born, not made

Describing an innate ability or talent. The original phrase was a translation of the Latin Orator fit, Poeta nascitur (Orators are made, Poets are born), quoted by Sir Philip Sidney in his Apologie for Poetrie (c. 1521). Later it was extended to include other occupations. Harriet Beecher Stowe (Uncle Tom’s Cabin, 1851) provided an interesting twist on it when she had Topsy say, “I ’spect I growed. Don’t think nobody never made me.”