Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums General Discussion Quotations that resonate with gifted people

Along the light-hearted and entertaining lines of threads for collecting anecdotes on parenting gifted kids or
things gifted kids do ... this thread might collect a roundup of quotations that resonate with gifted people.

Several members have great quotes in their forum signatures.

Beyond those, the first quote I'll offer is inspired by the extensive Book Recommendations on the forum.

“I read so I can live more than one life in more than one place.”
― Anne Tyler (author, The Accidental Tourist)

I am so clever that sometimes I don't understand a single word of what I am saying.

--Oscar Wilde

There is nothing - absolutely nothing - half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats.


Oops, sorry, wrong thread! It's very hot here today.

There's always the apocryphal - nothing to declare except my genius also, 'all of us are in the gutter but some of us are gazing at the stars'

“Never engage in a battle of wits with an unarmed man.”

― Winston Churchill

(I saw it paraphrased as "I refuse to have a battle of wits with an unarmed person.")

Life is better when I remember this sentiment.

Arthur Schopenhauer: “Talent hits a target no one else can hit. Genius hits a target no one else can see.”

“I suppose flattery hurts no one, that is, if he doesn’t inhale.” — Adlai Stevenson

And like ConnectingDots, I have a mantra that helps me though many a moment: "Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity." It's amazing how many problems disappear when people (including me) stop assuming it's all about them, and therefore the other guy did it on purpose.

"There is nothing - absolutely nothing - half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats."

- Tigerle

No, that was Rat! Or Mole? Sorry, I already said, it's just SO hot here today, my brain is barely turning over.

“Throughout history, poverty is the normal condition of man. Advances which permit this norm to be exceeded — here and there, now and then — are the work of an extremely small minority, frequently despised, often condemned, and almost always opposed by all right-thinking people. Whenever this tiny minority is kept from creating, or (as sometimes happens) is driven out of a society, the people then slip back into abject poverty.

This is known as "bad luck.”

-Robert Heinlein

Thanks for adding an attribution... without citation a "quote" may be considered plagiarism. However, this quotation is actually from the character Water Rat, in the often-recommended children's book The Wind in the Willows.

- Robert Heinlein, science fiction author (deceased)

Oops - yes forgot the attribution. Thanks!

"All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as being self-evident."

- Arthur Schopenhauer

Ah, see... I had thought it sounded familiar, but then I thought that Tigerle had meant it for a different thread and just left it there.

Confusion all around!

Sorry guys, it was a joke! A joke!
Was practically melting trying to catch up on housework because it was so hot already in the morning, wanting to play because I thought it was a fun thread, but all my brain kept resonating with was just how much rather I'd be messing about on the river in boats. So I put that. It's one of my favourites, anyway.

Hope you are having a good summer messing about wherever y'all!

I've loved this quote for over 20 years:

Your life feels different on you, once you greet death and understand your heart's position. You wear your life like a garment from the mission bundle sale ever after -- lightly because you realize you never paid nothing for it, cherishing because you know you won't ever come by such a bargain again.
- Louise Erdrich

Would W.Wordsworth, Splendor In the Grass quote fit here?
What though the radiance which was once so bright
Be now forever taken from my sight,
Though nothing can bring back the hour
Of splendor in the grass,of glory in the flower
We will grieve not,rather find
Strength in what remains behind,
In the primal sympathy
Which having been must ever be;
In the soothing thoughts that spring
Out of human suffering;
In the faith that looks through death,
In years that that bring the philosophic mind.
William Wordsworth

This is so beautiful.
Thanks for posting.
I'll be re-reading this.
I looked up the author: She has more than 2 dozen published books to her credit, and has a bookstore.

Thanks for posting this meaningful poem. It is both solemn and inspirational.

Tigerle, "messing about in boats" is a favorite quote in our house, too!

"To the well organized mind, death is but the next great adventure."

"Which goes to show that the best of us sometimes have to eat our words."

And the one that actually stunned me when I read it:

"Of course it is happening inside your head, Harry, but why on earth should that mean that it is not real?"

