---
title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Talent is like electricity. We don't…"
description: "\"Talent is like electricity. We don't understand electricity. We use it.\" — Maya Angelou"
image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5db/maya-angelou-104_electricity_talent-is-like-electricity-we-don-t-unde_705564.png"
---

#  Talent is like electricity. We don't understand…

![“Talent is like electricity. We don't understand electricity. We use it.” quote by Maya Angelou](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5db/maya-angelou-104_electricity_talent-is-like-electricity-we-don-t-unde_705564.png)   [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5db/maya-angelou-104_electricity_talent-is-like-electricity-we-don-t-unde_705564.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5db/maya-angelou-104_electricity_talent-is-like-electricity-we-don-t-unde_705564.png)

> “Talent is like electricity. We don't understand electricity. We use it.”

[Maya Angelou](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/maya-angelou/)

## About This Quote

This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation.

Compares talent to electricity—an invisible force we harness without fully understanding, urging practical use of innate abilities.

**In simple terms:** Talent is an unseen power we use.

Key Takeaway

Utilize your gifts despite mystery.

Themes

potential creativity action confidence

Mood

empowering optimistic

Type

philosophical motivational

When to use this quote

- career planning
- artistic projects
- entrepreneurial ventures

Key Concepts

energy intuition skill development

Questions to Reflect On

- How can you develop talent you feel you lack?
- What steps help you channel your “electricity”?

A Different Perspective

Talent may be unevenly distributed, creating inequality.

★ ★ ★ ★ ★   No ratings yet

[Electricity](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/electricity/) [Learning](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/learning/) [Positive](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/positive/) [Talent](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/talent/) [Writing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/writing/)

## Related quotes

> [I believe talent is like electricity. We don't understand electricity. We use it. You can plug into it and light up a lamp, keep…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/maya-angelou/i-believe-talent-is-like-electricity-we-don-t-understand-electricity-2/)

[Maya Angelou](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/maya-angelou/)

> [I believe talent is like electricity. We don't understand electricity. We use it. You can plug into it and light up a lamp, keep…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/maya-angelou/i-believe-talent-is-like-electricity-we-don-t-understand-electricity/)

[Maya Angelou](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/maya-angelou/)

> [Creativity or talent, like electricity, is something I don't understand but something I'm able to harness and use.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/maya-angelou/creativity-or-talent-like-electricity-is-something-i-don-t-understand/)

[Maya Angelou](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/maya-angelou/)

> [If you don't understand the law that doesn't mean you should reject it.Enjoy the benefits of it.You may not understand electricity, but I do…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sitara-devi/if-you-don-t-understand-the-law-that-doesn-t-mean-you-should-reject/)

[Sitara Devi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sitara-devi/)

> [“Man understands divinity like a dog understand electricity”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/endless-blockade/man-understands-divinity-like-a-dog-understand-electricity/)

Endless Blockade

> [You don't know. When I'm out there at night I feel close to my own body, I can feel my blood moving, my skin…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tim-o-brien/you-don-t-know-when-i-m-out-there-at-night-i-feel-close-to-my-own/)

[Tim O'Brien](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tim-o-brien/)

> [Freedom is never an achieved state; like electricity, we've got to keep generating it or the lights go out.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wayne-lapierre/freedom-is-never-an-achieved-state-like-electricity-we-ve-got-to-keep/)

[Wayne LaPierre](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wayne-lapierre/)

> [“She knew they were all afraid. But love and disease are both like electricity, Weetzie thought. They are always there -- you can't see…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/francesca-lia-block/she-knew-they-were-all-afraid-but-love-and-disease-are-both-like/)

[Francesca Lia Block](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/francesca-lia-block/)

> [Broadband is a utility just like electricity or water.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/raphael-warnock/broadband-is-a-utility-just-like-electricity-or-water/)

[Raphael Warnock](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/raphael-warnock/)

> [Sparks fly! It's like electricity! If I forget how to breath I might die!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/miranda-crosgrove/sparks-fly-it-s-like-electricity-if-i-forget-how-to-breath-i-might-die/)

Miranda Crosgrove

> [The kingdom of heaven is like electricity. You don't see it. It is within you.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/maharishi-mahesh-yogi/the-kingdom-of-heaven-is-like-electricity-you-don-t-see-it-it-is/)

[Maharishi Mahesh Yogi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/maharishi-mahesh-yogi/)

> [As pop songs, the early stuff like Electricity' and Enola Gay' were such inspirations to Gwen and I, especially melodically. They inspired us to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tony-kanal/as-pop-songs-the-early-stuff-like-electricity-and-enola-gay-were-such/)

[Tony Kanal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tony-kanal/)

> [Sparks fly, it's like electricity...](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/miranda-cosgrove/sparks-fly-it-s-like-electricity/)

[Miranda Cosgrove](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/miranda-cosgrove/)

> [Like electricity, the Light is everywhere, but one must know how to activate it. I have come for that.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mother-meera/like-electricity-the-light-is-everywhere-but-one-must-know-how-to/)

[Mother Meera](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mother-meera/)

