3,849 Quotes About Intelligence

...you sometimes note an impatience on the part of a specialist that the public does not show sufficient interest in his assemblage of information as such. He is likely to conclude that the average person is somewhat stupid. The opposite is true. It is a sign of native intelligence on the part of any person not to clutter his mind with indigestibles.

Oh, yes. I'm terribly smart. Wouldn't it have been nice... to be intelligent?

Ian was the kind of smart that makes your straight A student look like she’d drown in a wet paper bag. Ian was the kind of smart that scares people.

If you want to impress someone, simply make up a vocation and preface it with the words “molecular” or “theoretical” (as in “molecular biologist” or “theoretical physicist”). After you do this no one will question the veracity of anything you say—whether it is related to your putative vocation or not.

Ora, se me permitem, gostaria de exprimir aqui um voto: o de que chegue a este país o dia em que todos os seus habitantes sejam intelectuais, o dia em que o exercício continuado da inteligência seja, não um privilégio de poucos mas a natural realização de todos.

Intelligence is overrated. Two dogs who sniff each others’ butts learn more about each other in a moment than many humans understand about those they’ve known for a lifetime.

The great reward given to intelligent people is that they can invent all the rules and equate any dissent with stupidity.

Smart thinking is to know what you think and why you think it.

European merchants supply the best weaponry, contributing to their own defeat.