Hoyt & Roberts, comps. Hoyt’s New Cyclopedia of Practical Quotations. 1922.
Talent
Magni est ingenii revocare mentem a sensibus, et cogitationem a consuetudine abducere.
It is a proof of great talents to recall the mind from the senses, and to separate thought from habit.
Cicero—Tusculanarum Disputationum. I. 16.
Occultæ musices nullus respectus.
Concealed talent brings no reputation.
Erasmus—Adagia. Suetonius—Nero. 20.
Ne forçons point notre talent;
Nous ne ferions rien avec grâce:
Jamais un lourdaud, quoi qu’il fasse,
Ne saurait passer pour galant.
Let us not overstrain our talents, lest we do nothing gracefully: a clown, whatever he may do, will never pass for a gentleman.
La Fontaine—Fables. IV. 5.
Talent is that which is in a man’s power! Genius is that in whose power a man is.
Lowell—Among my Books. Rousseau and the Sentimentalists.