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 (1934 - 1996)
Genius is of no country.
Charles Churchill
Everyone is born with genius, but most people only keep it a few minutes.
Edgard Varese (1883 - 1965)
Genius may have its limitations, but stupidity is not thus handicapped.
Elbert Hubbard (1856 - 1915)
All these words we use, anybody can be a genius now. It used to be you had to have a thought no one ever had before or you had to invent a number. Now, it's like, "Hey, I've got a cup in case we need another cup." "Dude, you're a genius!"
Louis C. K., Louis C. K.: Hilarious1, 2011
Genius hath electric power which earth can never tame.
Lydia M. Child
There's a fine line between genius and insanity2. I have erased3 this line.
Oscar Levant (1906 - 1972)
The public is wonderfully tolerant. It forgives everything except genius.
Oscar Wilde (1854 - 1900), The Critic as Artist, 1891
He was a genius - that is to say, a man who does superlatively and without obvious effort something that most people cannot do by the uttermost exertion4 of their abilities.
Robertson Davies, "Fifth Business"
Genius might be described as a supreme5 capacity for getting its possessors into trouble of all kinds.
Samuel Butler (1835 - 1902)
There is no great genius without some touch of madness.
Seneca (5 BC - 65 AD), Epistles
Mediocrity knows nothing higher than itself, but talent instantly recognizes genius.
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (1859 - 1930), (Sherlock Holmes) Valley of Fear, 1915
Genius is one per cent inspiration, ninety-nine per cent perspiration6.
Thomas A. Edison (1847 - 1931), Harper's Monthly, 1932
Genius is one percent inspiration, ninety-nine percent perspiration.
Thomas A. Edison (1847 - 1931), Harper's Monthly, 1932
Men of genius do not excel in any profession because they labor7 in it, but they labor in it because they excel.
William Hazlitt (1778 - 1830)
