William Hazlitt Quotes on Genius (10 Quotes)

People of genius do not excel in any profession because they work in it, they work in it because they excel.

If goodness were only a theory, it were a pity it should be lost to the world. There are a number of things, the idea of which is a clear gain to the mind. Let people, for instance, rail at friendship, genius, freedom, as long as they will. . .

His thoughts did not seem to come with labour and effort but as if borne on gusts of genius, and as if the wings of his imagination lifted him off from his feet. . . . His mind was clothed with wings and raised on them, he lifted philosophy to heaven.

The definition of genius is that it acts unconsciously and those who have produced immortal works, have done so without knowing how or why. The greatest power operates unseen.

Genius, like humanity, rusts for want of use.

Men of genius do not excel in any profession because they labor in it, but they labor in it because they excel.

He is a man of capacity who possesses considerable intellectual riches while he is a man of genius who finds out a vein of new ore. Originality is the seeing nature differently from others, and yet as it is in itself. It is not singularity or affectation, but the discovery of new and valuable truth. All the world do not see the whole meaning of any object they have been looking at. Habit blinds them to some things shortsightedness to others. Every mind is not a gauge and measure of truth. Nature has her surface and her dark recesses. She is deep, obscure, and infinite. It is only minds on whom she makes her fullest impressions that can penetrate her shrine or unveil her Holy of Holies. It is only those whom she has filled with her spirit that have the boldness or the power to reveal her mysteries to others.

Dandyism is a variety of genius.

If we wish to know the force of human genius, we should read Shakespeare. If we wish to see the insignificance of human learning, we may study his commentators.

Genius is a native to the soil where it grows - is fed by the air, and warmed by the sun and is not a hothouse plant or an exotic