There is no great genius without some touch of madness.

Fate rules the affairs of mankind with no recognizable order.

—Seneca

Whatever limits us, we call Fate.

—Seneca

Every man prefers belief to the exercise of judgement.

—Seneca

Fire is the test of gold; adversity, of strong men.

—Seneca

Begin at once to live, and count each separate day as a separate life.

—Seneca

Genius might be described as a supreme capacity for getting its possessors into trouble of all kinds.

—Samuel Butler

He was a genius—that is to say, a man who does superlatively and without obvious effort something that most people cannot do by the uttermost exertion of their abilities.

—Robertson Davies

The public is wonderfully tolerant. It forgives everything except genius.

—Oscar Wilde

There's a fine line between genius and insanity. I have erased this line.

—Oscar Levant

Genius hath electric power which earth can never tame.

—Lydia M. Child