It is better to be violent, if there is violence in our hearts, than to put on the cloak of nonviolence to cover impotence.

Talent does what it can; genius does what it must.

Every journalist has a novel in him, which is an excellent place for it.

A great deal of talent is lost to the world for want of a little courage. Every day sends to their graves obscure men whose timidity prevented them from making a first effort.

We call that person who has lost his father, an orphan; and a widower that man who has lost his wife. But that man who has known the immense unhappiness of losing a friend, by what name do we call him? Here every language is silent and holds its peace in impotence.

Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable.

No man can discover his own talents.

Great talents are the most lovely and often the most dangerous fruits on the tree of humanity. They hang upon the most slender twigs that are easily snapped off.

Adversity has the effect of eliciting talents, which in prosperous circumstances would have lain dormant.

There ought to be so many who are excellent, there are so few.

I know that every good and excellent thing in the world stands moment by moment on the razor-edge of danger and must be fought for.

History is a relentless master. It has no present, only the past rushing into the future. To try to hold fast is to be swept aside.

Where talent is a dwarf, self-esteem is a giant.

Benevolence alone will not make a teacher, nor will learning alone do it. The gift of teaching is a peculiar talent, and implies a need and a craving in the teacher himself.

It took me fifteen years to discover I had no talent for writing, but I couldn't give it up because by that time I was too famous.

He had a massive stroke. He died with his tie on. Do you think that could be our generation's equivalent of that old saying about dying with your boots on?