Dickens and Prince: A Particular Kind of Genius
genius is about caring about something more than a reasonable person cares about anything; actualized genius is the product of obsessive patterns of thought, coupled with raw intellectual power, carried through a lifetime.
On Genius, Intellect, and Obsession
An abiding stereotype of creativity is that it turns people crazy. I disagree: Not expressing creativity turns people crazy. (“If you bring forth what is within you, what you bring forth will save you. If you don’t bring forth what is within you, what you don’t bring forth will destroy you.”—Gospel of Thomas.) Bring forth what is within you, then,
... See moreElizabeth Gilbert • Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear
metimes the community you need might be just one other person! I’ve always loved the story of Flaubert writing Madame Bovary. Here was the ultimate solitary genius, working alone in his study at night, creeping forward on his novel at an excruciatingly slow pace—that’s one of part of how he got it done. But the other part is that every Sunday his f... See more
Worm School, week three
In 1997, historian David Banks argued in “The Problem of Excess Genius” that, “The most important question we can ask of historians is ‘Why are some periods and places so astonishingly more productive than the rest?’"