Talent!

[abu nuwas]

I would say that of two people starting at the same point, the one who works the hardest is probably more likely to be perceived as talented in the future,  regardless of whether or not they were perceived as the more talented of the two at the beginning.

Of course it is probably equally as unlikely that that will always be the case, but even Chopin worked his butt off, and probably had equal measures of both supporters and naysayers during his development.

It would be easy to say that history is the yardstick, but we know that even that isn't always true.  And how much unrecorded talent have we missed? Not even time will tell.