Dumbledore

One of my favorites:

Another great one.

Anyone wanting context, can click here.

One of my favorites:
"Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it.
Boldness has genius, power and magic in it."
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

That'll end a bout of procrastination!

In looking up which work it came from, I found that the source seems elusive, causing some to wonder whether the attribution to Goethe may be an oft-repeated error? Or possibly it was from a personal letter, not a published work?

Still, it is a great quote.

It reminds me of this bit of verse:
"Let us, then, be up and doing,
With a heart for any fate;
Still achieving, still pursuing,
Learn to labor and to wait."
- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, closing lines from "A Psalm of Life"

And also:
"Start where you are.
Use what you have.
Do what you can."
- Arthur Ashe

And Gandalf goes on to say:
“Many that live deserve death. And some that die deserve life. Can you give it to them? Then do not be too eager to deal out death in judgement. For even the very wise cannot see all ends.”

'I never remember feeling tired by work, though idleness exhausts me completely' -Sherlock Holmes

I love this thread! I love wonderfully profound, succinct, and wise statements.

Two select quotes of wisdom by Aerith Gainsborough, my idol, from the video game Final Fantasy VII:
I think being normal is the greatest happiness.
Don't give up, never give up hope!

Spoken with full confidence and matter-of-factly by Maria Traydor, in the video game Star Ocean 3, reminding me to believe in myself even when my confidence and ambitions are called ridiculous, arrogant, et cetera:
I'm a winner.
I'm destined for a greatness.

Gandalf, forever reminding me to remain humble:
The wise speak only of what they know.

A poem by Tupac Shakur, dedicated to himself—I presume fully aware of his genius:
In the Depths of Solitude
I exist in the depths of solitude
pondering my true goal
Trying 2 find peace of mind
and still preserve my soul
CONSTANTLY yearning 2 be accepted
and from all receive respect
Never compromising but sometimes risky
and that is my only regret
A young heart with an old soul
how can there be peace
How can I be in the depths of solitude
when there R 2 inside of me
This Duo within me causes
the perfect opportunity
2 learn and live twice as fast
as those who accept simplicity

Lastly, I offer two of my own :
She who follows her heart without her head is a fool; she who follows her head without her heart a tyrant.
I'd rather die in solitude with justice in my heart than in the company of evil.

Be inspiring!

Ah, I thought of this thread the other day when I heard this old song on the radio, by the Waterboys. It always reminds me of my kids

I pictured a rainbow
You held it in your hands
I had flashes
But you saw the plan
I wandered out in the world for years
While you just stayed in your room
I saw the crescent
You saw the whole of the moon
The whole of the moon

You were there in the turnstiles
With the wind at your heels
You stretched for the stars
And you know how it feels
To reach too high
Too far
Too soon
You saw the whole of the moon

I was grounded
While you filled the skies
I was dumbfounded by truth
You cut through lies

I saw the rain dirty valley
You saw Brigadoon
I saw the crescent
You saw the whole of the moon!

I spoke about wings
You just flew
I wondered I guessed and I tried
You just knew
I sighed
... but you swooned!
I saw the crescent
You saw the whole of the moon
The whole of the moon!

With a torch in your pocket
And the wind at your heels
You climbed on the ladder
And you know how it feels
To get too high
Too far
Too soon
You saw the whole of the moon
The whole of the moon!

Unicorns and cannonballs
Palaces and piers
Trumpets towers and tenements
Wide oceans full of tears
Flags rags ferryboats
Scimitars and scarves
Every precious dream and vision
Underneath the stars

Yes you climbed on the ladder
With the wind in your sails
You came like a comet
Blazing your trail
Too high
Too far
Too soon
You saw the whole of the moon



ETA: AAaand I've had that stuck in my head all afternoon now!

I do not have anything to add, just that I thoroughly enjoyed this thread, especially the last post. Actually I do have one- but it has to do with creativity and perfectionism…I have always loved it.

