If we listened to our intellect we’d never have a love affair. We’d never have a friendship. We’d never go in business because we’d be cynical: It’s gonna go wrong. Or She’s going to hurt me. Or, I’ve had a couple of bad love affairs, so therefore … Well, that’s nonsense. You’re going to miss life. You’ve got to jump off the cliff all the time and build your wings on the way down.
—Ray Bradbury (b.1920) American Novelist, Short Story Writer
Like many intellectuals, he was incapable of saying a simple thing in a simple way
—Marcel Proust (1871–1922) French Novelist
Intelligence is quickness in seeing things as they are.
—George Santayana (1863–1952) Spanish-American Poet, Philosopher
A woman’s appetite is twice that of a man’s; her sexual desire, four times; her intelligence, eight times.
—Indian Proverb
Intelligence is quickness to apprehend as distinct from ability, which is capacity to act wisely on the thing apprehended.
—Alfred North Whitehead (1861–1947) English Mathematician, Philosopher
Once you have mastered time, you will understand how true it is that most people overestimate what they can accomplish in a year—and underestimate what they can achieve in a decade.
—Tony Robbins (b.1960) American Self-Help Author, Entrepreneur
The first principle is that you must not fool yourself, and you are the easiest person to fool.
—Richard Feynman (1918–88) American Physicist
Man becomes man only by his intelligence, but he is man only by his heart.
—Henri Frederic Amiel (1821–81) Swiss Moral Philosopher, Poet, Critic
Man has made use of his intelligence, he invented stupidity.
—Remy de Gourmont (1858–1915) French Poet, Novelist, Critic
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
I think, therefore I am is the statement of an intellectual who underrates toothaches.
—Milan Kundera (b.1929) Czech Novelist
Chance favours the prepared mind.
—Louis Pasteur (1822–95) French Biologist
I think knowing what you cannot do is more important than knowing what you can do. In fact, that’s good taste.
—Lucille Ball (1911–89) American Actor, Comedian, Model
Intelligence without ambition is a bird without wings.
—Salvador Dali (1904–89) Spanish Painter
It is impossible to underrate human intelligence—beginning with one’s own.
—Henry Adams (1838–1918) American Historian, Man of Letters
The more unintelligent a man is, the less mysterious existence seems to him.
—Arthur Schopenhauer (1788–1860) German Philosopher
With foxes we must play the fox.
—Thomas Fuller (1608–61) English Cleric, Historian
Knowing others is intelligence; knowing yourself is true wisdom. Mastering others is strength; mastering yourself is true power. If you realize that you have enough, you are truly rich.
—Laozi (fl.6th Century BCE) Chinese Philosopher, Sage
What is an intelligent man? A man who enters with ease and completeness into the spirit of things and the intention of persons, and who arrives at an end by the shortest route.
—Henri Frederic Amiel (1821–81) Swiss Moral Philosopher, Poet, Critic
Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know.
—Ernest Hemingway (1899–1961) American Author, Journalist, Short Story Writer
The woman who thinks she is intelligent demands equal rights with men. A woman who is intelligent does not.
—Colette (1873–1954) French Novelist, Performer
He is far too intelligent to become really cerebral.
—Ursula K. Le Guin (b.1929) American Science Fiction and Fantasy Writer
There is nobody so irritating as somebody with less intelligence and more sense than we have.
—Don Herold (1889–1966) American Humorist, Writer, Illustrator, Cartoonist
Man is an intelligence, not served by, but in servitude to his organs.
—Aldous Huxley (1894–1963) English Humanist, Pacifist, Essayist, Short Story Writer, Satirist
Intelligence is the ability to adapt to change.
—Stephen Hawking (1942–2018) English Theoretical Physicist, Cosmologist, Academic
Now intelligence seemed quantifiable. You could measure someone’s actual or potential height, and now, it seemed, you could also measure someone’s actual or potential intelligence. We had one dimension of mental ability along which we could array everyone… The whole concept has to be challenged; in fact, it has to be replaced.
—Howard Gardner (b.1943) American Cognitive Psychologist
Once something becomes discernible, or understandable, we no longer need to repeat it. We can destroy it.
—Robert Wilson (b.1941) American Playwright, Director, Producer
Questions are the creative acts of intelligence.
—Indian Proverb
It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it.
—Aristotle (384BCE–322BCE) Ancient Greek Philosopher, Scholar
I’ve never been an intellectual but I have this look.
—Woody Allen (b.1935) American Film Actor, Director
They that have read about everything are thought to understand everything too; but it is not always so. Reading furnishes the mind only with the materials of knowledge; it is thinking that makes what we read ours. We are of the ruminating kind, and it is not enough to cram ourselves with a great load of collections. Unless we chew them over again, they will not give us strength and nourishment.
—William Ellery Channing (1780–1842) American Unitarian Theologian, Poet
The sum of intelligence on the planet is a constant; the population is growing.
—Unknown
Wit is educated insolence.
—Aristotle (384BCE–322BCE) Ancient Greek Philosopher, Scholar
Whatever you do, do it with intelligence, and keep the end in view.
—Thomas a Kempis (1379–1471) German Religious Priest, Writer
Mother is far too clever to understand anything she does not like.
—Arnold Bennett (1867–1931) British Novelist, Playwright, Critic
Action is the real measure of intelligence.
—Napoleon Hill (1883–1970) American Author, Journalist, Attorney, Lecturer
The intellect is not a serious thing, and never has been. It is an instrument on which one plays, that is all.
—Oscar Wilde (1854–1900) Irish Poet, Playwright
Intelligence recognizes what has happened. Genius recognizes what will happen.
—John Ciardi (1916–86) American Poet, Teacher, Etymologist, Translator
The universe is an intelligence test.
—Timothy Leary (1920–96) American Psychologist, Author
Nothing mattered except states of mind, chiefly our own.
—John Maynard Keynes (1883–1946) English Economist
There are three kinds of intelligence: one kind understands things for itself, the other appreciates what others can understand, the third understands neither for itself nor through others. This first kind is excellent, the second good, and the third kind useless.
—Niccolo Machiavelli (1469–1527) Florentine Political Philosopher
How easy would life be if you were less intelligent!
—Gerhard Kocher (b.1939) Swiss Publicist, Aphorist
The first method for estimating the intelligence of a ruler is to look at the men he has around him.
—Niccolo Machiavelli (1469–1527) Florentine Political Philosopher
Silent water is dangerous water.
—Spanish Proverb
I am clever; and make no scruple of declaring it; why should I?
—Francois de La Rochefoucauld (1613–80) French Writer
Intellect annuls fate. So far as a man thinks, he is free.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
To be able to fill leisure intelligently is the last product of civilization, and at present very few people have reached this level.
—Bertrand A. Russell (1872–1970) British Philosopher, Mathematician, Social Critic
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
We need only travel enough to give our intellects an airing.
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–62) American Philosopher
Intellectuals solve problems; geniuses prevent them.
—Albert Einstein (1879–1955) German-born Physicist