When people find a man of the most distinguished abilities as a writer their inferior while he is with them, read more

When people find a man of the most distinguished abilities as a writer their inferior while he is with them, it must be highly gratifying to them.

The first requisite for success is the ability to apply your physical and mental energies to one problem incessantly without read more

The first requisite for success is the ability to apply your physical and mental energies to one problem incessantly without growing weary.

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.]

We all have ability. The difference is how we use it.

We all have ability. The difference is how we use it.

I add this, that rational ability without education has oftener raised man to glory and virtue, than education without natural read more

I add this, that rational ability without education has oftener raised man to glory and virtue, than education without natural ability.

The extent of your consciousness is limited only by your ability to love and to embrace with your love the read more

The extent of your consciousness is limited only by your ability to love and to embrace with your love the space around you, and all it contains

Life has been compared to a race, but the allusion improves by observing, that the most swift are usually the read more

Life has been compared to a race, but the allusion improves by observing, that the most swift are usually the least manageable and the most likely to stray from the course. Great abilities have always been less serviceable to the possessors than moderate ones.

We shall generally find that the triangular person has got into
the square hole, the oblong into the triangular, read more

We shall generally find that the triangular person has got into
the square hole, the oblong into the triangular, and a square
person has squeezed himself into the round hole.

Consider the postage stamp: its usefulness consists in the ability to stick to one thing till it gets there.

Consider the postage stamp: its usefulness consists in the ability to stick to one thing till it gets there.