"There is a vitality, a life force, an energy, a quickening that is translated through you into action, and because there is only one of you in all of time, this expression is unique. And if you block it, it will never exist through any other medium and it will be lost. The world will not have it. It is not your business to determine how good it is nor how valuable nor how it compares with other expressions. It is your business to keep it yours clearly and directly, to keep the channel open. You do not even have to believe in yourself or your work. You have to keep yourself open and aware to the urges that motivate you. Keep the channel open. ... No artist is pleased. [There is] no satisfaction whatever at any time. There is only a queer divine dissatisfaction, a blessed unrest that keeps us marching and makes us more alive than the others." Martha Graham

I am also always moved to tears by the End poem in Minecraft, but that's another thread..;)

Plato on Socrates' trial: "The unexamined life is not worth living."

Oscar Wilde: "Be yourself; everyone else is already taken."

The eminently quotable Winston Churchill: "You have enemies? Good. That means you've stood up for something, sometime in your life."

Churchill again: “I never worry about action, but only inaction.”

ETA: That's signature worthy.

And, more comically/cynically, Lady Bracknell interviewing Jack in my favourite play by Oscar Wilde. The second half of her opinion exaggeratedly reflects mine on the current state of education:

“I do not approve of anything that tampers with natural ignorance. Ignorance is like a delicate exotic fruit; touch it and the bloom is gone.”

“Fortunately in England, at any rate, education produces no effect whatsoever. If it did, it would prove a serious danger to the upper classes, and probably lead to acts of violence in Grosvenor Square.”

14 Inspirational Movie Quotes for Entrepreneurs
Craig Cincotta
August 06, 2015
Entrepreneur

I love this. Why am I seeing dame Maggie Smith before my minds eye saying this?

Interested individuals can sign up to receive a quote of the day from values.com.

Each week, the quotes focus on a theme. This week's theme is grit.

I always liked the little anecdotes, jokes and tongue-in-cheek proverbs put out by the old Unix fortune program that you could set yourself up to receive at every login.

Just came across this one today, had to add:

“We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark; the real tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light.” — Plato

"The object of education is to prepare the young to educate themselves throughout their lives." - Robert Maynard Hutchins

The object of education?
"Why, to make the child happy and useful!"

Betsy Trotwood, in "David Copperfield".

I've never read a better, or more succinct description. I like the order, too, but the emphasis should be almost equal.

Indeed, this was Miss Trotwood's stated motive in seeking "to put him to a school where he may be thoroughly well taught and well treated."

How lovely that she valued having children well treated in their learning environment!

The need for being well-treated in one's learning environment is a frequent topic on the forums and may be key to many things including a child being happy, becoming a life-long learner, and being a useful contributor to society.

Yes, if you compare it to the schools in, say, "Nicholas Nickelby" or "Jane Eyre", you realize that it's not actually a universal value in 19th century England!

Following Google's Spotlight on Jane Jacobs today, I read up on her in a few places.

Got this from her Wikipedia entry:-

She studied at Columbia University's School of General Studies for two years, taking courses in geology, zoology, law, political science, and economics.[8] About the freedom to pursue study across her wide-ranging interests, she said:

For the first time I liked school and for the first time I made good marks. This was almost my undoing because after I had garnered, statistically, a certain number of credits I became the property of Barnard College at Columbia, and once I was the property of Barnard I had to take, it seemed, what Barnard wanted me to take, not what I wanted to learn. Fortunately my high-school marks had been so bad that Barnard decided I could not belong to it and I was therefore allowed to continue getting an education.[9]

^ Allen, Max (ed), ed. (1997-10-01). Ideas that Matter: The Worlds of Jane Jacobs. Ginger Press. ISBN 0-921773-44-7.

Love that last sentence.

