Excerpts from The Angel's Game, C. R. Zafón:

[...] Natural talent is like the strength of an athlete. Someone can be born with more or less ability, but no one is an athlete simply because he was born tall, strong or fast. What makes the athlete, or the artist, is the work, the mastery of the craft and the technique. Innate intelligence is simply ammunition. To get to do something with it, it is necessary to turn your mind into a precision weapon. [...]

— Every work of art is aggressive, Isabella. And the life of every artist is a war, big or small, starting with the struggle against one's limitations. To reach anywhere you want to reach, you first need ambition, then talent, knowledge, and finally opportunity. [...] (p. 182)