Quotes About Intellect

There is no desire more natural than the desire of knowledge. (Il n'est desir plus naturel que le desir de connaissance)

Excellent memories are often coupled with feeble judgments.

In general I ask for books that make use of learning, not those that build it up.

an outstanding memory is often associated with weak judgement.

No lo ocupamos [el pensamiento] en algún tema que lo bride y contenga, se lanza desbocado aquí y allá, por el campo difuso de las imaginaciones (Vol. I, p. 68).

Il n'est desir plus naturel que le desir de connaissance.

I had been mad enough to study reason; I was reasonable enough to study madness.

Modifying one's s own thought and that of others seems to me to be the intellectual's reason for being

Every abstract idea brings with it an immense economy of thought.

Some people seek meaning in life through personal gain, through personal relationships, or through personal experiences. However, it seems to me that being blessed with the intellect to divine the ultimate secrets of nature gives meaning enough to life.

Aquel que llegaba a interesarse por un libro se convertía inevitablemente en un esclavo de la lectura. Un libro te remitía a otro libro, un autor a otro autor, porque, en contra de lo que solía decirse, los libros nunca te resolvían problemas sino que te los creaban, de modo que la curiosidad del lector siempre quedaba insatisfecha. Y, al apelar a otros títulos, iniciabas una cadena que ya no podía concluir sino con la muerte.

They were arguing about something very complex and important, and neither of them could refute the other. They did not agree with each other in anything, and that made their argument especially interesting and endless.

My speeches in no way resemble verbal muck, as you have been pleased to put it in the presence of a lady, but rather a sequence of tightly packed syllogisms, the merit of which would be appreciated by such connoisseurs as Sextus Empiricus, Martianus Capella,4 and, for all I know, Aristotle himself.

A man only has to be chased with firearms for him to turn into a cunning wolf: in place of his weak, and in really desperate situations useless intellect, the wisdom of animal instinct will suddenly take over.

I think, therefore I am' is the statement of an intellectual who underrates toothaches.

E qualcos'altro lo elevava: teneva sul tavolo un libro aperto. In quel bar nessuno aveva mai aperto un libro sul tavolo. Un libro era per Tereza il segno di riconoscimento di una fratellanza segreta. Contro il mondo della volgarità che la circondava, essa aveva infatti un'unica difesa: i libri che prendeva in prestito alla biblioteca comunale…

For time spurred on by jealousy passes with amazing speed. Jealousy occupies the mind more completely than passionate intellectual work. The mind has not a moment of leisure. A victim of jealousy never knows boredom

Xhelozia e ngërthen mendjen shumë më shterueshëm se një punë intelektuale plot pasion. Mendja nuk gjen më asnjë sekondë prehjeje. Ai që bëhet pre e xhelozisë, nuk di ç'është mërzia.

You can lead a man to Congress, but you can't make him think.

Understand that wisdom is higher than intellect and discretion is higher than debating.

I love to just be super nerdy.

He hath not eat paper, as it were; he hath not drunk ink; his intellect is not replenished; he is only an animal, only sensible in the duller parts. (Shakespeare, Love's Labor's Lost, IV)

I read a lot of science books - I love cosmology, quantum theory, particle physics. So my idea of a great read would probably put you directly into a coma.

I love books so much. I've read more books than anyone else I know.