The reluctance to put away childish things may be a requirement of genius.
~ Rebecca Pepper Sinkler

If children grew up according to early indications, we should have nothing but geniuses.
~ Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Every man of genius is considerably helped by being dead.
~ Robert S. Lynd

In every work of genius, we recognize our own rejected thoughts; they come back to us with a certain alienated majesty.
~ Ralph Waldo Emerson, "Self Reliance," Essays, 1841

Common sense is instinct. Enough of it is genius.
~ George Bernard Shaw

There is no great genius without some touch of madness.
~ Lucius Annaeus Seneca, "On Tranquillity of the Mind," Moral Essays

This is the nature of genius, to be able to grasp the knowable even when no one else recognizes that it is present.
~ Deepak Chopra

When a true genius appears in the world, you may know him by this sign, that the dunces are all in confederacy against him.
~ Jonathan Swift

Any intelligent fool can make things bigger, more complex, and more violent. It takes a touch of genius - and a lot of courage - to move in the opposite direction.
~ E.F. Schumacker