likes
"No power of genius has ever yet had the smallest success in explaining existence. The perfect enigma remains."
Read quote
6 likes
"Universities are of course hostile to geniuses."
Read quote
6 likes
"Genius is intellect constructive."
Read quote
6 likes
"The mental disease of the present generation is impatience of study, contempt of the great masters of ancient wisdom, and a disposition to rely wholly upon unassisted genius and natural sagacity."
Read quote
6 likes
"Genius, that power which constitutes a poet; that quality without which judgment is cold, and knowledge is inert; that energy which collects, combines, amplifies and animates."
Read quote
6 likes
"A man of genius has been seldom ruined but by himself."
Read quote
6 likes
"The word-coining genius, as if thought plunged into a sea of words and came up dripping."
Read quote
6 likes
"'Genius' which means transcendent capacity of taking trouble, first of all."
Read quote
6 likes