In order to acquire a growing and lasting respect in society, it is a good thing, if you possess great talent, to give, early in your youth, a very hard kick to the right shin of the society that you love. After that, be a snob.
Success is recognizing where our talents, gifts and attributes come from-then always giving the Lord the credit. In this way it is possible to stay humble and successful at the same time. Success and glory (as the world understands it) is very addicting, but for someone whose satisfaction comes from doing the Lord's will, the true understanding of success is comprehended. As John Taylor so beautifully stated (July 7, 1878), "We are here as Jesus was here, not do do our own will, but the will of Him who sent us." The most successful experience in life is to find out His "will" for our individual lives and do it, Thus fulfilling the measure of our personal creation.
When my father finally got around to teaching me to drive, he was impressed at my "natural" talent for driving, not knowing that I had already been secretly driving my mother's car around the neighborhood. When I took the test and got my license and my father gave me my own set of keys to the car one night at dinner, it was a major rite of passage for him and my mother. Their perception of me had changed and was formally acknowledged. For me the occasion meant a private sanction to do in public what I had already been doing in secret.
There's a very fine line between winning and losing. Every team in the NFL has talent,but attitude is the biggest thing that counts - that, and playing together as a team. If you can capture that feeling, then you'll have success.
Talent finds its models, methods, and ends in society, exists for exhibition, and goes to the soul only for power to work. Genius is its own end, and draws its means and the style of its architecture from within.