He was one of those men who possess almost every gift, except the gift of the power to use them.

Kingsley’s line is a pointed character judgment: it distinguishes between having talents in abundance and having the practical will, discipline, or moral energy to convert them into action. The “gift of the power to use them” suggests that effectiveness is itself a kind of talent—an executive capacity that can be absent even in the brilliant. The remark also carries a Victorian moral edge: gifts imply responsibility, and failure to employ them reads as waste, self-indulgence, or weakness of character. In a broader sense, the quote cautions against equating potential with achievement; it implies that the decisive difference between admirable promise and real contribution is the ability to apply one’s abilities consistently and purposefully.