Prodigy Quotes

When I was four, I think I just wanted to make noise. When I was about 10 years old I was given five CDs for my birthday: Pink Floyd's Dark side of the Moon, the Sex Pistols, Prodigy, Jimi Hendrix, and I can't remember the fifth one, but really different kinds of music. That's when I started to grasp it and enjoy it, listening to it. Then I started being in bands at school. ~ Eliot Paulina Sumner

You groped my bum!"
"It was an accident."
"It was not. You haven't done anything accidental with that hand since you were twelve."
"Fifteen, Mabes. You make me sound like some kind of infant sex prodigy. ~ Lily Morton

There is no book so poor that it would not be a prodigy if wholly made by a single man. ~ Samuel Johnson

He has the personality of a child prodigy, but no discernable talent. ~ Nick Hornby

Here is how to handle being a feral prodigy. ~ David Foster Wallace

And stature commanding and exact - in intellect richly endowed - in natural eloquence a prodigy - in soul manifestly "created but a little lower than the angels" - yet a slave, ay, a fugitive slave, - trembling for his safety, hardly daring to believe ~ Frederick Douglass

I have always been a singer, a writer, and a musician, not as a prodigy or as in a trade handed to me by my parents, but because of an inner voice or maybe a command from beyond reality as it is usually defined. ~ Frank Black

It is reported of that prodigy of parts, Monsieur Pascal, that till the decay of his health had impaired his memory, he forgot nothing of what he had done, read, or thought, in any part of his rational age. This is a privilege so little known to most men, that it seems almost incredible to those who, after the ordinary way, measure all others by themselves; but yet, when considered, may help us to enlarge our thoughts towards greater perfections of it, in superior ranks of spirits. ~ John Locke

On a park bench on 12th street, my whole crew's famous, you try bust your gat and keep it rel but you nameless ~ Prodigy

If now a friend denies not what was given him in trust,
If he restores an ancient purse with all its coins and rust,
This prodigy of honesty deserves to be enrolled
In Tuscan books, and with a sacrificial lamb extolled. ~ Juvenal

Oddly enough, my partner went on Prodigy when it first came out, and I ended up playing with some of that stuff!. ~ Bobby Sherman

Did you know only fifteen percent of the crimes in this city are committed by prodigies? But the Renegades put eighty percent of their task force on hunting down prodigy offenders, and all but ignore the rest. If they really cared about justice and protecting the weak, you'd think they'd give a bit more effort to the actual problem."

"In their eyes, we are the only real problem," said Narcissa. "We take the blame for everything that goes wrong in this city. All so the Renegades can go on pretending to be big and honorable. 'Look, we caught another prodigy, one who robbed a convenience store six years ago! Don't you feel safe now?' It's prejudice, every bit as much as the people who used to stone us for being demons. ~ Marissa Meyer

What a Chimera is man! What a novelty, a monster, a chaos, a contradiction, a prodigy! Judge of all things, an imbecile worm; depository of truth, and sewer of error and doubt; the glory and refuse of the universe. ~ Blaise Pascal

Had Martha Foley returned William [James Sidis]'s passion as Margaret [Engemann] did Norbert [Wiener]'s, perhaps the two prodigies would have had more in common in the long run. ... In the life of a prodigy, perhaps more than in the average life, a marriage or a requited love is the greatest single factor that can heal the old childhood wounds. William and Norbert's response to their childhood and teenage rejections and humiliations was to retreat into the painless world of ideas, where successes and satisfactions abounded. A successful love affair could be the key to reentry into the world of feeling, bridging the gap between the cerebral and the emotional lives. ~ Amy Wallace

What benefits new books bring us! I would like a basket full of books telling the youth of images which fall from heaven for me every day. This desire is natural. This prodigy is easy. For, up there, in heaven, isn't paradise an immense library?

