Quotes About Talent

Furthermore--though it was quite irrelevant now--he had no idea his killer, Kazuo Kiriyama, had, in his mansion that was much larger than Toshinori's home in Shiroiwa-cho, mastered the violin at a level far superior to Toshinori's a long time ago--and then tossed his violin into the trash.

I write love poems when I'm not rapping. It comes naturally." He winked at me. "If you start rapping, I promise you I'll throw myself off this platform.

I like to write and draw and paint, and my mom's an artist, so I think I get caught up in thinking, 'I'm afraid it's gonna be bad ' and it's hard for me to start sometimes.

To this day, most people think of me as the fastest human. They don't really think me as a long jumper, although that's the event I had more success in.

It's odd that in our culture we assume that everyone can (and should) learn basic language skills although only a small percentage will become authors. We also assume that everyone can learn math while only a few will become mathematicians. However, we assume that drawing requires some special talent possessed by only a few and the rest need not try.

...talent and genius operate outside the rules, and theory conflicts with practice.

I got started when I was 3 years old because my father was a music teacher and my lessons were free. Instead of learning to walk, you learn to play the piano.

Leadership is something I was born with.

Passion is the thing that will help you create the highest expression of your talent. —LARRY SMITH, TEDx, NOVEMBER 2011

Passion isn't enough, but when passion meets aptitude it can change the world.

The artist is nothing without the gift, but the gift is nothing without work." —ÉMILE ZOLA

Many of the most accomplished people of our era were considered by experts to have no future. Jackson Pollock, Marcel Proust, Elvis Presley, Ray Charles, Lucille Ball, and Charles Darwin were all thought to have little potential for their chosen fields.

Just because some people can do something with little or no training, it doesn't mean that others can't do it (and sometimes do it even better) with training. This is so important, because many, many people with the fixed mindset think that someone's early performance tells you all you need to know about their talent and their future.

I was intensely curious because Cézanne is one of my favorite artists and the man who set the stage for much of modern art. Here's what I found: Some of the paintings were pretty bad. They were overwrought scenes, some violent, with amateurishly painted people. Although there were some paintings that foreshadowed the later Cézanne, many did not. Was the early Cézanne not talented? Or did it just take time for Cézanne to become Cézanne?

Finally, it means creating a growth-mindset environment in which people can thrive. This involves: • Presenting skills as learnable • Conveying that the organization values learning and perseverance, not just ready-made genius or talent • Giving feedback in a way that promotes learning and future success • Presenting managers as resources for learning Without a belief in human development, many corporate training programs become exercises of limited value.

Think of times other people outdid you and you just assumed that they were smarter or more talented. Now consider the idea that they just used better strategies, taught themselves more, practiced harder, and worked their way through obstacles. You can do that too, if you want to.

Howard Gardner, in his book Extraordinary Minds, concluded that exceptional individuals have "a special talent for identifying their own strengths and weaknesses.

Just because someone can do something with little or no training, it doesn't mean that others can't do it (and sometimes do it even better) with training.

Create an organization that prizes the development of ability—and watch the leaders emerge.

in the fixed mindset, you don't take control of your abilities and your motivation. You look for your talent to carry you through, and when it doesn't, well then, what else could you have done? You are not a work in progress, you're a finished product. And finished products have to protect themselves, lament, and blame. Everything but take charge.

The great teachers believe in the growth of the intellect and talent, and they are fascinated with the process of learning.

On the whole, people with a fixed mindset prefer effortless success, since that's the best way to prove their talent.

chose executives on the basis of "runway," their capacity for growth.

Beware of success. It can knock you into a fixed mindset: "I won because I have talent. Therefore I will keep winning." Success can infect a team or it can infect an individual.