[a_bonobo]

Then I expressed myself badly:

I do think that without hard work/talent Bill Gates and all these other successful people wouldn't be where they are now, but without luck and the correct circumstances all the hard work in the world doesn't bring you anywhere, your genius won't help you.

Look at William S. Burroughs' life - an extremely talented writer from a rich family, who still "dropped out of society", later befriended Kerouac and Ginsberg who were the big factors (reasons?) in him becoming a great writer from age 40, without these people we wouldn't know the name; his genius wouldn't have helped him alone.