The exact measure of the progress of civilization is the degree in which the intelligence of the common mind has prevailed over wealth and brute force.
—George Bancroft (1800–91) American Historian, Politician
An intellectual is a man who takes more words than necessary to tell more than he knows.
—Dwight D. Eisenhower (1890–1969) American Head of State, Military Leader
A moment’s insight is sometimes worth a lifetime’s experience.
—Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. (1809–94) American Physician, Essayist
Find enough clever things to say, and you’re a Prime Minister; write them down and you’re a Shakespeare.
—George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950) Irish Playwright
Some people take more care to hide their wisdom than their folly.
—Jonathan Swift (1667–1745) Irish Satirist
Never stay up on the barren heights of cleverness, but come down into the green valleys of silliness.
—Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889–1951) Austrian-born British Philosopher
The march of intellect is proceeding at quick time; and if its progress be not accompanied by a corresponding improvement in morals and religion, the faster it proceeds, with the more violence will you be hurried down the road to ruin.
—Robert South (1634–1716) English Theologian, Preacher
Clever people seem not to feel the natural pleasure of bewilderment, and are always answering questions when the chief relish of a life is to go on asking them.
—Frank Moore Colby (1865–1925) American Encyclopedia Editor, Essayist
He is far too intelligent to become really cerebral.
—Ursula K. Le Guin (b.1929) American Science Fiction and Fantasy Writer
Unless one is a genius, it is best to aim at being intelligible.
—Anthony Hope (1863–1933) English Novelist, Playwright
Clever men are good, but they are not the best.
—Thomas Carlyle (1795–1881) Scottish Historian, Essayist
She was short on intellect, but long on shape.
—George Ade (1866–1944) American Humorist, Playwright
The superior man is he who develops in harmonious proportions, his moral, intellectual, and physical nature. This should be the end at which men of all classes should aim, and it is this only which constitutes real greatness.
—Douglas William Jerrold (1803–57) English Writer, Dramatist, Wit
Tact is the intelligence of the heart.
—Unknown
Where two discourse, if the anger of one rises, he is the wise man who lets the contest fall.
—Plutarch (c.46–c.120 CE) Greek Biographer, Philosopher
The intelligent man who is proud of his intelligence is like the condemned man who is proud of his large cell.
—Simone Weil (1909–1943) French Philosopher, Political Activist
Primitive does not mean stupid.
—Unknown
Nature shows that with the growth of intelligence comes increased capacity for pain, and it is only with the highest degree of intelligence that suffering reaches its supreme point.
—Arthur Schopenhauer (1788–1860) German Philosopher
Questions are the creative acts of intelligence.
—Indian Proverb
Of course all life is a process of breaking down, but the blows that do the dramatic side of the work – the big sudden blows that come, or seem to come, from outside – the ones you remember and blame things on and, in moments of weakness, tell your friends about, don’t show their effect all at once. There is another sort of blow that comes from within – that you don’t feel until it’s too late to do anything about it, until you realize with finality that in some regard you will never be as good a man again. The first sort of breakage seems to happen quick – the second kind happens almost without your knowing it but is realized suddenly indeed. Before I go on with this short history, let me make a general observation – the test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in the mind at the same time, and still retain the ability to function. One should, for example, be able to see that things are hopeless and yet be determined to make them otherwise.
—F. Scott Fitzgerald (1896–1940) American Novelist
All human knowledge takes the form of interpretation.
—Walter Benjamin (1892–1940) German Literary and Marxist Critic
A great many people think that polysyllables are a sign of intelligence.
—Barbara Walters (1929–2022) American Broadcast Journalist
Everything great and intelligent is in the minority.
—Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832) German Poet
Clever people are always the best conversations lexicon.
—Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832) German Poet
The course of every intellectual, if he pursues his journey long and unflinchingly enough, ends in the obvious, from which the non-intellectuals have never stirred.
—Aldous Huxley (1894–1963) English Humanist, Pacifist, Satirist, Short Story Writer
Skill is successfully walking a tightrope over Niagara falls. Intelligence is not trying.
—Anonymous
The only chance for victory over the brainwash is the right of every man to have his ideas judged one at a time. You never get clarity as long as you have these packaged words, as long as a word is used by twenty-five people in twenty-five different ways. That seems to me to be the first fight, if there is going to be any intellect left.
—Ezra Pound (1885-1972) American Poet, Translator, Critic
Intellectual brilliance is no guarantee against being dead wrong.
—David Fasold (1939–98) American Ark Researcher, Captain
To be wholly devoted to some intellectual exercise is to have succeeded in life.
—Robert Louis Stevenson (1850–94) Scottish Novelist
Character is higher than intellect… a great soul will be strong to live, as well as to think.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
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