Johann Wolfgang von Goethe on genius

Love is an ideal thing, marriage a real thing; a confusion of the real with the ideal never goes unpunished.

That is the true season of love, when we believe that we alone can love, that no one could ever have loved so before us, and that no one will love in the same way after us.

Divide and rule, a sound motto. Unite and lead, a better one.

Not great understanding alone, not intelligence alone, nor both together, make genius. Love! Love! Love! that is the soul of genius.

Genius without education is like silver in the mine.

Benjamin Franklin1706–1790Poor Richard’s Almanack

• Education

Genius is one per cent inspiration, ninety-nine per cent perspiration.

Thomas Edison1847–1931