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Genius

I ran into this great quote from Paul Graham today:

“People who’ve done great things tend to seem as if they were a race apart. And most biographies only exaggerate this illusion, partly due to the worshipful attitude biographers inevitably sink into, and partly because, knowing how the story ends, they can’t help streamlining the plot till it seems like the subject’s life was a matter of destiny, the mere unfolding of some innate genius. In fact I suspect if you had the sixteen year old Shakespeare or Einstein in school with you, they’d seem impressive, but not totally unlike your other friends.

Which is an uncomfortable thought. If they were just like us, then they had to work very hard to do what they did. And that’s one reason we like to believe in genius. It gives us an excuse for being lazy. If these guys were able to do what they did only because of some magic Shakespeareness or Einsteinness, then it’s not our fault if we can’t do something as good.

I’m not saying there’s no such thing as genius. But if you’re trying to choose between two theories and one gives you an excuse for being lazy, the other one is probably right.”

 That’s from his essay to high school students, which is a great read: http://www.paulgraham.com/hs.html

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One of the best things I’ve learned as I’ve matured, is that I can make up for my lack of intelligence through great amounts of effort, and that there are very few truly smart people in the world.

Paradoxically, realizing that you are not smart will lead you to become smarter.

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