Great ability develops and reveals itself increasingly with every new assignment.

Baltasar Gracian

Put yourself on view. This brings your talents to light.

Baltasar Gracian

Hide not your talents, they for use were made. What's a sun-dial in the shade?

Benjamin Franklin (1706 - 1790)

If you have a talent, use it in every which way possible. Don't hoard¹ it. Don't dole² it out like a miser³. Spend it lavishly⁴ like a millionaire intent on going broke.

Brendan Francis

Natural ability without education has more often attained⁵ to glory and virtue⁶ than education without natural ability.

Cicero (106 BC - 43 BC)

Everyone has talent. What is rare is the courage to follow the talent to the dark place where it leads.

Erica Jong

Work while you have the light. You are responsible for the talent that has been entrusted⁷ to you.

Henri-Frédéric Amiel

Use what talents you possess: the woods would be very silent if no birds sang there except those that sang best.

Henry Van Dyke⁸

Appearance can always be changed, but the talent stays the same.

Jennifer Hudson, I Got This: How I Changed My Ways and Lost What Weighed Me Down, 2012

My focus has always been on talent over looks. This theme of people putting an emphasis on looks first has been a constant reminder⁹ throughout my life that most people don’t see things in the same way that I do.

Jennifer Hudson, I Got This: How I Changed My Ways and Lost What Weighed Me Down, 2012

The talent should speak for itself.

Jennifer Hudson, I Got This: How I Changed My Ways and Lost What Weighed Me Down, 2012

We believe that if men have the talent to invent need machines that put men out of work, they have the talent to put those men back to work.

John F. Kennedy (1917 - 1963)

It doesn't pay to be good at something unless you are the absolute best at it.

Josh Lieb, I am a Genius of Unspeakable Evil and I Want to be Your Class President, 2009

We are always more anxious to be distinguished¹⁰ for a talent which we do not possess, than to be praised for the fifteen which we do possess.

Mark Twain (1835 - 1910), Mark Twain's Autobiography¹¹

You have to have confidence in your ability, and then be tough enough to follow through.

Rosalynn Carter (1927 - )

Toil¹² to make yourself remarkable¹³ by some talent or other.

Seneca (5 BC - 65 AD)

Mediocrity knows nothing higher than itself, but talent instantly recognizes genius.

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (1859 - 1930), (Sherlock Holmes) Valley of Fear, 1915

Getting ahead in a difficult profession requires avid¹⁴ faith in yourself. That is why some people with mediocre¹⁵ talent, but with great inner drive, go much further than people with vastly superior talent.

Sophia Loren (1934 - )

Whatever you are by nature, keep to it; never desert your line of talent. Be what nature intended you for and you will succeed.

Sydney Smith (1771 - 1845)