Quotes About Intelligence

a man knows things and when he stops knowing things he's like anybody else, and the thing is to get power before he stops knowing things.

The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in mind at the same time and still retain the ability to function.

Oh, I know a lot of people struggle, wondering is there really a God. They sit and think and worry over it all their life. The good Lord had to make smart people but I don't think he did them any favors because it seems the smart ones start questioning things from the get go. But I never did. I'm one of the lucky ones. I thank God every night, my brain is just perfect for me, not too dumb, not too bright.

Other educational systems teach you to take tests; the American system teaches you to think.

through preparation, early action, and intelligent responses, we can quickly flatten its trajectory.

The political climate in Washington always pushes policymakers toward being "tough" rather than "soft"—which is a dangerous way to frame international affairs. The real question is, can they be smart rather than stupid?

pg 9, The consciousness of life's unconsciousness is the oldest tax levied on the intelligence.

The abstract intelligence produces a fatigue that's the worst of all fatigues. It doesn't weigh on us like bodily fatigue, nor disconcert like the fatigue of emotional experience. It's the weight of our consciousness of the world, a shortness of breath in our soul.

A consciência da insonsciência da vida é o mais antigo imposto à inteligência.

There's no greater proof of an impoverished mind than its inability to be witty except at other people's expense.

All our abstract intelligence is good for is constructing systems, or semi-systematic ideas, which for animals is a simple matter of lying in the sun.

Agir, eis a inteligência verdadeira. Serei o que quiser. Mas tenho que querer o que for.

This little boy playing next to me is an intellectual mass of cells - better yet, he's a clockwork of subatomic movements, a strange electrical conglomeration of millions of solar systems in minature. [58, Zenith trans.]

Há um cansaço da inteligência abstracta, e é o mais horroroso dos cansaços. Não pesa como o cansaço do corpo, nem inquieta como o cansaço do conhecimento pela emoção. É um peso da consciência do mundo, um não poder respirar com a alma.

No intelligent idea can gain general acceptance unless some stupidity is mixed in with it. Collective thought is stupid because it's collective. Nothing passes into the realm of the collective without leaving at the border – like a toll – most of the intelligence it contained.

La conciencia de la inconsciencia de la vida es el martirio más grande impuesto a la inteligencia.

O que é certo é que entre um homem vulgar e um macaco há menos diferença que entre um homem vulgar e um homem realmente culto.

Hacer, he ahí la inteligencia verdadera. Seré lo que quiera. Pero tengo que querer lo que sea. El éxito está en tener éxito, y no en tener condiciones para el éxito.

Mi sono capitate solo un'intelligenza di natura lucida e una buona forza di volontà. Ma questi erano doni naturali, che la mia bassa condizione di nascita non mi poteva togliere.

What really shocks me is how these wizards and masters of the invisible, when they write to communicate or intimate their mysteries, all write abominably. It offends my intelligence that a man can master the Devil without being able to master the Portuguese language.

No intelligent idea can gain general acceptance unless some stupidity is mixed in with it. Collective thought is stupid because it's collective.

Only one thing surprises me more than the stupidity with which most men live their lives and that is the intellegence inherent in that stupidity. [...] The wise man makes his life monotonous, for then even the tiniest accident becomes imbued with great significance.

It requires prodigious intelligence to be reduced to anguish by a day of lowering skies.

Only one thing astonishes me more than the stupidity with which most people live their lives, and that's the intelligence of this stupidity.