3,849 Quotes About Intelligence

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. This philosophy fitted on to my early adult life, when I saw the improbable, the implausible, often the "impossible," come true.

Intelligence without ambition is a bird without wings.

Beauty fades, dumb is forever.

A great deal of intelligence can be invested in ignorance when the need for illusion is deep.

Because there are three classes of intellects: one which comprehends by itself; another which appreciates what others comprehend; and a third which neither comprehends by itself nor by the showing of others; the first is the most excellent, the second is good, the third is useless.

Elinor agreed to it all, for she did not think he deserved the compliment of rational opposition.

Intelligence is an accident of evolution, and not necessarily an advantage.

I can normally tell how intelligent a man is by how stupid he thinks I am.

Man is so intelligent that he feels impelled to invent theories to account for what happens in the world. Unfortunately, he is not quite intelligent enough, in most cases, to find correct explanations. So that when he acts on his theories, he behaves very often like a lunatic.