Quotes About Skill

Every time you are not practicing someone else is.

Genius makes its observations in short hand; talent writes them out at length.

The compleat gentleman has always been akin to the warrior, but it does not follow that he has always been a soldier. When duty calls, he will be a fighter, but his martial skill may be practiced with his wits rather than his fists.

Mark's shots fell through the metallic hoop, "but how many of them have that kind of accuracy?

In terms of labor relations, the basic problem with living your life is that it's on the-job training and by the time you get some skill at it, you're permanently laid off.

He can't think, he can't write. There's no discernible talent.

She seemed glad to see me when I appeared in the kitchen, and by watching her I began to think there was some skill involved in being a girl.

There was some skill involved in being a girl.

Young ladies sketched, did watercolors, wrote short paragraphs of imaginative prose. To Alexandra, there was a distinct and distasteful difference between one who paints and a painter, one who writes and a writer.

Jem became vaguely articulate: ''d you see him, Scout? 'd you see him just standin' there? … 'n' all of a sudden he just relaxed all over, an' it looked like that gun was a part of him… an' he did it so quick, like… I hafta aim for ten minutes 'fore I can hit somethin

Knowledge and ability were tools, not things to show off.

I don't think it's a question of liking or disliking it, Tengo said...It was the one thing he was best at. Hmm. I see, Kumi said. She pondered this. But that might very well be the best way to live your life.

Talent is like a container. You can work as hard as you want, but the size will never change. It'll only hold so much water and no more.

Good style happens in one of two ways: the writer either has an inborn talent or is willing to work herself to death to get it.

Okay, consider this. Say you're going to go on a long journey with someone by car. And the two of you will take turns driving. Which type of person would you choose? One who's a good driver, but inattentive, or an attentive person who's not such a good driver?

No matter how much enthusiasm and effort you put into writing, if you totally lack literary talent you can forget about being a novelist.

Yeah. The more languages you know the better. And I've got a knack for them. I taught myself French and it's practically perfect. Languages are like games. You learn the rules for one, and they all work the same way. Like women.

The number of people who could deliver a kick to the balls with Aomame's mastery must have been few indeed. She had studied kick patterns with great diligence and never missed her daily practice.

El talento es como un recipiente. La capacidad del recipiente no cambia por mucho que uno se esfuerce. Y cuando el agua llega al borde, rebosa.

As the eagle was killed by the arrow winged with his own feather, so the hand of the world is wounded by its own skill.

No one looks at your hands to see how much they shake when you are interviewed to be a surgeon. The physical skills required are no greater than for writing cursive script. If an operation requires so much skill only a few surgeons can do it, you modify the operation to make it simpler.

English of course is your major tool, but it is not nearly so important as other aspects of writing for example you have to have some natural ability you can't buy it no one puts it there you're born with it.

Writing can't be taught.

I worry that people think you have to go to a university to be a good writer, which is categorically untrue. I don't think I learned how to write at Oxford. I did not go to any creative writing classes or anything.