Quotes about intelligence
113 quotes from 85 people
Today the greatest single source of wealth is between your ears.
Some people have a gift for stupidity, an almost mystic ability to withstand any form of logic.
A great deal of intelligence can be invested in ignorance when the need for illusion is deep.
Saul Bellow1915–2005To Jerusalem and Back: A Personal Account (1976), p. 127An intelligence test sometimes shows a man how smart he would have been not to have taken it.
Skill is successfully walking a tightrope over Niagara Falls. Intelligence is not trying.
I prefer rogues to imbeciles, because they sometimes take a rest.
Bertrand Russell1872–1970“The Triumph of Stupidity” (10 May 1933), in Mortals and Others
Thomas Carlyle1795–1881Critical and Miscellaneous Essays (1827–1855), Goethe.
Robert A. Heinlein1907–1988Time Enough for Love (1973)You don’t realize that you’re intelligent until it gets you into trouble.
James Baldwin1924–1987“James Baldwin: Reflections of a Maverick” interview (27 May 1984)
Simone Weil1909–1943Letter to her parents (1943), as quoted in the Introduction by Siân Miles
