Mind is a thing that we partly have by nature, and partly have to create
by mental discipline and exercise. Or, as Horace says:
'Ego nec studium sine divite vena,
Nec rude quid prosit video ingenium.'
_De Arte Poetica_, 409, 410.
In English:
'What can our studies yield, where mind is weak;
Or what a genius do, that's not with discipline prepared?'
Nor is it yet clear, on which, supposing a well-organized and healthy
body, most will depend--upon the native endowment, or upon the labor of
developing and applying the inborn power.
Distinguishing, however, between genius and talent, we may safely admit
that no discipline, without 'the gift and faculty divine,' will produce
the one; and hold that well-directed industry, in almost any case of a
naturally sound mind, will surely develop the other. The half-made and
often ill-tutored efforts of the usual processes of learning, are not to
be allowed a decisive voice against the supposition that vigorous mental
life might be the common portion of educated men.