Henry David Thoreau Quotes

Everyone is a genius at least once a year. The real geniuses simply have their bright ideas closer together.

Genius is not so much a light as it is a constant awareness of the surrounding gloom.

You can't discover light, by analyzing the dark.

The ordinary man casts a shadow in a way we do not quite understand. The man of genius casts light.

Give light, and the darkness will disappear of itself.

The difference between stupidity and genius is that genius has its limits.

What is called genius is the abundance of life and health.

This is the land of every joyous sound, Of liberty and life, sweet liberty! Without whose aid the noblest genius fails, And science irretrievable must die.

The lamp of genius burns quicker than the lamp of life.

Stories are light. Light is precious in a world so dark. Begin at the beginning. Tell Gregory a story. Make some light.

Giving calls for genius.

True understanding is the spur of genius

Genius is present in every age, but the men carrying it within them remain benumbed unless extraordinary events occur to heat up and melt the mass so that it flows forth.

No one was ever great without some portion of divine inspiration.

Genius is rarely able to give any account of its own processes.

There is no great genius without some touch of madness.

Gaiety is a quality of ordinary men. Genius always presupposes some disorder in the machine.

Creativity is the sudden cessation of stupidity.

Genius is talent set on fire by courage.

There is no off position on the genius switch.

Young men and young women, full of courage, originality, and genius, are everywhere to be met with.

Genius is sorrow's child.

Times of great calamity and confusion have been productive for the greatest minds. The purest ore is produced from the hottest furnace. The brightest thunder-bolt is elicited from the darkest storm.

I'm intrigued by the dark. Out of darkness comes creation.

Despite what people might think, I'm not interested in being dark all the time. I'm actually searching for some kind of light, and I'm always very happy when I can achieve that.