TALENT
Quotes
1
There are two kinds of talent, man-made talent and God- given talent. With man-made talent you have to work very hard. With God-given talent, you just touch it up once in a while.
— Pearl Bailey
2
Talent wins out.
— Althea Gibson Darben
3
Keep your talent in the dark and you’ll never be insulted.
— Elsa Maxwell
4
A man possesses talent; genius possesses the man.
— Isaac Stern
5
Anything you’re good at contributes to happiness.
— Bertrand Russell
6
There is no such thing as a great talent without great will power.
— Honoré de Balzac
7
An unfulfilled vocation drains the color from a man’s entire existence.
— Honoré de Balzac
8
I have always thought that the surest proof of talent is its condescension to genius.
— Vincent Sheehan
9
I began to ration my writing, for fear I would dream through life as my father had done. I was afraid I had inherited a poisoned gene from him, a vocation without a gift.
— Mavis Gallant
10
Nothing I do can’t be done by a ten-year-old . . . with fifteen years of practice.
— Harry Blackstone, Jr., on being a magician
11
There is no substitute for talent. Industry and all the virtues are of no avail.
— Aldous Huxley
12
Whom the gods wish to destroy they first call promising.
— Cyril Connolly
13
I think this is the most extraordinary collection of talent, of human knowledge, that has ever been gathered together at the White House—with the possible exception of when Thomas Jefferson dined alone.
— John F. Kennedy
14
Neither cast ye your pearls before swine.
— Matthew 7:6
15
After my screen test, the director clapped his hands gleefully and yelled, “She can’t talk! She can’t act! She’s sensational!”
— Ava Gardner
16
We’ve all been blessed with God-given talents. Mine just happens to be beating people up.
— Sugar Ray Leonard
17
Hard work without talent is a shame, but talent without hard work is a tragedy.
— Robert Half
Sayings
1
You’re not in competition with anyone but yourself.
2
A talent is both gift and obligation.
Joke
“Please, Mr. Grossman, my act is really something special. Just give me a minute.”
Before the talent scout could object, the desperate actor climbed up on the desk, flapped his arms, and proceeded to fly around the room twice.
“Okay,” said the agent, “so you can imitate birds. What else?”