Poets are born, but orators are trained. (Strauss, 1998 p. 331)
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
Meaning · English
Innate talent differs from developed skill
Examples
While she was a great poet, her public speaking skills needed work, proving that poets are born, but orators are trained
AI-drafted example auto-approved by rule (illustrative, not a corpus attestation)
Sources & notes
Listed on English Wikiquote “English proverbs” (CC BY-SA 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-31). Definition drafted by AI (@cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast) and auto-approved by rule on 2026-07-31; pending editor spot-check.
Common questions
What does “Poets are born, but orators are trained. (Strauss, 1998 p. 331)” mean?
Innate talent differs from developed skill
Is “Poets are born, but orators are trained. (Strauss, 1998 p. 331)” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.