Daily Inspiration Quote by Robert Quillen

Genius gets demoted here from lightning strike to long stare. Quillen, a journalist by trade, strips the romantic aura off brilliance and replaces it with something both flatter and more demanding: sustained attention. The line is a quiet rebuke to the era (and ours) that treats intellect as a personality trait you either “have” or don’t. He’s arguing that what looks like talent is often just the unglamorous capacity to keep looking after everyone else has gotten bored.

The phrasing matters. “If there be anything that can be called genius” opens with skepticism, as if he’s already heard too many grand claims made on thin evidence. Then he defines it as an “ability” rather than a gift, shifting the concept from mystique to practice. The real punch is in the clause “keeps it steadily in the mind,” which implies discipline, not inspiration. Quillen is writing from a profession built on deadlines, facts, and the slow grind of checking, rechecking, and seeing a story “on all sides.” That last phrase doubles as a moral stance: accuracy isn’t just technical; it’s a posture of humility toward complexity.

Subtextually, it’s also a critique of intellectual laziness dressed up as confidence. To “survey accurately” is to resist the cheap dopamine of a hot take. In a newsroom culture where speed and certainty can masquerade as insight, Quillen’s definition is both aspirational and corrective: the real edge isn’t opinion; it’s attention that outlasts distraction.