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Quotes about intelligence

113 quotes from 85 people

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It appears to me that one defeats the fanatic precisely by not being a fanatic oneself, but on the contrary by using one’s intelligence.
George Orwell1903–1950Letter to Richard Rees (3 March 1949), The Collected Essays, Journalism and Letters of George Orwell, Vol. 4: In front of your nose, 1945-1950 (1968), ed. Sonia Orwell and Ian Angus, p. 478
I say there is more stupidity than hydrogen, and that is the basic building block of the universe.
Frank Zappa1940–1993The Real Frank Zappa Book (1989), p. 239
- Comedy
Whoever prefers the material comforts of life over intellectual wealth is like the owner of a palace who moves into the servants’ quarters and leaves the sumptuous rooms empty.
Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach1830–1916Aphorisms (1880/1893), p. 53.
- Money
We avenge intellect when we dupe a fool, and it is a victory not to be despised for a fool is covered with steel and it is often very hard to find his vulnerable part.
Giacomo Casanova1725–1798Memoirs of J. Casanova de Seingalt (1894)
There is no slavery but ignorance. Liberty is the child of intelligence.
Robert G. Ingersoll1833–1899The Liberty of Man, Woman and Child (1877)
- Liberty
Repression by brute force is always a confession of the inability to make use of the better weapons of the intellect — better because they alone give promise of final success.
Ludwig von Mises1881–1973Liberalism (1927), Ch. 1: The Foundations of Liberal Policy § 10: The Argument of Fascism
- Power
I am patient with stupidity but not with those who are proud of it.
Edith Sitwell1887–1964The Last Years of a Rebel (1967), p. 24
- Clever Jabs
The most ignorant are the most conceited.
Horace Mann1796–1859Lectures on Education (1855), Lecture 6
- Pride
It’s too bad that stupidity isn’t painful.
Anton LaVey1930–1997The Nine Satanic Sins (1987)
- Comedy
Stupidity is much the same all the world over.
John Stuart Mill1806–1873The Subjection of Women (1869), Ch. 1
Intelligence consists in ignoring things that are irrelevant.
Nassim Nicholas Talebborn 1960The Bed of Procrustes: Philosophical and Practical Aphorisms (2010), p. 78
All humans are stupid, but the smarter ones at least have a handle on their own ignorance.
John Cleeseborn 1939In conversation with Matthew Syed. Matthew Syed, “When dogma beats data, reason is lost”, The Sunday Times (27 September 2020), p. 21
Your intelligence often bears the same relation to your heart as the library of a château does to its owner.
Nicolas Chamfort1740–1794Maximes et Pensées, #84
The disease having been caused by allowing cleverness to displace wisdom, no amount of clever research is likely to produce a cure.
ESE. F. Schumacher1911–1977Small is Beautiful: A Study of Economics As If People Mattered (1973), p. 35.
- Wisdom
Persons without minds are like weeds that delight in good earth; they want to be amused by others, all the more because they are dull within.
Honoré de Balzac1799–1850The Vicar of Tours (1832), Ch. I