--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Genius is childhood recalled at will." description: "\"Genius is childhood recalled at will.\" — Charles Baudelaire" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2c2/charles-baudelaire-473_childhood_genius-is-childhood-recalled-at-will-272_2723249.jpg" --- # Genius is childhood recalled at will. ![“Genius is childhood recalled at will.” quote by Charles Baudelaire](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2c2/charles-baudelaire-473_childhood_genius-is-childhood-recalled-at-will-272_2723249.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2c2/charles-baudelaire-473_childhood_genius-is-childhood-recalled-at-will-272_2723249.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2c2/charles-baudelaire-473_childhood_genius-is-childhood-recalled-at-will-272_2723249.jpg) > “Genius is childhood recalled at will.” [Charles Baudelaire](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-baudelaire/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Creativity resurfaces when one reconnects with the uninhibited imagination of youth. **In simple terms:** Genius returns when you think like a child. Key Takeaway Cultivate childlike wonder. Themes creativity memory imagination genius Mood nostalgic inspirational Type literary philosophical When to use this quote - writing - playful learning - innovation sessions Key Concepts psychology of inspiration artistic freedom Questions to Reflect On - When did you last feel childlike wonder? - How can you nurture that state? A Different Perspective Adult responsibilities may suppress this. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Childhood](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/childhood/) [Children](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/children/) [Genius](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/genius/) [Intelligence](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/intelligence/) [Recalled](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/recalled/) ## Related quotes > [Genius is nothing more or less than childhood recovered by will, a childhood how equipped for self-expression with an adult's capacities.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-baudelaire/genius-is-nothing-more-or-less-than-childhood-recovered-by-will-a/) [Charles Baudelaire](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-baudelaire/) > [A child sees everything in a sense of newness - he is always drunk. Genius is nothing but childhood re-attained at will.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-baudelaire/a-child-sees-everything-in-a-sense-of-newness-he-is-always-drunk/) [Charles Baudelaire](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-baudelaire/) > [Genius is nothing more nor less than childhood recaptured at will.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-baudelaire/genius-is-nothing-more-nor-less-than-childhood-recaptured-at-will/) [Charles Baudelaire](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-baudelaire/) > [Genius is no more than childhood recaptured at will, childhood equipped now with man's physical means to express itself, and with the analytical mind…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-baudelaire/genius-is-no-more-than-childhood-recaptured-at-will-childhood/) [Charles Baudelaire](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-baudelaire/) > [“Genius is childhood recovered at will.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-baudelaire/genius-is-childhood-recovered-at-will/) [Charles Baudelaire](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-baudelaire/) > [Genius is childhood recaptured.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-baudrillard/genius-is-childhood-recaptured/) [Jean Baudrillard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-baudrillard/) > [What might be taken for a precocious genius is the genius of childhood. When the child grows up, it disappears without a trace. It…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pablo-picasso/what-might-be-taken-for-a-precocious-genius-is-the-genius-of-2/) [Pablo Picasso](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pablo-picasso/) > [What might be taken for a precocious genius is the genius of childhood. When the child grows up, it disappears without a trace. It…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pablo-picasso/what-might-be-taken-for-a-precocious-genius-is-the-genius-of/) [Pablo Picasso](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pablo-picasso/) > [Chastity, once lost, cannot be recalled; it goes only once.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ovid/chastity-once-lost-cannot-be-recalled-it-goes-only-once/) [Ovid](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ovid/) > [Time flies never to be recalled.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/virgil/time-flies-never-to-be-recalled/) [Virgil](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/virgil/) > [My family immigrated when I was 3, and our predecessors inhabited the Korean Peninsula for as long as can be recalled.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chang-rae-lee/my-family-immigrated-when-i-was-3-and-our-predecessors-inhabited-the/) [Chang-Rae Lee](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chang-rae-lee/) > [Sometimes I forget some of the things I've done. 