Quotes About Intelligence

There is no reliable way to calculate from the number of recorded compliance issues how many Americans have had their communications improperly collected, stored or distributed by the NSA.

When I became director of CIA, it was just clear to me intuitively, without a whole lot of science behind it, that we had expanded rapidly and inefficiently. So I arbitrarily picked a number, 10 percent, and I said over the next 12 months, we are going to reduce our reliance on contractors by 10 percent.

I did a book event with a former colleague, Bob Bauer, and was so relieved that he said I got all the CIA stuff right.

Intelligent design is a modest position theologically and philosophically. It attributes the complexity and diversity of life to intelligence, but does not identify that intelligence with the God of any religious faith or philosophical system.

If Adam Schiff is able to review covert operations and intelligence, and if we have to be able to rely on his representations, our whole system is broken.

As naturally athletic as I'm gifted to be, where certain things came easily, I always rely on my brain first.

His ignorance was as remarkable as his knowledge.

My mother had been an incredibly bright kid but her family couldn't afford for her to stay in education. So she lived through me. She was a very remarkable woman and I owe a huge debt to her. She was unashamed about delighting in the fact that I was intelligent, and she drove and pushed me. She was also completely indifferent to popularity.

I think the President himself is a remarkably intelligent, decent, ethical man. I think he did very well, but I think the job builds up over expectations which all candidates contribute to including this President that simply cannot be fulfilled.

Kate Middleton is intelligent, good looking, kind, and fun, and she is remarkably normal.

Education is about remembering stuff and I could never remember anything, so I didn't get an education.

People don't like when you point out to them and remind them that they're not very smart.

All of my life I've been met with shock and disbelief if I've ever come out with anything remotely smart, as if people are thinking, 'how does this happy little Essex girl know anything?'

Normally, architects render a service. They implement what other people want. This is not what I do. I like to develop the use of the building together with the client, in a process, so that as we go along we become more intelligent.

Learn avidly. Question repeatedly what you have learned. Analyze it carefully. Then put what you have learned into practice intelligently.

I can remember when I was National Security Adviser, the intelligence community told us... they put out an intelligence report saying that Iran would never back off from attacks on shipping in the Gulf if we use force.

In the aftermath of September 11, and as the 9/11 Commission report so aptly demonstrates, it is clear that our intelligence system is not working the way that it should.

The higher the classification of secrecy, the quicker you will report it.

The American public should know that the Senate report actually reveals that 82% of detainees subjected to enhanced interrogation did, in fact, produce intelligence that saved American lives.

Ensuring that the intelligence community adheres to its responsibilities to report on its activities to Congress is absolutely essential.

The Chilcot report is damning. It exposes a litany of failures over a long period, including reliance on flawed intelligence assessments, lack of planning and insufficient foresight of obvious consequences. But the report also exposes a chilling lack of rigour and a political culture of deference.

The 2007 National Intelligence Estimate that said Iran had paused its nuclear weaponization work also reported with high confidence that such work had been going on through 2003. How far did they get? That's an important question, but I fear that the Iranians will never answer it, and we will not insist that they do.

As the president's principal intelligence advisor, I would ensure that all intelligence is collected analyzed and reported without bias, prejudice or political influence.

We have the wrong people chasing Osama bin Laden. It ought to be athletic directors and reporters. They'll find you.