> [The next big invention that will change the way we live should be things like ways of generating energy like electricity.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-gates/the-next-big-invention-that-will-change-the-way-we-live-should-be/)

[Bill Gates](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bill-gates/)

## More by Maya Angelou

> [Courage: the most important of all the virtues because without courage, you can't practice any other virtue consistently](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/maya-angelou/courage-the-most-important-of-all-the-virtues-because-without-courage/)

[Maya Angelou](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/maya-angelou/)

> [If we accept being talked to any kind of a way, then we are telling ourselves we are not quite worth the best. And…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/maya-angelou/if-we-accept-being-talked-to-any-kind-of-a-way-then-we-are-telling/)

[Maya Angelou](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/maya-angelou/)

> [You should be angry. You must not be bitter. Bitterness is like cancer. It eats upon the host. It doesn't do anything to the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/maya-angelou/you-should-be-angry-you-must-not-be-bitter-bitterness-is-like-cancer/)

[Maya Angelou](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/maya-angelou/)

> [“You are very kind and very intelligent and those elements are not always found together. Mrs. Eleanor Roosevelt, Dr. Mary McLeod Bethune, and my…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/maya-angelou/you-are-very-kind-and-very-intelligent-and-those-elements-are-not/)

[Maya Angelou](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/maya-angelou/)

> [I agreed a long time ago, I would not live at any cost. If I am moved or forced away from what I think…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/maya-angelou/i-agreed-a-long-time-ago-i-would-not-live-at-any-cost-if-i-am-moved/)

[Maya Angelou](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/maya-angelou/)

> [You want me to do something... tell me I can't do it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/maya-angelou/you-want-me-to-do-something-tell-me-i-can-t-do-it/)

[Maya Angelou](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/maya-angelou/)

> [Intelligence is a separate gift, for the benefit of students, so that they may think of themselves as intellectual and not very intelligent, or…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/maya-angelou/intelligence-is-a-separate-gift-for-the-benefit-of-students-so-that/)

[Maya Angelou](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/maya-angelou/)

> [Life is going to give you just what you put in it. Put your whole heart in everything you do, and pray, then you…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/maya-angelou/life-is-going-to-give-you-just-what-you-put-in-it-put-your-whole/)

[Maya Angelou](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/maya-angelou/)

> [“You may write me down in history With your bitter, twisted lies, You may tread me in the very dirt But still, like dust,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/maya-angelou/you-may-write-me-down-in-history-with-your-bitter-twisted-lies-you/)

[Maya Angelou](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/maya-angelou/)

> [The more you know of your history, the more liberated you are.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/maya-angelou/the-more-you-know-of-your-history-the-more-liberated-you-are/)

[Maya Angelou](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/maya-angelou/)

> [Life offers us tickets to places which we have not knowingly asked for.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/maya-angelou/life-offers-us-tickets-to-places-which-we-have-not-knowingly-asked-for/)

[Maya Angelou](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/maya-angelou/)

> [Every person needs to take one day away. A day in which one consciously separates the past from the future. Jobs, family, employers, and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/maya-angelou/every-person-needs-to-take-one-day-away-a-day-in-which-one/)

[Maya Angelou](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/maya-angelou/)

> [I'm working at trying to be a Christian, and that's serious business. It's like trying to be a good Jew, a good Muslim, a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/maya-angelou/i-m-working-at-trying-to-be-a-christian-and-that-s-serious-business/)

[Maya Angelou](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/maya-angelou/)

> [Nathaniel Hawthorne once said that easy reading is damn hard writing.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/maya-angelou/nathaniel-hawthorne-once-said-that-easy-reading-is-damn-hard-writing/)

[Maya Angelou](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/maya-angelou/)

> [Sunday, if I'm lucky, I'll go to church or listen to some good spiritual advice on the television or on the radio. I take…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/maya-angelou/sunday-if-i-m-lucky-i-ll-go-to-church-or-listen-to-some-good/)

[Maya Angelou](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/maya-angelou/)

[Explore all 1,313 Maya Angelou quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/maya-angelou/)

## More Electricity quotes

> [“The global population of Earth are involved in the following corporate government experiments: The long term effects of - 1. Nuclear bomb fallout radiation.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steven-magee/the-global-population-of-earth-are-involved-in-the-following/)

[Steven Magee](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steven-magee/)

> [In the Green Zone in Iraq you have your radio, you have your food, you have your own electricity, your own toilets. Everything is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elliott-colla/in-the-green-zone-in-iraq-you-have-your-radio-you-have-your-food-you/)

[Elliott Colla](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elliott-colla/)

> [Windmills and solar cells are carbon-free sources of electricity. But they are costly. If you've been investing in those, give it up. That game…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kenneth-fisher/windmills-and-solar-cells-are-carbon-free-sources-of-electricity-but/)

[Kenneth Fisher](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kenneth-fisher/)

> ['Brace the Wave' is an acoustic-electric record recorded with electricity on analog-digital and digitally-analog equipment.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lou-barlow/brace-the-wave-is-an-acoustic-electric-record-recorded-with/)

[Lou Barlow](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lou-barlow/)

