You are a devil at everything, and there is no kind of thing in
the 'versal world but what read more

You are a devil at everything, and there is no kind of thing in
the 'versal world but what you can turn your hand into.

They are able because they think they are able.
[Lat., Possunt quia posse videntur.]

They are able because they think they are able.
[Lat., Possunt quia posse videntur.]

One thing, however, I must premise, that without the assistance
of natural capacity, rules and precepts are of no read more

One thing, however, I must premise, that without the assistance
of natural capacity, rules and precepts are of no efficacy.
[Lat., Illud tamen in primis testandum est, nihil praecepta atque
artes valere nisi adjuvante natura.]

It is all one to me if a man comes from Sing Sing or Harvard. We hire a man, not read more

It is all one to me if a man comes from Sing Sing or Harvard. We hire a man, not his history.

You are the only person on earth who can use your ability.

You are the only person on earth who can use your ability.

'Tis skill not strength that governs a ship.

'Tis skill not strength that governs a ship.

Ability hits the mark where presumption overshoots and diffidence falls short.

Ability hits the mark where presumption overshoots and diffidence falls short.

To the very last, he [Napolean] had a kind of idea, that, namely,
of "la carriere ouverte aux talents"--the read more

To the very last, he [Napolean] had a kind of idea, that, namely,
of "la carriere ouverte aux talents"--the tools to him that can
handle them.

Natural abilities can almost compensate for the want of every kind of cultivation, but no cultivation of the mind can read more

Natural abilities can almost compensate for the want of every kind of cultivation, but no cultivation of the mind can make up for the want of natural abilities.