70 Genius Quotes About Intelligence and Creativity

Enjoy this collection of genius quotes that remind us what true brilliance is and how it can be used to help ourselves and those around us.

What characteristics do geniuses share?

Well, as you might have guessed, they need to have a high IQ. A high IQ is an IQ over 140, but a true genius has an IQ of 160 or more.

There are a few other criteria for being considered a genius, and they include displaying a high degree of creativity and an exceptional work ethic.

There are genius quotes from some of the world’s most recognized geniuses on this list, including Thomas Alva Edison, Stephen Hawking, and Albert Einstein.

Several different internet lists claim that Isaac Newton is the ultimate genius.

However, if you are wondering who holds the title of the person with the highest IQ in the world, that would be Marilyn Vos Savant.

Even though she was awarded this title in the Guinness Book of World Records, there are some concerns about the tests she took.

She has even said IQ tests and their “attempts to measure it [intelligene] are useless.”

Keep reading through these genius quotes about other great minds for more pearls of wisdom and even a laugh or two!

There is also an entire section devoted to answering “what genius is.”

Don’t forget to also check out our collection of creativity quotes on using our imagination and unique ideas.

If you love this quote collection, read out our most popular quote article about short inspirational quotes for daily motivation. 

If you need more inspirational quotes, check out our motivational quotes category page.

Genius quotes about life and great minds

1. “No great mind has ever existed without a touch of madness.” ― Aristotle

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2. “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. Schumacher

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3. “To forgive is wisdom, to forget is genius. And easier. Because it’s true. It’s a new world every heartbeat.” ― Joyce Cary, The Horse’s Mouth

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4. “Everyone is born a genius, but the process of living de-geniuses them.” ― Richard Buckminster Fuller

5. “Genius inspires resentment. A sad fact of life.” ― Eoin Colfer, The Time Paradox

6. “These are times in which a genius would wish to live. It is not in the still calm of life, or the repose of a pacific station, that great characters are formed.” ― Abigail Adams

7. “Adversity reveals genius, prosperity conceals it.” ― Horace

8. “My encouragement: delete the energy vampires from your life, clean out all complexity, build a team around you that frees you to fly, remove anything toxic, and cherish simplicity. Because that’s where genius lives.” ― Robin S. Sharma

9. “Neither a lofty degree of intelligence nor imagination, nor both together go to the making of genius. Love, love, love, that is the soul of genius.” ― Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

10. “In order to share one’s true brilliance, one initially has to risk looking like a fool: genius is like a wheel that spins so fast, it at first glance appears to be sitting still.” ― Criss Jami, Venus in Arms

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Funny genius quotes that will make you chuckle

11. “There’s a fine line between genius and insanity. I have erased this line.” ― Oscar Levant

12. “It takes a lot of time to be a genius. You have to sit around so much, doing nothing, really doing nothing.” ― Gertrude Stein

13. “I don’t want to be a genius-I have enough problems just trying to be a man.” ― Albert Camus

14. “I quite agree with Dr. Nordau’s assertion that all men of genius are insane, but Dr. Nordau forgets that all sane people are idiots.” ― Oscar Wilde

15. “Everyone is a genius at least once a year. The real geniuses simply have their bright ideas closer together.” ― Georg Christoph Lichtenberg

16. “There is no off position on the genius button.” ― David Letterman

17. “Give me a smart idiot over a stupid genius any day.” ― Samuel Goldwyn

18. “I’m all in favor of the democratic principle that one idiot is as good as one genius, but I draw the line when someone takes the next step and concludes that two idiots are better than one genius.” ― Leo Szilard

19. “Like all young men I set out to be a genius, but mercifully laughter intervened.” ― Lawrence Durrell

20. “Genius is more often found in a cracked pot than in a whole one.” ― E. B. White

Genius quotes from Albert Einstein, Stephen Hawking, and Aldous Huxley

21. “People who boast about their I.Q. are losers.” ― Stephen Hawking

22. “We’re all a genius, but if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.” ― Albert Einstein

23. “It’s not that I’m so smart, it’s just that I stay with problems longer.” ― Albert Einstein

24. “The difference between stupidity and genius is that genius has its limits.” ― Albert Einstein

25. “There comes a time when the mind takes a higher plane of knowledge but can never prove how it got there.” ― Albert Einstein

26. “As a human being, one has been endowed with just enough intelligence to be able to see clearly how utterly inadequate that intelligence is when confronted with what exists.” ― Albert Einstein

27. “The thing about smart people is that they seem like crazy people to dumb people.” — Stephen Hawking

28. “Intelligence is the ability to adapt to change.” ― Stephen Hawking

29. “The secret of genius is to carry the spirit of the child into old age, which means never losing your enthusiasm.” ― Aldous Huxley