> [We cannot predict the new forces, powers, and discoveries that will be disclosed to us when we reach the other planets and set up…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/arthur-c-clarke/we-cannot-predict-the-new-forces-powers-and-discoveries-that-will-be/)

[Arthur C. Clarke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/arthur-c-clarke/)

> [The supposedly immaterial soul, we now know, can be bisected with a knife, altered by chemicals, started or stopped by electricity, and extinguished by…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steven-pinker/the-supposedly-immaterial-soul-we-now-know-can-be-bisected-with-a/)

[Steven Pinker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steven-pinker/)

> [I have been much amused at ye singular phenomena resulting from bringing of a needle into contact with a piece of amber or resin…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/isaac-newton/i-have-been-much-amused-at-ye-singular-phenomena-resulting-from/)

[Isaac Newton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/isaac-newton/)

> [Society takes what it wants. The artist himself does not count, because there is no actual existence for the work of art. The work…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marcel-duchamp/society-takes-what-it-wants-the-artist-himself-does-not-count-because/)

[Marcel Duchamp](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marcel-duchamp/)

> [Instead of explaining the sober facts of mechanics and electricity, I want to say a few words about the debt which we owe to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/felix-bloch/instead-of-explaining-the-sober-facts-of-mechanics-and-electricity-i/)

[Felix Bloch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/felix-bloch/)

> [He’d moved toward me again. His hands released mine and moved to my waist, and I noticed I wasn’t the only one breathing heavily.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richelle-mead/he-d-moved-toward-me-again-his-hands-released-mine-and-moved-to-my/)

[Richelle Mead](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richelle-mead/)

> [By embracing clean energy across the country, we can create more and better jobs, protect the air our children breathe and the water they…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michelle-lujan-grisham/by-embracing-clean-energy-across-the-country-we-can-create-more-and/)

[Michelle Lujan Grisham](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michelle-lujan-grisham/)

> [We can go up or we can do down. I think generally the world is going on an upward swing. We're in a part…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-harrison/we-can-go-up-or-we-can-do-down-i-think-generally-the-world-is-going/)

[George Harrison](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-harrison/)

> [We're not going to cure terrorism and spread peace and goodwill in the Middle East by killing innocent people, or I'm not even saying…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cindy-sheehan/we-re-not-going-to-cure-terrorism-and-spread-peace-and-goodwill-in/)

[Cindy Sheehan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cindy-sheehan/)

> [We're full of electricity, and the walls and floor of a building contain carbon - the same makeup as a video tape - and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-james/we-re-full-of-electricity-and-the-walls-and-floor-of-a-building/)

[Peter James](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-james/)

> [Electricity transmission operates on a frequency between 49.7 Hertz and 50.2 Hertz. What I have done is petitioned the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jyotiraditya-madhavrao-scindia/electricity-transmission-operates-on-a-frequency-between-49-7-hertz/)

[Jyotiraditya Madhavrao Scindia](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jyotiraditya-madhavrao-scindia/)

[Browse all 825 Electricity quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/electricity/)

```json
{
    "@context": "https://schema.org",
    "@graph": [
        {
            "@type": "Quotation",
            "text": "Talent is like electricity. We don't understand electricity. We use it.",
            "creator": {
                "@type": "Person",
                "name": "Maya Angelou"
            },
            "isPartOf": {
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website"
            },
            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/maya-angelou/talent-is-like-electricity-we-don-t-understand-electricity-we-use-it/",
            "about": {
                "@type": "Thing",
                "name": "Electricity"
            },
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/maya-angelou/talent-is-like-electricity-we-don-t-understand-electricity-we-use-it/#quotation",
            "image": {
                "@type": "ImageObject",
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5db/maya-angelou-104_electricity_talent-is-like-electricity-we-don-t-unde_705564.png",
                "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5db/maya-angelou-104_electricity_talent-is-like-electricity-we-don-t-unde_705564.png",
                "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5db/maya-angelou-104_electricity_talent-is-like-electricity-we-don-t-unde_705564.png",
                "width": 1080,
                "height": 1080,
                "caption": "“Talent is like electricity. We don't understand electricity. We use it.” — Maya Angelou",
                "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
                "creator": {
                    "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization"
                }
            }
        },
        {
            "@type": "BreadcrumbList",
            "itemListElement": [
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 1,
                    "name": "Home",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/"
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 2,
                    "name": "Quotes",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/"
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 3,
                    "name": "Maya Angelou",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/maya-angelou/"
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 4,
                    "name": "Talent is like electricity. We don't...",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/maya-angelou/talent-is-like-electricity-we-don-t-understand-electricity-we-use-it/"
                }
            ],
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/maya-angelou/talent-is-like-electricity-we-don-t-understand-electricity-we-use-it/#breadcrumb"
        },
        {
            "@type": "WebSite",
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website",
            "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/",
            "publisher": {
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization"
            }
        },
        {
            "@type": "Organization",
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization",
            "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/",
            "logo": {
                "@type": "ImageObject",
                "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png",
                "width": 512,
                "height": 512
            }
        }
    ]
}
```
