Mother Earth is very talented. She has produced Buddhas, bodhisattvas, great beings.

Ridicule is the tribute paid to the genius by the mediocrities.

I can dance to just about anything.

When I was in high school, there were these British blues-rock-type bands with really good guitar players that would jam on one song for half an hour. And as much as I was amazed by some of those guitar players, seeing them prompted me to make a note that that’s not something I could do.

In order to acquire a growing and lasting respect in society, it is a good thing, if you possess great talent, to give, early in your youth, a very hard kick to the right shin of the society that you love. After that, be a snob.

My mother is a singer, my sisters all sing, my uncles are incredible singers and guitar players, so it’s just kind of been like my habitat.

I’ve never wanted to use my age as a gimmick, as something that would get me ahead of other people. I’ve wanted the music to do that.

The best work is not what is most difficult for you; it is what you do best.

If you truly get in touch with a piece of carrot, you get in touch with the soil, the rain, the sunshine. You get in touch with Mother Earth and eating in such a way, you feel in touch with true life, your roots, and that is meditation. If we chew every morsel of our food in that way we become grateful and when you are grateful, you are happy.

Talent without working hard is nothing.

The Artist is he who detects and applies the law from observation of the works of Genius, whether of man or Nature. The Artisan is he who merely applies the rules which others have detected.

People with great gifts are easy to find, but symmetrical and balanced ones never.

Let the path be open to talent.

I performed in a bowling alley before while people were still bowling. Cut the check, and I will perform anywhere.

I love to play. And fortunately, I don’t know a lot of musicians that suck. I know a bunch of really good ones, and they’re always up for playing.

If I heard someone else singing like me, I would buy it in a heartbeat.

I had no talent for science. What was infinitely worse: all my fraternity brothers were engineers.

I am very happy playing and showing off my talent on the cricket field and have no plans to enter Bollywood.

Celebrity is the chastisement of merit and the punishment of talent.

My biggest criticism is how can people be so easily satisfied? Even people with talent.

Children’s talent to endure stems from their ignorance of alternatives.

Irrespective of whether you have talent or not, one has to work hard. Just being talented doesn’t mean anything; you can end up wasting it before you realize.

The barriers are not erected which can say to aspiring talents and industry, ‚Thus far and no farther.‘

As soon as I got out there I felt a strange relationship with the pitcher’s mound. It was as if I’d been born out there. Pitching just felt like the most natural thing in the world. Striking out batters was easy.

You carry Mother Earth within you. She is not outside of you. Mother Earth is not just your environment. In that insight of inter-being, it is possible to have real communication with the Earth, which is the highest form of prayer.

If I had never ventured beyond being a stand-up comic, then I would be sitting in my house today working on my Leonardo DiCaprio impression.

Talent is cheaper than table salt. What separates the talented individual from the successful one is a lot of hard work.

In pop music, the public usually see the results – the hit records, the Grammy Awards performances, the concert tours – but not all the work that goes into getting into the spotlight. And not everyone realizes that, even if you have a lot of talent, chances are you won’t make it.

I have a definite talent for convincing people to try something new. I am a good salesman. When I’m on form, I can sell anything.

Sometimes, indeed, there is such a discrepancy between the genius and his human qualities that one has to ask oneself whether a little less talent might not have been better.

My name is Adam Sandler. I’m not particularly talented. I’m not particularly good-looking. And yet I’m a multi-millionaire.

Who’s to say what’s a good voice and not a good voice?

I just was never into performing. It’s just hard work. It’s hard work.

I think one of my pursuits over the years is trying to answer the question of, ‚What else can you do with a voice other than stand in front of a microphone and sing?‘

We like to think about how smart we are. But I think talent as a writer is hard-wired in, it’s all there, at least the basic elements of it. You can’t change it any more than you can choose whether to be right handed or left handed.

I believe that every person is born with talent.

When someone bestows something on you, no matter how true it is, when someone says, ‚Sexiest Man Alive,‘ I’m honestly going, ‚Thank you. Right on.‘ For me, it’s never canceled out anything, it’s never made me go, ‚Does this make me less talented of an actor?‘

People who are unable to motivate themselves must be content with mediocrity, no matter how impressive their other talents.

Some artists just ruin their voices because they don’t know any better.

The gift of fantasy has meant more to me than my talent for absorbing positive knowledge.

I was born with a great gift, and sometimes with that comes a destructive streak.

Everyone enjoys doing the kind of work for which he is best suited.

Acting is the most minor of gifts. After all, Shirley Temple could do it when she was four.

I think most of the people involved in any art always secretly wonder whether they are really there because they’re good or there because they’re lucky.

In an individual sport, yes, you have to win titles. Baseball’s different. But basketball, hockey? One person can control the tempo of a game, can completely alter the momentum of a series. There’s a lot of great individual talent.

Talent and effort, combined with our various backgrounds and life experiences, has always been the lifeblood of our singular American genius.

Black or white good parts are hard to come by. A good actor with a good opportunity has a shot; without the opportunity it doesn’t matter how good you are.

Does anybody really think that they didn’t get what they had because they didn’t have the talent or the strength or the endurance or the commitment?

I knew I belonged to the public and to the world, not because I was talented or even beautiful, but because I had never belonged to anything or anyone else.

I know I’m talented, but I wasn’t put here to sing. I was put here to be a wife and a mom and look after my family. I love what I do, but it’s not where it begins and ends.

With drive and a bit of talent, you can move mountains. I know. I’ve done it.

Talent grips us. We are overtaken by the beauty of Michelangelo’s sculpture, riveted by Mariah Carey’s angelic voice, doubled over in laughter by the comedy of Robin Williams, and captivated by the on screen performances of Denzel Washington.

I knew that I was ‚interesting‘ at 18 because I was aware that I could get away with doing things on stage.

What you are, you are by accident of birth; what I am, I am by myself. There are and will be a thousand princes; there is only one Beethoven.

I put all my genius into my life; I put only my talent into my works.

Thousands of geniuses live and die undiscovered – either by themselves or by others.

There is no substitute for talent. Industry and all its virtues are of no avail.

I think any activity you have your kids in, you’re all trying to live vicariously through them. And you’re jealous of the kid that’s naturally more talented or has the facility, the body, the genes, or the God-given talent. People get jealous of that.

From the beginning of my rap career, since I was seen and heard, I always had a store.

There is something that is much more scarce, something finer far, something rarer than ability. It is the ability to recognize ability.

Many are they who have a taste and love for drawing, but no talent; and this will be discernible in boys who are not diligent and never finish their drawings with shading.