But it is not sufficient to receive; one must welcome. One must, say the pedagogue and the dietician in the same voice, 'assimilate.' In order to do that, we are advised not to read too fast and to be careful not to swallow too large a bite. We are told to divide each difficulty into as many parts as possible, the better to solve them. Yes, chew well, drink a little at a time, savor poems line by line. All these precepts are well and good. But one precept orders them. One first needs a good desire to eat, drink and read. One must want to read a lot, read more, always read.

Thus, in the morning, before the books piled high on my table, to the god of reading, I say my prayer of the devouring reader: 'Give us this day our daily hunger . . .'" - Gaston Bachelard, "Introduction", The Poetics of Reverie: Childhood, Language, and the Cosmos, Pages 25-26 ~ Gaston Bachelard

I've heard that, but since I'm computer illiterate I don't know how it all works. But since I'm on Prodigy tonight, I'm learning a lot through my typist, Peter. ~ Bobby Sherman

If Shakespeare be considered as a MAN born in a rude age and educated in the lowest manner, without any instruction either from the world or from books, he may be regarded as a prodigy; if represented as a POET capable of furnishing a proper entertainment to a refined or intelligent audience, we must abate much of this eulogy. In his compositions, we regret that many irregularities, and even absurdities, should so frequently disfigure the animated and passionated scenes intermixed with them; and, at the same time, we perhaps admire the more those beauties on account of their being surrounded by such deformities. A striking peculiarity of sentiment, adapted to a single character, he frequently hits, as it were, by inspiration; but a reasonable propriety of thought he cannot for any time uphold. Nervous and picturesque expressions as well as descriptions abound in him; but it is in vain we look either for purity or simplicity of diction. His total ignorance of all theatrical art and conduct, however material a defect, yet, as it affects the spectator rather than the reader, we can more easily excuse than that want of taste which often prevails in his productions, and which gives way only by intervals to the irradiations of genius. [....] And there may even remain a suspicion that we overrate, if possible, the greatness of his genius; in the same manner as bodies often appear more gigantic on account of their being disproportioned and misshapen. ~ David Hume

A person who's going to be famous usually drops a few clues by the time they're twenty-one. ~ Frank D. Gilroy

The first book I could call mine, my first book, was a picture book, 'The Magic Monkey' - it was adapted from an old Chinese legend by a thirteen-year-old prodigy named Plato Chan with the help of his sister. ~ Nick Flynn

I listen to a variety of stuff on my iPod: Chemical Brothers, Prodigy, Public Enemy, Foo Fighters, anything that gets my adrenalin flowing. ~ Chris Hoy

Be a combination of a dove and the serpent; not a monster, but a prodigy. ~ Baltasar Gracian

I was never pegged to be the next great American tennis player by any means. I wasn't a prodigy. I'm a late bloomer. Whatever happens, I'm proud of what I've done. ~ John Isner

If I win, I'm a prodigy. If I lose, then I'm crazy. That's the way history is written. ~ Eoin Colfer

There's a war going on outside no man is safe from.
You can run but you can't hide forever. ~ Prodigy

A genius that survives is the real genius. ~ Raheel Farooq

Everyone wants a prodigy to fail; it makes our mediocrity more bearable. ~ Harold Bloom

He was a young man of savage & unexpected originality, a diseased genius & quite frankly, a mad genius. Imbeciles grow insane & in their insanity the imbecility remains stagnant or agitated; in the madness of a man of genius some genius often remains: the form & not the quality of intelligence has been affected; the fruit has been bruised in the fall, but has preserved all its perfume & all the savor of its pulp, hardly too ripe. ~ Remy De Gourmont