"Service to others is the rent you pay for your room here on earth." - Muhammad Ali

"The man who views the world at 50 the same as he did at 20, has wasted 30 years of his life." - Muhammad Ali

"It isn't the mountains ahead to climb that wear you out; It's the pebble in your shoe." - Muhammad Ali

"It's not bragging if you can back it up." - Muhammad Ali

"Age is whatever you think it is. You are as old as you think you are." - Muhammad Ali

"Don't count the days; Make the days count." - Muhammad Ali

"If they can make penicillin out of moldy bread, they can sure make something out of you." - Muhammad Ali

"Live every day as if it were your last because some day you are going to be right." - Muhammad Ali

Muhammad Ali (born Cassius Clay) may be best known as a boxer, and remembered for his catchy rhymes, but he was also the 2005 Presidential Medal of Freedom award recipient.

"We seem to have forgotten that the expression "a liberal education" originally meant among the Romans one worthy of free men; while the learning of trades and professions by which to get your livelihood merely, was considered worthy of slaves only. But taking a hint from the word, I would go a step further and say, that it is not the man of wealth and leisure simply, though devoted to art, or science, or literature, who, in a true sense, is liberally educated, but only the earnest and free man."

- Henry David Thoreau,
"The Last Days of John Brown"

“We are each of an unsocial, taciturn disposition, unwilling to speak, unless we expect to say something that will amaze the whole room, and be handed down to posterity with all the eclat of a proverb.” - Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice


"Words are, in my not-so-humble opinion, our most inexhaustible source of magic." — Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallow - (Dumbledore)

"Of course it is happening inside your head, Harry, but why on earth should that mean that it is not real?" — Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - (Dumbledore)

"I have already proven to you, I make mistakes like the next man. In fact, being – forgive me – rather cleverer than most men, my mistakes tend to be correspondingly huger"
(Dumbledore)


and last but not least:
"What. An. Idiot." - Hermione Granger/Harrry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone

Not sure if these have already been mentioned...

"The answer was so simple, I was too smart to see it." --a quote from an episode of Adventure Time


"If you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will spend its whole life believing it is stupid." --Albert Einstein

"What are you reading?" [said with actual interest] --every good teacher.

"We must take sides.
Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim.
Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented.
Sometimes we must interfere."

- Elie Wiesel (1928-2016)
Holocaust Survivor
Nobel Peace Prize recipient, 1986
Author, possibly best known for Night

We had to read Night for school this past year. I was heartbroken to hear that the author died.

"Our elections are free - it's in the results where eventually we pay."

- Bill Stern, sportscaster
(1907-1971)

"Whoever, in the pursuit of science, seeks after immediate practical utility may rest assured that he seeks in vain."
-Hermann von Helmholtz

;-)

"You carry your attitude with you. You either achieve or you self-destruct.

"If you think positively, you can even turn a negative into a positive."

"The only failure is not to try."

"One step at a time makes a marathon."

- oldest IRONMAN triathlon competitor, "Iron Nun" Sister Madonna Buder, author of The Race to Grace,
featured in a N-i-k-e television commercial during the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro: N i k e(dot)com/news/unlimited-youth-sister-madonna-buder

Note: The word N I K E is captured by the forum's spam filter, therefore the word and the link incorporating that word are spelled out, with dashes or spaces between the letters.

There's an old saying that a chain is as strong as its weakest link.

This saying has been applied to logic (in which an unfounded statement would be a weak link), and also to teams (in which a team member's functioning may be a weak link, for various reasons).

A chain is only as strong as its weakest link

Thank you.
Great link..

“I alone cannot change the world, but I can cast a stone across the waters to create many ripples.”
- Mother Teresa, as seen in this collection on goodreads.

A few more quotes, from the same source:

“If you are humble nothing will touch you, neither praise nor disgrace, because you know what you are.”
― Mother Teresa

“I can do things you cannot, you can do things I cannot; together we can do great things.”
― Mother Teresa

“We know only too well that what we are doing is nothing more than a drop in the ocean. But if the drop were not there, the ocean would be missing something.”
― Mother Teresa

Mother Teresa was recently canonized within the Catholic Church: Saint Teresa of Calcutta (Kolkata).

There is a saying "Trust but verify."

"Comparison is the thief of joy."
- Theodore Roosevelt

I saw this on Quora today and it made me chuckle:

In the 1950’s a woman said to Adlai Stevenson: “You will have the vote of every intelligent person in the United States!” To which he answered:”It’s not enough. I need a majority.”

