"Hard work without talent is a shame, but talent
without hard work is a tragedy".-Robert Half

“I have no special talent. I am only
passionately curious.” — Albert Einstein

It has been an eternal debate...its time we treat the issue here on NL once and for all...we argue over it a lot with friends especially when we talk about Ronaldo(hard work) vs Messi(talent)...but generally in life Talent or hard work: who wins?

Hummm this is seriously a big puzzle,is like in the washing of cloath wich is more important? SOAP OR WATER?

humblestanley:
Hummm this is seriously a big puzzle,is like in the washing of cloath wich is more important? SOAP OR WATER?

u mean both are needed?

Messi talent? You mean talent only or talent dominantly?
It is a great disservice to the noble and vital virtue that Messi's skill, expertise, and excellence is attributed to talent without a mention of how much work he has put into refining his talent.
Without a doubt he is naturally gifted, with the fortune of having physical and mental attributes well-suited for the beautiful game. Nevertheless, I am certain that he has put in work that is above average to get to where he is. Case in point, when he was young - so I read - he would fix a tight such that he could hit the ball against it and it would bounce back to him. He was able to eventually hit the ball repeatedly against the tights, I believe without it touching the ground. You will agree with me that it takes some hard work fuelled by passion to achieve that.
A more recent evidence that his virtuosity cannot be explained without a mention of hard work is his free-kick ability. At a point in time, Ronaldo was better known for free kicks, but out of the blues (but likely must have been after some hard work) Messi became a dead ball threat and eventually evolved into a specialist (though I feel he is becoming less efficient, maybe he needs to put in more work).
It seems to be generally accepted that hard work trumps talent, or in other words, nurture beats nature. Talent is refined, polished, beautified by hard work and what words can be more fit than the timeless cliché, "practice makes perfect".

bobbyL:
Messi talent? You mean talent only or talent dominantly?
It is a great disservice to the noble and vital virtue that Messi's skill, expertise, and excellence is attributed to talent without a mention of how much work he has put into refining his talent.
Without a doubt he is naturally gifted, with the fortune of having physical and mental attributes well-suited for the beautiful game. Nevertheless, I am certain that he has put in work that is above average to get to where he is. Case in point, when he was young - so I read - he would fix a tight such that he could hit the ball against it and it would bounce back to him. He was able to eventually hit the ball repeatedly against the tights, I believe without it touching the ground. You will agree with me that it takes some hard work fuelled by passion to achieve that.
A more recent evidence that his virtuosity cannot be explained without a mention of hard work is his free-kick ability. At a point in time, Ronaldo was better known for free kicks, but out of the blues (but likely must have been after some hard work) Messi became a dead ball threat and eventually evolved into a specialist (though I feel he is becoming less efficient, maybe he needs to put in more work).
It seems to be generally accepted that hard work trumps talent, or in other words, nurture beats nature. Talent is refined, polished, beautified by hard work and what words can be more fit than the timeless cliché, "practice makes perfect".

so u stand for hard work?

Both talent and hard work is required to succeed but everyone has talent but not everyone works hard. Using the economic law of scarcity and value hardword has more value because it is scarce. Hence hardwork is more important.

Bolt3:
Both talent and hard work is required to succeed but everyone has talent but not everyone works hard. Using the economic law of scarcity and value hardword has more value because it is scarce. Hence hardwork is more important.

nice arguement

Provided any of them brings forth results, then it has value. Hard work and talent are tools (think capital or input). The ability to use them to produce impressive results (think output) is what counts. No one rewards tools - but everyone rewards or punishes output from the tools. If you've the best tools in the world, but the tools produce inferior results, the world will punish you. What I think is scarce is the ability to consistently produce high quality results using your tools - talent and or hard work.

You don't want to demonstrate a lot of hard work, without results to show for efforts. Further, if someone is endowed with all the talents and skills in this world but has no results to show for their endowment, few people will care how hard the person has worked or what skills/talents the person possesses..At the end of the day, results are rewarded. Let's not forget this.

Concluding, my take is, whichever one has, just produce results - and watch the world value you.

tanimola22:
Provided any of them brings forth results, then it has value. Hard work and talent are tools (think capital or input). The ability to use them to produce impressive results (think output) is what counts. No one rewards tools - but everyone rewards or punishes output from the tools. If you've the best tools in the world, but the tools produce inferior results, the world will punish you. What I think is scarce is the ability to consistently produce high quality results using your tools - talent and or hard work.

You don't want to demonstrate a lot of hard work, without results to show for efforts. Further, if someone is endowed with all the talents and skills in this world but has no results to show for their endowment, few people will care how hard the person has worked or what skills/talents the person possesses..At the end of the day, results are rewarded. Let's not forget this.

Concluding, my take is, whichever one has, just produce results - and watch the world value you.

output the most important...wow