During the Society's early years, no member personified the organization's eccentricities or audacious mission more than Sir Francis Galton. A cousin of Charles Darwin's, he had been a child prodigy who, by the age of four, could read and recite Latin. He went on to concoct myriad inventions. They included a ventilating top hat; a machine called a Gumption-Reviver, which periodically wet his head to keep him awake during endless study; underwater goggles; and a rotating-vane steam engine. Suffering from periodic nervous breakdowns––"sprained brain," as he called it––he had a compulsion to measure and count virtually everything. He quantified the sensitivity of animal hearing, using a walking stick that could make an inconspicuous whistle; the efficacy of prayer; the average age of death in each profession (lawyers: 66.51; doctors: 67.04); the exact amount of rope needed to break a criminal's neck while avoiding decapitation; and levels of boredom (at meetings of the Royal Geographical Society he would count the rate of fidgets among each member of the audience). ~ David Grann

Everyone loves a prodigy [...]. Prodigies get us off the hook for living ordinary lives. We can tell ourselves we're not special because we weren't born with it, which is a great excuse. ~ Nathan Hill

I never thought of myself as special or particularly good at anything. But once I started ballet, suddenly I had a new identity: prodigy. ~ Misty Copeland

The word "prodigy" was thrown around a lot, but I didn't understand what that meant, or the weight of it. It didn't really mean anything to me, until I was older and could look back on it. ~ Misty Copeland

When you're ten, they call you a prodigy. When you're fifteen, they call you a genius. But once you hit twenty, you're just a normal person. ~ Masahiro Yokotani

I'm only 19 but my mind is older ...
When things get for real, my warm heart turns cold. ~ Prodigy

There's a stark difference between the words 'prodigy' and 'genius.' Prodigies can very quickly learn what other people have already figured out; geniuses discover that which no one has ever previously discovered. Prodigies learn; geniuses do. ~ John Green

My older brother was a musical prodigy, and he got a scholarship to the Bronx House Music School. We moved to the Bronx when I was 4 to be close to his music school. Then I got a music scholarship myself, at the age of 6, but that was for a school down in Greenwich Village. I had to take the elevated train and then the subway to get there. ~ Mildred S. Dresselhaus

Trumbo was that, certainly: a prodigy of the will. He hung in there - survived, prevailed, even triumphed on a couple of occasions. Ultimately, that is why he is worth our attention. ~ Bruce Cook

Ten million dead. Gas. Passchendaele. Let that be now a large figure, now a chemical formula, now an historical account. But dear lord, not the Nameless Horror, the sudden prodigy sprung on a world unaware. We all saw it. There was no innovation, no special breach of nature, or suspension of familiar principles. If it came as any surprise to the public then their own blindness is the Great Tragedy, hardly the war itself. ~ Thomas Pynchon

Albert [Brooks] was rare in that he could make adults laugh. He was a prodigy. At age 15 and 16, he could make my dad laugh uncontrollably. And whenever we had parties, some of the funniest people of my generation - whether it was Billy Crystal or Robin Williams or John Belushi - would be doing shtick. ~ Rob Reiner

Oh, whatever would I do without my child-progeny sister to tell me what to do."
"Prodigy," I corrected. ~ Barbara Kingsolver

Nicky, the van's on fire!'
'Fuck the van, Willy! We got ourselves a prodigy child! ~ Jonathan Dunne

There is no prodigy in our profession. If you see all the great singer of the past, none of them are. ~ Luciano Pavarotti

I don't know if you know this - I don't drive a stick. I mean, I barely drive my automatic. I get to work and everything, but I'm not any kind of driving prodigy. ~ Jessica Pare

When the slugs penetrate, you feel a burning sensation,
Gettin closer to God in a tight situation. ~ Prodigy

There are lots of different interpretations of the word 'prodigy.' My own is of someone who is talented and tries to help other children. So in that respect I could be called one, although I don't think I'll go off the rails. ~ Adora Svitak

For every child prodigy that you know about, at least 50 potential ones have burned out before you even heard about them. ~ Itzhak Perlman

In the silence of her nonanswer, I considered the possibility that I was a very boring person. Who else but a boring person would utter such meaningless trifles? If a brilliant pig, the prodigy of the barnyard, spent his entire life learning Russian, and on finally becoming proficient the first words he heard were my own, he would wonder why he had wasted his best years when he could have been lolling in the mud, eating slop with the other dumb beasts. ~ David Benioff

