Thousands of geniuses live and die undiscovered--either
by themselves or by others. - Autobiography of Mark Twain It is impossible that a genius--at least a literary genius--can ever be discovered by his intimates; they are so close to him that he is out of focus to them and they can't get at his proportions; they can't perceive that there is any considerable difference between his bulk and their own. - Autobiography of Mark Twain, (reference to Jim Gillis) Hunger is the handmaid of genius. - Following the Equator ...genius itself succeeds only by arduous self-training...to play on the fiddle it is not merely necessary to take a bow and fiddle with it. - "Contributors Club," Atlantic, 1/1877 |
Sam Clemens with George Washington Cable during their 1884-85 lecture tour. |
Geniuses are people who dash off wierd, wild, incomprehensible poems with astonishing
facility, & then go & get booming drunk & sleep in the gutter. Genius
elevates a man to ineffable speres [sic] far above the vulgar world, & fills
his soul with a regal contempt for the gross & sordid things of earth. It
is probably on account of this that people who have genius do not pay their
board, as a general thing.
- Mark Twain's Notebooks & Journals, vol. 1, 1855-1873, p. 250.
Quotations | Newspaper Articles | Special Features | Links | Search