Apt!

LOL, indeed! While humorous, it may not be apt, as this quote is listed as disputed, for lack of facts substantiating that this exchange occurred.

Maybe you'll like this quote from Adlai Stevenson:
"Who leads us is less important than what leads us — what convictions, what courage, what faith — win or lose."

“Nothing is so common-place as to wish to be remarkable.”

― Oliver Wendell Holmes,
Autocrat of the Breakfast Table

Another quote from Elie Wiesel:
“Let us not forget, after all, that there is always a moment when the moral choice is made. Often because of one story or one book or one person, we are able to make a different choice, a choice for humanity, for life.” Mr. Wiesel was speaking of 'the people who were rescuers during the Holocaust.'

Eligible students age 13+ are invited to "write an essay responding to Wiesel’s quote in 500 words or less" if interested to participate in the 2017 Facing History Together Student Essay Contest, open March 1-15, 2017. This year's contest is sponsored by Holland & Knight Charitable Foundation's Holocaust Remembrance Project.

The 2016 contest was focused on the theme of "To Kill a Mockingbird", and was sponsored by Margaret Stohl, New York Times #1 Best Selling Author (co-author of young adult novel Beautiful Creatures).

More information at the website of 2017 Facing History Together, which also provides two questions which may serve as writing prompts: "What story, book, or person has influenced your thinking about ethical decision making? What has it taught you about how you can participate as a caring, thoughtful citizen in the world around you?"

Just want to mention that we've had Facing History in our school as part of our history curriculum sequence for several years now, and have had excellent responses from teachers and all levels of students. If you have a chance to advocate for it in your district, I would highly recommend it.

C.S. Lewis, author, on the topic of Liberal Arts education:



A bit like this quote by Henry David Thoreau.

Related links on liberal arts education -
here and here

I have never understood the point of the training versus education debate.

BOTH are *critical* to a culture and an economy and neither stops once 'school' is over for anyone with more intellectual curiousity than a turnip, right?

I apologize for possibly bringing the tone of this discussion down for a moment, but this might be the one place that will appreciate that my initial response to madeinuk's comment on vocational vs liberal arts education was to think about the telephone sanitizers from Douglas Adams's Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy...

As expressed by C.S. Lewis, it is not a debate, so much as raising awareness that there is a distinction between

vocational training and liberal arts education. A society may be vulnerable when vocational training stealthily supplants

liberal arts education while people remain unaware of the difference, therefore unaware of the change taking place.


If people see their children (and society in general) pursuing "education" without realizing that the content of what is being

taught has changed from a broad-based or liberal arts education to a rather narrow-focused job training... they may not

understand that these children are being prepared to function in a predetermined role in the economy, rather than

developing a knowledge of and appreciation for history, art, literature, cultures, etc, along with the penchant to

compare/contrast, evaluate, apply critical thinking skills, engage in debate, and essentially be self-determining...

self-governing citizens.

Not trying to argue but I do not believe that one needs to go to university to acquire any of that.

In fact, I would go as far as to say that a person without the above shouldn't even be aapplying to a university in the first place.

In some countries the government begins sorting children early on... possibly these children would be placed on a track for vocational training as telephone sanitizers. (thanks, aeh )

It may be difficult to truly appreciate and enjoy freedom, including simply choosing one's own educational/vocational path, unless one understands the circumstances others live under (such as government sorting children for career assignment).

Becoming aware of the distinction between liberal arts education and vocational training may help people to see with enlightened eyes.

"The man who does not read good books has no advantage over the man who can't read them."
- attributed (or misattributed) to Mark Twain

"Done is better than perfect."

I think this is good for all people, but maybe especially good for gifted kids who either find it hard to finish a project because they're afraid it's not good enough, or who throw themselves into a hundred things at once only to lose interest when it's time to get the boring bits done at the end.

That is another great one.