Mia and I had been together for more than two years, and yes, it was a high school romance, but it was still the kind of romance where I thought we were trying to find a way to make it forever, the kind that, had we met five years later and had she not been some cello prodigy and had I not been in a band on the rise - or had our lives not been ripped apart by all this -I was pretty sure it would've been. ~ Gayle Forman

For all of those who wanna profile and pose
Rock you in your face, stab your brain with your nose bone. ~ Prodigy

Your crew is featherweight, my gunshots will make you levitate ~ Prodigy

The sunset looks beautiful over the projects ...
What a shame, it ain't the same where we stand at.
If you look close, you can see the bricks chipped off.
Sometimes niggas miss when they lick off. ~ Prodigy

For a moment, she didn't know how to answer him. This was why she didn't like to help people, curse it. Because they looked at her like that, with absolute faith & trust, as if she could somehow solve all the problems in the world when in reality she couldn't. In reality, it took every ounce of skill, every bit of knowledge she possessed, to keep the ones around her alive without somehow blundering & messing everything up. Prodigy was not synonymous with perfect. Didn't anyone realize just how fallible she really was? ~ Honor Raconteur

We hear about Tiger Woods as a prodigy at three years old. For every Tiger Woods, there are thousands of kids who never want to touch a golf club again. ~ Michael Sokolove

A child doesn't have to be a prodigy. He has to be a child. The only thing that matters is that he shouldn't become 'stuck' in childishness. ~ Andrei Tarkovsky

Mr. Mancini had a singular talent for making me uncomfortable. He forced me to consider things I'd rather not think about – the sex of my guitar, for instance. If I honestly wanted to put my hands on a woman, would that automatically mean I could play? Gretchen's teacher never told her to think of her piano as a boy. Neither did Lisa's flute teacher, though in that case the analogy was obvious. On the off chance that sexual desire was all it took, I steered clear of Lisa's instrument, fearing that I might be labeled a prodigy. ~ David Sedaris

His eyes are two warnings, full of everything he wishes he could say out loud ~ Marie Lu

A man does not wonder at what he sees frequently, even though he be ignorant of the reason. If anything happens which he has not seen before, he calls it a prodigy. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero

He was looking for the Knight of Faith, the real prodigy. That real prodigy, having set its relations with the infinite, was entirely at home in the finite. Able to carry the jewel of faith, making the motions of the infinite, and as a result needing nothing but the finite and the usual. Whereas others sought the extraordinary in the world. Or wished to be what was gaped at. ~ Saul Bellow

To be honest, I don't really consider myself a prodigy. Learning the piano, I have encountered some difficulties. There are many challenges in playing and I've grown frustrated at times. But because I like to play the piano, I never thought of giving up. I was always able to overcome difficulties in pianistic techniques. Yes, there might be some 'traffic lights', but they all turned 'green'. ~ George Li

Paul had always wanted to be a prodigy. But what no one ever told him was that prodigies don't feel like prodigies; they feel old. They feel like has-beens just at the moment that they're said to be blossoming. ~ Graham Moore

Well, I love what you would call boys' music, you know, the prodigy, banging techno, music that girls generally don't like. ~ Chris Lowe

I'd hoped for someone who was remarkably intelligent, but disadvantaged by home circumstance, someone who only needed an hour's extra tuition a week to become some kind of working-class prodigy. I wanted my hour a week to make the difference between a future addicted to heroin and a future studying English at Oxford. That was the sort of kid I wanted, and instead they'd given me someone whose chief interest was in eating fruit. I mean, what did he need to read for? There's an international symbol for the gents' toilets, and he could always get his mother to tell him what was on television. ~ Nick Hornby

All they're going to see is a wealthy man who has no idea how to heal their suffering. ~ Marie Lu

