Graduation Speech
yungpueblo.substack.com
Graduation Speech
Talent is insignificant. I know a lot of talented ruins. Beyond talent lie all the usual words: discipline, love, luck, but, most of all, endurance. ...If you are going to be a writer there is nothing I can say to stop you; if you’re not going to be a writer nothing I can say will help you. What you really need at the beginning is somebody to let y... See more
Rolf Potts • 9 Outtakes from James Baldwin's Paris Review interview - Rolf Potts
Talent is a cunning thing. Without it, you must take a year to achieve what those with it can in a week. With it, you must take a year to understand the value of what you have learned, while those without it will learn in a week.
"If you're eager to learn—even if you aren't particularly talented—then you can make it a long way despite your shortcomings.
But if you're not eager and curious, you'll find your natural abilities often fall short of what is required."
But if you're not eager and curious, you'll find your natural abilities often fall short of what is required."
3-2-1: The power of limiting your options, the value of eagerness, and what we undervalue
It has been my experience in life that no matter how strong or how clever a teacher you may be, if someone is unwilling to change and refuses to listen, there is nothing you or anyone else can do to help improve his or her condition.
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Humility is what keeps us there, concerned that we don’t know enough and that we must continue to study. Ego rushes to the end, rationalizes that patience is for losers (wrongly seeing it as a weakness), and assumes that we’re good enough to give our talents a go in the world.