It reminds me a bit of 2 poems:

[color:#CC0000]*Some sources attribute this poem to John Greenleaf Whittier, or to Rudyard Kipling.

Frank Martin, coach, on setting high expectations for youth:

"Much that passes for education is not education at all but ritual.
The fact is that we are being educated when we know it least."

- David Pierpont Gardner

a poem for back-to-school:
I Opened a Book, by Julia Donaldson

I opened a book and in I strode.
Now nobody can find me.
I've left my chair, my house, my road,
My town and my world behind me.

I'm wearing the cloak, I've slipped on the ring,
I've swallowed the magic potion.
I've fought with a dragon, dined with a king
And dived in a bottomless ocean.

I opened a book and made some friends.
I shared their tears and laughter
And followed their road with its bumps and bends
To the happily ever after.

I finished my book and out I came.
The cloak can no longer hide me.
My chair and my house are just the same,
But I have a book inside me.

"Nobody loves a Genius Child"
-Langston Hughes

WeAreGifted2 blogspot by Dr. Joy Lawson Davis offers an insightful analysis of the poem "Genius Child" by Langston Hughes.

Genius Child is included in several books of Langston Hughes' collected works, including:
- Hughes: Poems (Everyman's Library Pocket Poets series)
- Collected Poems of Langston Hughes (Vintage Classics)

“If it bothers people, then it's working.”
-Seymour Durst
inventor of the National Debt Clock

U.S. National Debt Clock Definition and History
by Kimbery Amadeo
updated Nov 08, 2016
the balance - US economy
The 2nd point in this list reminds me of this old post discussing the irony of the 2 meanings of FREE (as they are at odds with each other): free meaning without cost at point of service -vs- free meaning having personal liberty. It seems that many people are interested in giving up BEING free in order to GET something for free.

The 3rd point in this list calls to mind a theme mentioned on the back cover of this book: Confucius Didn't Say

-Truman Capote, author
(source of quote: NY Times Obit, Aug 28, 1984)

"The further a society drifts from the truth, the more it will hate those that speak it."
- attributed (or misattributed) to George Orwell, author:

• Animal Farm (1945)
• 1984 (1949)

These books are on the crowd-sourced Recommended Reading lists in this forum.

Regarding the attribution or misattribution of this quote:
This quote has been attributed to author George Orwell, but may have actually been the words of Selwyn Duke.
Quote misattributed to George Orwell about society drifting from the truth continues to circulate online
by Reuters fact Check
Reuters
Dec 9, 2021
link - https://www.reuters.com/article/fac...inues-to-circulate-online-idUSL1N2SU1K1/

MASKS

She had blue skin,
And so did he.
He kept it hid
And so did she.
They searched for blue
Their whole life through,
Then passed right by -
And never knew.

-Shel Silverstein
MASKS appears on pages 20 and 21 of Shel Silverstein's book, Everything On It

Many of Shel Silverstein's poems are both nonsensical on the surface and also profound.

The poem MASKS by Shel Silverstein calls to mind gifted kids who are not provided with the opportunity to be grouped with academic and intellectual peers... but rather are subject to school practices of "cutting down tall poppies" used to coerce them to learn to hide their high level of native intelligence.

The ShelSilverstein website offers learning guides, activities, and resources for several of his works.

For all sad words of tongue and pen,
the saddest are these, 'It might have been.'
- John Greenleaf Whittier

“Opportunity is missed by most people because it comes dressed in overalls and looks like work.”
- Thomas Alva Edison

These quotes remind me that without hard work, individuals may fail to develop their giftedness into achievements, accomplishments, high performance, and success. Undeveloped potential may be lost.

"[font:Comic Sans MS]The things that we love tell us what we are.[/font][/size]"
Thomas Aquinas
philosopher, theologian
1225-1274

This quote, although more than 700 years old, brings to mind the multipotentiality of gifted youth.
Just a few of many good articles:
- When I Grow Up: Multipotentiality and Gifted Youth (IEA, March 2015)
- Good at Too Many Things? (Byrdseed)
- Nurturing multiple interests & multipotentiality in gifted students (Davidson, NAGC, 2017)

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"If a man does not keep pace with his companions,
perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer.
Let him step to the music which he hears,
however measured or far away."
-Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)

This calls to mind that gifted kids can vary considerably from their chronological age peers, in reaching milestones.

