People
Genius is one per cent inspiration, ninety-nine per cent perspiration.
— Thomas Edison
Behind the line May contain spoilers.
Our reading
An editorial interpretation.
Brilliance, this says, is mostly sweat. A mere spark of inspiration gets you started, but the other ninety-nine parts come from grinding effort. It's a punchy bit of arithmetic that shrinks the glamour of genius and makes hard work the star of the story.
Context reviewed