“Every normal man, woman, and child is, then, a genius at something as well as an idiot at something.
“It remains to discover what – at any rate in respect of the genius. This must be a most difficult matter, owing to the very fact that it occurs in only a minute proportion out of all possible abilities. It certainly cannot be detected by any of the testing procedures at present in current usage, but these procedures are capable, I believe, of vast improvement.
“The preceding considerations have often appealed to me on looking at a procession of the unemployed, and hearing some one whisper that they are mostly the unemployable. That they are so actually I cannot help concurring. But need they be so necessarily ? Remember that every one of these, too, is a genius at something – if we could only discover what. I cherish no illusion, indeed, that among them may be marching some ‘mute inglorious Milton, some Cromwell guiltless of his country’s blood.’ For these are walks in life that appear to involve a large amount of g. But I am quite confident that every one of them could do something that would make him a treasure in some great industrial concern; and I see no reason why some should not have even become famous, in such occupations, for example, as those of dancers, jockeys, or players of popular games.”
Spearman, C. (1925). Some Issues in the Theory of`”g”‘(including the Law of Diminishing Returns). Nature, 116, 436-439.