Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful people with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated failures. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent.
Calvin Coolidge

Judge the goodness of a book by the energy of the punches it has given you. I believe the greatest characteristic of genius, is, above all, force.
Gustave Flaubert

Genius is more often found in a cracked pot than in a whole one.
E. B. White

Almost all the noblest things that have been achieved in the world, have been achieved by poor men; poor scholars, poor professional men, poor artisans and artists, poor philosophers, poets, and men of genius.
Albert Pike

Genius is essentially creative; it bears the stamp of the individual who possesses it.
Madame de Stael

Innocence in genius, and candor in power, are both noble qualities.
Madame de Stael

Jealousy is the tribute mediocrity pays to genius.
Fulton J. Sheen

The genius of democracies is seen not only in the great number of new words introduced but even more in the new ideas they express.
Alexis de Tocqueville

In some parts of life, like mathematics and science, yeah, I was a genius. I would top all the top scores you could ever measure it by.
Steve Wozniak

Genius is never understood in its own time.
Bill Watterson

Genius is always allowed some leeway, once the hammer has been pried from its hands and the blood has been cleaned up.
Terry Pratchett

Give me a smart idiot over a stupid genius any day.
Samuel Goldwyn

Adversity reveals genius, prosperity conceals it.
Horace

A host is like a general: calamities often reveal his genius.
Horace

Genius is talent set on fire by courage.
Henry Van Dyke

Nietzsche claimed that his genius was in his nostrils and I think that is a very excellent place for it to be.
Federico Fellini

It is the genius of our Constitution that under its shelter of enduring institutions and rooted principles there is ample room for the rich fertility of American political invention.
Lyndon B. Johnson

It will work. I am a marketing genius.
Paris Hilton

Genius ain't anything more than elegant common sense.
Josh Billings

There is no off position on the genius switch.
David Letterman