Ms Rainn, you might say, is a writing prodigy and I'm her mentor. ~ S.A. Tawks

I have never considered myself a prodigy. Others have used that term, but I never bought in to it. ~ Joshua Waitzkin

In the mirror, I look the same. But I am a different person inside.I am a prodigy who knows the truth. I know exactly what I'm going to do. ~ Marie Lu

The problem exactly is that she dumped me. That I'm alone. Oh my God, I'm alone again. And not only that, but I'm a total failure in case you haven't noticed. I'm washed up. I'm former. Formerly the boyfriend of Katherine XIX. Formerly a prodigy. Formerly full of potential. Currently full of shit. ~ John Green

Ah, a German and a genius ! A prodigy, admit him ! ~ Jonathan Swift

If I was a musician it would probably be something between Marilyn Manson and The Prodigy. ~ Daniel Marques

One of these days I'm going to be surrounded by so many young gifted athletes. There must be something in the water, because everyone's kid is a prodigy of some kind, except for mine. Gomer is a bit of a lumberer on the soccer field, and when Adolpha practices her ballet, she has the grace of a baby giraffe. They're so like their mother. I couldn't be prouder of my little underachievers. ~ Jen Mann

Any man who criticizes my suicide and passes judgment on me with an expression of superiority, declaring (without offering the least help) that I should have gone on living my full complement of days, is assuredly a prodigy among men quite capable of tranquilly urging the Emperor to open a fruit shop. ~ Osamu Dazai

I think it's fair to say that Nina Simone was a prodigy. ~ Michel Martin

I can remember wondering as a child if I were a young Macaulay or Ruskin and secretly deciding that I was. My infant mind even was bitter with those who insisted on regarding me as a normal child and not as a prodigy. ~ W.N.P. Barbellion

Destiny, quite often, is a determined parent. Mozart was hardly some naive prodigy who sat down at the keyboard and, with God whispering in his ears, let music flow from his fingertips. It's a nice image for selling tickets to movies, but whether or not God has kissed your brow, you still have to work. Without learning and preparation, you won't know how to harness the power of that kiss. ~ Twyla Tharp

If Beethoven is a prodigy of man, Bach is a miracle of God. ~ Gioachino Rossini

They were supposed to encourage every prodigy … no, every human to be as heroic as possible. How was publicly rejecting anyone going to further that goal? ~ Marissa Meyer

I wrote half the record in 2002, which basically concluded with us releasing "Baby's Got A Temper," the last single. I think after the disappointment of that record for myself with the lack of energy and the way the record came out, I would say that was probably the low point of The Prodigy. ~ Liam Howlett

A child doesn't have to be a prodigy. The only thing that matters is that he should't become 'stuck' in childishness ~ Andrei Tarkovsky

My parents have always worried that I'd take Amy too personally - they always tell not to read too much into her, And yet I can't fail to notice that whenever I screw something up, Amy does it right: When I finally quit violin at age twelve, Amy was revealed as a prodigy in the next book. ("Sheesh, violin can be hard work, but handwork is the only way to get better!") When I blew off the junior championship at age sixteen to do a beach weekend with friends, Amy recommitted to the game. ("Sheesh, I know it's fun to spend time with friends, but I'd be letting myself and everyone else down if I didn't show up for the tournament.") This used to drive me mad, but after I wend off to Harvard (and Amy correct those my parents' alma mater), I decided it was all too ridiculous to think about. That my parents, two child psychologists, chose this particular public form of passive-aggressiveness toward their child was not just fucked up but also stupid and weird and kind of hilarious. ~ Gillian Flynn

I got lots of love for my crew, that is;
No love for them other crews and rival kids.
All them out-of-town niggas know what time it is,
And if they don't? They need to buy a watch, word up. ~ Prodigy

What was it - this implacable remoteness, this inability to surrender herself to the warmth and comradely feelings of others? Could being an academic star, being applauded over and over again as a prodigy, take the place of all that? She shuddered with a feeling she couldn't have put a name to. It was the congenital human fear of isolation. ~ Tom Wolfe