Inspirational genius quotes about success, talent, and hard work

30. “The most tragic thing in the world is a man of genius who is not a man of honor.” ― George Bernard Shaw

31. “If you knew how much work went into it, you wouldn’t call it genius. ” ― Michelangelo Buonarroti

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

33. “You don’t have to be a genius or a visionary or even a college graduate to be successful. You just need a framework and a dream.” ― Michael Dell

34. “Jealousy is the tribute mediocrity pays to genius.” ― Fulton J. Sheen

35. “The distance between insanity and genius is measured only by success.” ― Bruce Feirstein

36. “Talent does what it can; genius does what it must.” ― Edward G. Bulwer-Lytton

37. “Genius is one percent inspiration and ninety-nine percent perspiration.” ― Thomas A. Edison

38. “Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it.” ― W. H. Murray

39. “Success is more a function of consistent common sense than it is of genius.” ― An Wang

Short ‘What is genius’ quotes

40. “Talent is a flame. Genius is a fire.” ― Bernard Williams

41. “Genius is the ability to renew one’s emotions in daily experience.” ― Paul Cezanne

42. “All genius is a conquering of chaos and mystery.” ― Otto Weininger

43. “Genius is never understood in its own time.” ― Bill Watterson

44. “Genius is eternal patience.” ― Michelangelo

45. “Genius is nothing but continued attention.” ― Claude Adrien Helvetius

46. “Genius is the ability to put into effect what is on your mind.” ― F. Scott Fitzgerald

47. “Genius is full of trash.” ― Herman Melville

48. “In the republic of mediocrity, genius is dangerous.” ― Robert Green Ingersoll

49. “What is called genius is the abundance of life and health.” ― Henry David Thoreau

50. “Real genius is nothing else but the supernatural virtue of humility in the domain of thought.” ― Simone Weil

Genius Quotes To Cultivate a Positive Mental attitude

51. “The true genius is a mind of large general powers, accidentally determined to some particular direction.” — Samuel Johnson

52. True genius resides in the capacity for evaluation of uncertain, hazardous, and conflicting information.” — Winston Churchill

53. “True genius sees with the eyes of a child and thinks with the brain of a genie” — Puzant Kevork Thomajan

54. The true genius shudders at incompleteness – and usually prefers silence to saying something which is not everything it should be.” — Edgar Allan Poe

55. To believe your own thought, to believe that what is true for you in your private heart is true for all men that is genius.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson

56. “Every true genius is bound to be naive.” — Friedrich Schiller

57. Genius always finds itself a century too early. – Ralph Waldo Emerson

58.”A true genius admits that he/she knows nothing.” — Albert Einstein

59. “Next to genius is the power of feeling where true genius lies.” — Sarah Josepha Hale

60. “True genius, in strategy or anywhere, lies in self-control, self-mastery, presence of mind, fluidity of thought.” —  Robert Greene

Genius Quotes For Their Smartness

61. “Genius, by its very intensity, decrees a special path of fire for its vivid power.” — Phillips Brooks

62. “A happy genius is the gift of nature.” — John Dryden

63. Genius always gives its best at first; prudence, at last.” — Seneca the Younger

64. “Genius is the capacity for productive reaction against one’s training.” — Bernard Berenson

65. “Genius makes its observations in short-hand; talent writes them out at length.” — Christian Nestell Bovee

66. “A genius is one who can do anything except make a living.” — Joey Lauren Adams

67. “Genius is essentially creative; it bears the stamp of the individual who possesses it.” — Madame de Stael

68. “Genius… means little more than the faculty of perceiving in an unhabitual way.” — William James

69. “Genius is always more suggestive than expressive.” — Abel Stevens

70. “Genius always looks forward, and not only sees what is, but what necessarily will be.” — Fulke Greville

What did you learn from these genius quotes?

Now that you have a better understanding of what true genius means, you might be wondering if geniuses are born that way.

Sure, there are no doubt biological factors that help some people achieve the level of genius a little easier than others, but the popular consensus is that geniuses are not born; they are made.

And also, that anyone can be a genius.

In Psychology Today, Bryan Roche of the National University of Ireland wrote that “The fact is, intelligence can be increased–and quite dramatically.”

Some talents may seem innate, but everyone has the potential for greatness.

It comes down to being willing to do the work.

Intelligence is defined as the ability to acquire and apply knowledge and skills.

Intelligence also includes factors like your ability to reason, solve problems, remember information, and be creative.

There are plenty of ways to develop your skills at each of these, and take your intelligence level up a few notches, maybe even to genius status.

Let us know some of your other favorite genius quotes and sayings using the comment section below!