Quite what genius might actually be is left a little vague . It's a codeword for 'brilliant but perhaps too other-worldly ever really to fathom.'

我們常聽到關於天才的事。我們被教導著要去敬畏那些無極限的、難以解釋但也令人驚嘆的天才，像是愛因斯坦、托爾斯泰或是畢卡索

We are invited to stand in awe at the achievements of geniuses but also to feel that their thought processes might be quasi-magical and that it is ultimately simply mysterious how they were ever able to come up with the ideas they have had.

天才到底是什麼，卻仍是有些模糊不清。這個詞意指「聰明到像來自另一個世界，永遠無法被看透」

But there is a radically different view, suggested by a hugely prescient quote from the 19th century American genius Ralph Waldo Emerson.

天才到底是什麼，卻仍是有些模糊不清。這個詞意指「聰明到像來自另一個世界，永遠無法被看透」

The quote runs like this: In the minds of geniuses, we find – once more – our own neglected thoughts.

我們懷著敬畏之心看待天才們的成就，但同時感覺到他們的思考歷程是近乎魔術般的，而且根本是不可思議的，不知道他們到底如何能想出那些點子

What this tells us is that the genius doesn't have different kinds of thoughts from the rest of us.

我們懷著敬畏之心看待天才們的成就，但同時感覺到他們的思考歷程是近乎魔術般的，而且根本是不可思議的，不知道他們到底如何能想出那些點子

They simply take them more seriously.

但另一個完全不同的觀點，引用自一相當有遠見的名言，由 19 世紀美國的天才拉爾夫·沃爾多·愛默生提出的

We ourselves will often have had our own sketchy, hesitant version of their ideas – which is why their works can have such a distinctive impression on us.

但另一個完全不同的觀點，引用自一相當有遠見的名言，由 19 世紀美國的天才拉爾夫·沃爾多·愛默生提出的

What they present feels surprising and impressive, of course; yet also obvious and right – once it has been pointed out.

引用如下： 「在天才的思想中，我們又再一次發現那些被自己忽略的想法。」

The geniuses are giving clear and powerful articulation to notions that are already familiar because we've been circling them ourselves, possibly for years, without quite ever being able to close in on them properly.

引用如下： 「在天才的思想中，我們又再一次發現那些被自己忽略的想法。」

Genius can in this sense be defined as paying closer attention to our real thoughts and feelings and being brave and tenacious enough to hold onto them even when they find no immediate echo in the world beyond.

這句話告訴我們的是，天才並不是擁有與他人截然不同的思維

The reason why we disavow so much of what passes through our minds is in essence anxiety.

這句話告訴我們的是，天才並不是擁有與他人截然不同的思維

We kill off our most promising thoughts for fear of seeming strange to ourselves and others (which explains why small children are, in their own way, so much more interesting than the average adult: they have not yet become experts in what not to say or think).

他們只是更認真看待自己的思緒

But when we censor and close down, when we take fright and try not to think, is exactly the moment when the so-called genius starts to take note of what is happening within their mind.

他們只是更認真看待自己的思緒

We operate with a false picture of genius when we identify it too strongly with what is exotic and utterly beyond us.

我們常常有自己一套粗略的、不確定性版本的天才思維 — 這就是為何天才的成就能讓我們留下如此獨特的印象

It is something far more provocative than this.

我們常常有自己一套粗略的、不確定性版本的天才思維 — 這就是為何天才的成就能讓我們留下如此獨特的印象

Genius is what we all can be when we pay careful attention to what is truly passing through consciousness.

他們提出的見解是那麼令人驚訝且印象深刻，無庸置疑；但同時又是那麼顯而易見的事實—一旦它們被提出之後

We all have very similar and very able minds; where geniuses differ is in their more robust inclinations to study them properly.

他們提出的見解是那麼令人驚訝且印象深刻，無庸置疑；但同時又是那麼顯而易見的事實—一旦它們被提出之後

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他們清楚且有力地闡述那些我們不陌生的看法，因為我們自己反覆思索過，也許持續了多年，但從未真正好好參透他們

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他們清楚且有力地闡述那些我們不陌生的看法，因為我們自己反覆思索過，也許持續了多年，但從未真正好好參透他們