There Kelvin proved himself such a prodigy that he was admitted to Glasgow University at the exceedingly tender age of ten. ~ Bill Bryson

The prodigy who fades is an old story. But the prodigy who sets a high mark when young and then hits that mark, or exceeds it, over and over again, for a full lifespan, is truly remarkable, and worth celebrating. ~ John Baird

I was never a prodigy. ~ Lindsay Davenport

TWELVE-YEAR-OLD TRIAL PRODIGY JUNE IPARIS BECOMES YOUNGEST STUDENT EVER ADMITTED TO DRAKE UNIVERSITY, TO BE OFFICIALLY INDUCTED NEXT WEEK. ~ Marie Lu

I was a prodigy who learned how difficult writing was only after getting published. I paid my dues later. ~ David Quammen

Day didn't fail his Trial. Not even close. In fact, he got the same score I did: 1500 / 1500. I am no longer the Republic's only prodigy with a perfect score. ~ Marie Lu

I'm sorry,' said Silyen, barely glancing up from his book. 'I'm a prodigy of Skill, not a missing persons' database. ~ Vic James

Years ago at music camp Harry once said to me, "He's not just a musical prodigy, you know. He's a musical genius." It comes back to me now. And I laugh when I kiss my 'musical genius' because really he's just Flynn. ~ Tabitha Suzuma

My life became the lives of Day and June, and through them I saw my own fears, hopes and aspirations play out across their canvas. Now I've reached the point where our stories diverge. They are off to live beyond the confines of the trilogy; I am left waving to them from the sidelines. I don't know where they'll go but I think they're going to be okay. ~ Marie Lu

People should go to university and college when they are ready, not when they are old enough to go" -Tanishq Abraham, 9 yr old college student (TEDx TALK) ~ Tanishq Abraham 9 Year Old College Prodigy

Writing for me is the hardest thing in the world, but also a thing which, once completed, is the most satisfying ... I am no prodigy but, Fate willing, I think I can produce art. ~ William Styron

If I win, I'm a prodigy. If I lose then I'm mad. That's the way history is written ~ Eoin Colfer

I don't consider myself a particularly young chess player. I have been playing in the best tournaments in the world since I was 16 years old. In other sports, if you have been playing for seven years, you are not a young prodigy any more. You're one of the pros. ~ Magnus Carlsen

All Prodigy music is raw, and that will never change, the production is raw, the sounds are dirty, you can't get away from that. Take it or leave it. ~ Liam Howlett

She was a true Tanosenk ... a prodigy ... a true unicorn ... and a true warrior. She faced an unfair death. As a tribute to her, this star was named after her. ~ Deepika Kumaaraguru

She shielded her eyes with a salute to the afternoon sun. "Right there, where the ground is blackened, just to the left of that cloud, that's where the Presidential Palace stood." Rotating in a slow circle, her index finger pressed the past into the empty panorama. The market selling Levi's two decades before any licensed clothing store. The music college, where some years earlier a prodigy had learned to play the viola by listening to the two-hundred-year history of chamber music lilting through those open windows. She reconstructed the square for Akhmed - her voice raised every edifice from the dust, replanted every linden tree - because that was easier than apology. ~ Anthony Marra

Even in the dark, I see hints of a smile creep onto her face.
"Yeah. You are a smooth talker."
I give her a wounded frown."Sweetheart, would I ever lie to you?"
"Don't try. I'd see right through it." I give her a low laugh. "Fair enough. ~ Marie Lu

And yes, again, that was it exactly. A retyper and not a writer. A prodigy and not a genius. ~ John Green

Whether you're a programming prodigy or the office manager holding it all together, technology empowers small groups of passionate people with an astonishing degree of leverage to make the world a better place. ~ Justin Rosenstein

even Mozart, who was a musical prodigy at age four, took 13 more years before he began to produce world-class music. The ~ Jeff Atwood