Here is a roundup of common Behavior characteristics and early milestones which may indicate giftedness:
http://giftedissues.davidsongifted....p_of_traits_is_my_baby_o.html#Post248478

Adding a link to a great quote, in a thread's OP: Children need free time to find their passions

"When a great genius appears in the world you may know him by this sign;
that the dunces are all in confederacy against him."

- Jonathan Swift, author, Gulliver's Travels

- actress Lupita Nyong'o

"I am happy because I am growing daily and I am honestly not knowing where the limit lies. To be certain, every day there can be a revelation or a new discovery. I treasure the memory of the past misfortunes. It has added more to my bank of fortitude."

~ Bruce Lee
Martial artist
1940-1973

Source: AZ Quotes, Bruce Lee, page 10 of 20

Discussing and valuing past mistakes can be role-modeled, especially for gifted children who may feel pressure to perform, and may therefore develop a fear of being wrong, subsequently exhibiting procrastination and perfectionism... stunting their growth through risk avoidance.

Grouping kids by age for instruction makes about as much pedagogical sense as grouping them by height!
~Deborah Ruf

How do we justify an educational system that ignores competence and achievement, and utilizes chronological age as the primary, or only, factor in student placement?
– Miraca Gross, 2012

Source: Hoagies' Gifted Education Page, Gifted Education Quotes

The starfish story.
- as found on good reads. "The Star Thrower" from THE UNEXPECTED UNIVERSE by Loren Eiseley.

Links:
- https://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/56782.Loren_Eiseley
- https://web.archive.org/web/2020*/https://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/56782.Loren_Eiseley
- https://www.eiseley.org/
- https://www.amazon.com/Unexpected-Universe-Loren-C-Eiseley/dp/0544313143
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loren_Eiseley

The starfish story calls to mind the arduous and daunting process of advocacy...
making a difference for one gifted student at a time.

The following excerpt may resonate with many gifted persons. It is from the book Once and Future King by T.H. White.

(Wikipedia provides a synopsis of the book, Goodreads provides several interesting and thought-provoking quotes.)

"Trouble can be transportation: a bad thing can take you to a good place."
"Success can be your servant or your master."
- Lines spoken by the character Callie, attributed to her Grandpa Tucker, in the Hallmark movie "Roadhouse Romance" (2021)

Thanks Indigo - I like dual quotations which succinctly encompass wealths of wisdom.

Over the years, there’ve only really been two quotations that I bring up with my kids and they also go hand in hand.

The first, ‘She’ll be right, mate’, goes completely against the second law of thermodynamics wrt entropy. It is such an upbeat quotation but its use is often as an excuse from putting in required effort, so I quote it often in order to dispel the seductive lie - the truth is that good reliable systems require a lot of knowledge, skills and efforts to design, implement and maintain. It is with this attitude a lot of people try to get by with less effort and slipshod work that leads to someone having to expand even more energy later to fix the foreseeable problems which ensue. Since on many occasions, I have been that ‘someone’ and their lack of care has cost me time with my young family, my kids are quite aware of how insidiously destructive such an attitude can be.

The second, ‘With great power comes great responsibility’, is consistent with the biblical parable described in Matthew 25 and somewhat redirects the implications of the first quotation back towards us, for those who don’t/ can’t understand the consequences of their (in)actions can claim ignorance as an excuse whereas responsibility lands on the ‘gifted’ with the ability to recognise the dangers and pitfalls.

The solution for the gifted therefore is to try to mentor others to develop appropriate skills and take on more responsibility. I’ve been in a more senior role in my profession for the last ten years and have had rewarding experiences of mentoring a number of younger colleagues in my own and in allied professions (many of whom now work in other organisations) and promoting a culture which incorporates both individual ownership and group collaboration.