Genius, by its very intensity, decrees a special path of fire for its vivid power.

Brooks’s line treats “genius” not as a comfortable gift but as a force whose very brightness compels consequences. The “intensity” of exceptional talent or insight creates its own conditions—an unavoidable “path” marked by heat, risk, and exposure. “Fire” suggests both illumination and danger: genius can light the way for others, but it also burns through ordinary limits, inviting misunderstanding, isolation, or sacrifice. The phrasing “decrees” implies inevitability; the person of genius does not simply choose an extraordinary life so much as be driven into it by the demands of their power. The quote thus frames greatness as vocation and ordeal at once.