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The picture waits for my verdict; it is not to command me, but I am to settle its claim to praise.

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Misunderstood! It is a right fool's word. Is it so bad then to be misunderstood? Pythagoras was misunderstood, and Socrates, and Jesus, and Luther, an...more

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There are many eyes that can detect and honor the prudent and household virtues; there are many that can discern Genius on his starry track, though th...more

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Genius always finds itself a century too early.

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The best lightning rod for your protection is your own spine.

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Common sense is genius dressed in its working clothes.

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When nature has work to be done, she creates a genius to do it.

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To believe your own thought to believe that what is true for you in your private heart is true for all men - that is genius.

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Few and mean as my gifts may be, I actually am, and do not need for my own assurance or the assurance of my fellows any secondary testimony.

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A great man is always willing to be little.

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In every work of genius we recognize our own rejected thoughts they come back to us with a certain alienated majesty.

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Solitude, the safeguard of mediocrity, is to genius the stern friend, the cold, obscure shelter where moult the wings which will bear it farther than ...more

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Colleges hate geniuses, just as convents hate saints.