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Ayn Rand's quote on talent

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Jill

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Talent does not survive all obstacles. In fact, in the face of hardships, talent is the first one to perish; the rarest plants are usually the most fragile. Our present-day struggle for existence is the coarsest and ugliest phenomenon that has ever appeared on earth. It takes a tough skin to face it, a very tough one. Are talented people born with tough skins? Hardly. In fact, the more talent one possesses the more sensitive one is, as a rule.

She did develop quite a develop a tough skin herself, though, and I'm curious how.

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She did develop quite a develop a tough skin herself, though, and I'm curious how.

The difference between Roark and Mallory (from The Fountainhead). Mallory talks about it with Roark in some of their conversations (what makes Roark immune to other men while Mallory got hurt from the battle).

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  • 3 months later...
Don't let the bastards win.

I agree with Greedy on this, Roark didn't see them as enemies. He saw them as what they truly were, misguided men who were taught that the only way to suceed in architecture was to be a second-hander.

If I'm not mistaken several quotes point to this in Fountainhead, such as where Roark told Toohey that he didn't think of him (don't have the exact quote on me, I'm paraphrasing)

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Don't let the bastards win.

That's a surefire way to crash and burn. Often, I feel that many people see capitalism in this manner: An intentional limitation of those 'less fortunate'.

I find that it's all about turning the energy spent reading reviews inwards, and applying it to a passionate endeavor rather than succumbing to fear/discouragement.

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  • 1 month later...

Talent doesn't come often to people, but it never goes away. This is the 5% inspiration.

Hard work doesn't come often to people, because it's hard to keep up. This is the 95% perspiration.

People have to demonstrate both in order for the talent to come of fruition. Without hard work, talent is wasted and you don't produce what you wanted. Without talent, hard work alone can achieve a lot, but you can't achieve as much as if you were hard working and also talented.

My observation is people aren't willing to put in the 95% perspiration.

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Talent doesn't come often to people, but it never goes away. This is the 5% inspiration.

Hard work doesn't come often to people, because it's hard to keep up. This is the 95% perspiration.

People have to demonstrate both in order for the talent to come of fruition. Without hard work, talent is wasted and you don't produce what you wanted. Without talent, hard work alone can achieve a lot, but you can't achieve as much as if you were hard working and also talented.

My observation is people aren't willing to put in the 95% perspiration.

Oh great, a made up statistic. That should answer all her questions.

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