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I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-le-carre/the-creation-of-george-smiley-the-retired-spy-recalled-to-hunt-for/) [John le Carre](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-le-carre/) ## More by Charles Baudelaire > [Who would dare assign to art the sterile function of imitating nature?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-baudelaire/who-would-dare-assign-to-art-the-sterile-function-of-imitating-nature/) [Charles Baudelaire](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-baudelaire/) > [“The greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn’t exist”—Charles Baudelaire “The second greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-baudelaire/the-greatest-trick-the-devil-ever-pulled-was-convincing-the-world-he/) [Charles Baudelaire](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-baudelaire/) > [“This life is a hospital in which each patient is possessed by the desire to change beds. One wants to suffer in front of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-baudelaire/this-life-is-a-hospital-in-which-each-patient-is-possessed-by-the/) [Charles Baudelaire](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-baudelaire/) > [There is no such thing as a long piece of work, except one that you dare not start.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-baudelaire/there-is-no-such-thing-as-a-long-piece-of-work-except-one-that-you/) [Charles Baudelaire](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-baudelaire/) > [Our religion is itself profoundly sad - a religion of universal anguish, and one which, because of its very catholicity, grants full liberty to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-baudelaire/our-religion-is-itself-profoundly-sad-a-religion-of-universal-anguish/) [Charles Baudelaire](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-baudelaire/) > [But the true voyagers are only those who leave Just to be leaving; hearts light, like balloons, They never turn aside from their fatality…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-baudelaire/but-the-true-voyagers-are-only-those-who-leave-just-to-be-leaving/) [Charles Baudelaire](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-baudelaire/) > [Amer savoir, celui qu'on tire du voyage! Bitter is the knowledge gained in travelling.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-baudelaire/amer-savoir-celui-qu-on-tire-du-voyage-bitter-is-the-knowledge-gained/) [Charles Baudelaire](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-baudelaire/) > [“Car je cherche le vide, el le noir, el le nu!”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-baudelaire/car-je-cherche-le-vide-el-le-noir-el-le-nu/) [Charles Baudelaire](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-baudelaire/) > [“I can barely conceive a type of beauty in which there is no melancholy.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-baudelaire/i-can-barely-conceive-a-type-of-beauty-in-which-there-is-no-melancholy/) [Charles Baudelaire](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-baudelaire/) > [The vices of man, as full of horror as one might suppose them to be, contain the proof (if in nothing else but their…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-baudelaire/the-vices-of-man-as-full-of-horror-as-one-might-suppose-them-to-be/) [Charles Baudelaire](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-baudelaire/) > [Multitude, solitude: equal and interchangeable terms for the active and prolific poet.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-baudelaire/multitude-solitude-equal-and-interchangeable-terms-for-the-active-and/) [Charles Baudelaire](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-baudelaire/) > [Any healthy man can go without food for two days - but not without poetry.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-baudelaire/any-healthy-man-can-go-without-food-for-two-days-but-not-without/) [Charles Baudelaire](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-baudelaire/) > [Drink wine, drink poetry, drink virtue.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-baudelaire/drink-wine-drink-poetry-drink-virtue/) [Charles Baudelaire](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-baudelaire/) > [Man loves man so much that when he flees the city, it is still to seek the crowd, that is, to rebuild the city…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-baudelaire/man-loves-man-so-much-that-when-he-flees-the-city-it-is-still-to-seek/) [Charles Baudelaire](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-baudelaire/) > [“—But why is she weeping? She, the perfect beauty, Who could put at her feet the conquered human race, What secret malady gnaws at…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-baudelaire/but-why-is-she-weeping-she-the-perfect-beauty-who-could-put-at-her/) [Charles Baudelaire](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-baudelaire/) [Explore all 454 Charles Baudelaire quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-baudelaire/) ## More Childhood quotes > [“Children's lives are always beginning and adults' lives are always ending. Or is it the opposite? 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