John Taylor Gatto Quotes

Is it not in the most absolute simplicity that real genius plies its pinions the most wonderfully?

Progress toward a more abundant material life does not come like manna from heaven, however. My message certainly is not one of complacency. The ultimate resource is people — especially skilled, spirited, and hopeful young people endowed with liberty — who will exert their wills and imaginations for their own benefit and inevitably benefit the rest of us as well.

Genius is always impatient of its harness; its wild blood makes it hard to train.

The biggest obstacle to creativity is breaking through the barrier of disbelief.

Genius is not a retainer to any emperor.

The best and most talented directors - and I think it goes for people too - are the most confident in giving room to their actors and trusting them.

As the fertilest ground, must be manured, so must the highest flying wit have a Daedalus to guide him.

When you come across real talent, it is sometimes worth allowing them to create the structure in which they choose to labor. In nine cases out of ten, by inviting them to take responsibility and control for a new venture, you will motivate them to do great things.

Genius resembles a bell; in order to ring it must be suspended into pure air, and when a foreign body touches it, its joyful toneis silenced.

Talent jogs to conclusions to which Genius takes giant leaps.

There's nothing wrong with being a genius who can fascinate the young. Rather, there's something wrong with the young who can't be fascinated by a genius.

I think every genius person has a bit of insanity.

Accept your genius and say what you think.

Genius is, to be sure, not a matter of arbitrariness, but rather of freedom, just as wit, love, and faith, which once shall become arts and disciplines. We should demand genius from everybody, without, however, expecting it.

I wouldn't want to compare myself to David Byrne whom I consider a genius, but what I think what we have in common is that he's also a guy who is very interested in the world and who has a lot of passions beyond singing and playing guitar.

Genius does not care much for a set of explicit regulations, but that does not mean that genius is lawless.

We get to design what we want to see in the world rather than doing what other people think should be done.

We have barely begun to tap into the genius of our humanity.

Genius is play, and man's capacity for achieving genius is infinite, and many may achieve genius only through play.

Genius is that energy which collects, combines, amplifies, and animates.

Be a good craftsman; it won't stop you from being a genius.

All The Rules In This World Were Made By Someone No Smarter Than You. So Make Your Own.

A conditioned mind may be inventive; it may think up new ideas, new phrases, new gadgets; it may build a dam, plan a new society, and all the rest of it; but that is not creativity. Creativity is something much more than the mere capacity to acquire a technique. It is because this extraordinary thing called creativity is not in most of us that we are so shallow, empty, insufficient. And only the mind that is free can be creative.

Creative ability is often mistakenly attributed to inborn talent. It is about all the ability to connect one thing with another.

Let us have an education, that shall practically develop our thinking faculties and manhood; and then, and only then, shall we be able to vie with our oppressors, go where we may . . .