Quotes About Ingenuity

I have played the fox, now I must play the cat of the fable.

The Dreadnought battleship itself was one victor. By its survival (not one was lost) it had appeared to justify both its mighty artillery and the diabolical ingenuity that had been expended on its defences. The other victor was the Dreadnought's first enemy, the torpedo, which governed commanders' judgments, by its threat or its reality caused squadron engagements to be broken off, and whole fleets to flinch away in fear.

There were no state regulations about hairstyles or clothes. It was what everyone else was wearing that determined the rules of the day. And because the range was so narrow, people were always looking out for the tiniest variations. It was a real test of ingenuity to look different and attractive, and yet similar enough to everyone else so that nobody with an accusing finger could pinpoint what exactly was heretical.

There's always hope. And when that fails, there's guile and wile.

Everyone knows you're beautiful," he'd told her, "but no one knows that you're clever." Clever. Anybody could be smart. It took a special somebody to be clever.

Wit beyond measure is a man's greatest treasure.

Those who are born of parents broken with old age, or of such as are not yet ripe or are too young, or of drunkards, soft or effeminate men, want a great and liberal ingenuity or wit.

I am not only witty in myself, but the cause that wit is in other men.

He's the only man I ever knew who had rubber pockets so he could steal soup.

Man is, above all, he who creates.

Genius: the superhuman in man.

Men of genius are like eagles, they live on what they kill, while men of talents are like crows, they live on what has been killed for them.

A cunning fellow is man, inventive beyond all expectation, he reaches sometimes evil and sometimes good

Is creativity some obscure, esoteric art form? Not on your life. It's the most practical thing a business-man can employ.

By working one can bend fortune. She is fond of crafty men.

A man sitting monkey-like on the rooftop of his brain is due the applause such feats earn him.

Man is a tool-making animal

Men would eat horse droppings, if ye served them wi' butter.

Man is an animal that cooks his victuals.

The most ingenious men continually pretend to condemn tricking--but this is often done that they may use it more conveniently themselves, when some great occasion or interest offers itself to them.

The great man is the man who can get himself made and who will get himself made out of anything he finds at hand.

Only the clever men can be flexible; others are condemned to remain as rigid!

Specialization is for insects... The race of man? He's a whole other creature.

A man has made great progress in cunning when he does not seem too clever to others.