Quotes and anectdotes from the wise to the foolish, and the courageous to the drunk

intelligence

A German immersed in any civilization different from his own loses a weight equivalent in volume to the amount of intelligence he displaces. 5 thoughts from Jose Bergamin

Advertising: the science of arresting the human intelligence long enough to get money from it. 8 quotes from Stephen Leacock

Genius is initiative on fire. 4 thoughts from Holbrook Jackson

I not only use all the brains that I have, but all that I can borrow. 19 quotes from Woodrow Wilson

Intelligence is quickness in seeing things as they are. 46 more views from George Santayana

There is no logical reason why the camel of great art should pass through the needle of mob intelligence. 11 other wisdom & wit from Rebecca West

Though intelligence is powerless to modify character, it is a dab hand at finding euphemisms for its weaknesses. 8 thoughts from Quentin Crisp

To lack intelligence is to be in the ring blindfolded. 2 quotes from David M. Shoup

Being an intellectual creates a lot of questions and no answers. 5 quotes from Janis Joplin

For the execution of the voyage to the Indies, I did not make use of intelligence, mathematics or maps. 5 other thoughts from Christopher Columbus

Genius is the ability to renew one's emotions in daily experience. 23 quotes from Paul Cezanne

God has placed no limits to the exercise of the intellect he has given us, on this side of the grave. 67 wisdom & wit from Francis Bacon

I'm a pessimist because of intelligence, but an optimist because of will. 2 quotes from Antonio Gramsci

I'm not the smartest fellow in the world, but I can sure pick smart colleagues. 24 sayings from Franklin D. Roosevelt

In view of the fact that God limited the intelligence of man, it seems unfair that He did not also limit his stupidity. 4 more wisdom & wit from Konrad Adenauer

Intelligence must follow faith, never precede it, and never destroy it. 12 other quotes from Thomas a Kempis

It's a poor sort of memory that only works backwards. 7 thoughts from Lewis Carroll

Our actions are the results of our intentions and our intelligence. 5 quotes from E. Stanley Jones

Promise me you'll always remember: You're braver than you believe, and stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think. 5 thoughts from A. A. Milne

Science has not yet taught us if madness is or is not the sublimity of the intelligence. 19 other views from Edgar Allan Poe

The mind is not a vessel to be filled but a fire to be kindled. 17 sayings from Plutarch

Intelligence and courtesy not always are combined Often in a wooden house a golden room we find. 26 more views from Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Intelligence is not to make no mistakes, but quickly to see how to make them good. 14 thoughts from Bertolt Brecht

Intelligence is quickness to apprehend as distinct form ability, which is capacity to act wisely on the thing apprehended. 19 quotes from Alfred North Whitehead

Intelligence is the wife, imagination is the mistress, memory is the servant. 73 sayings from Victor Hugo

It has always been my private conviction that any man who puts his intelligence up against a fish and loses had it coming. 9 more quotes from John Steinbeck

It is good to rub and polish our brain against that of others. 32 more thoughts from Michel de Montaigne

It is impossible to underrate human intelligence - beginning with one's own. 22 more quotes from Henry Adams

It takes an extraordinary intelligence to contemplate the obvious. 19 sayings from Alfred North Whitehead

No man likes to have his intelligence or good faith questioned, especially if he has doubts about it himself. 22 more quotes from Henry Adams

Scepticism, that dry caries of the intelligence. 73 wisdom & wit from Victor Hugo

Talent hits a target no one else can hit Genius hits a target no one else can see. 29 quotes from Arthur Schopenhauer

The intelligent man who is proud of his intelligence is like the condemned man who is proud of his large cell. 25 other quotes from Simone Weil

The role of the intelligence - that part of us which affirms and denies and formulates opinions is merely to submit. 25 other wisdom & wit from Simone Weil

There is no such thing as an underestimate of average intelligence. 22 sayings from Henry Adams

To educate the intelligence is to expand the horizon of its wants and desires. 24 other views from James Russell Lowell

Whatever debases the intelligence degrades the entire human being. 25 other quotes from Simone Weil

Any man who reads too much and uses his own brain too little falls into lazy habits of thinking. 105 quotes from Albert Einstein

Human beings exercise responsibilities within a social setting and a framework of obligations which transcend the principle of intelligence. 2 quotes from Michael Polanyi

Information is not knowledge. 105 other sayings from Albert Einstein

Intellectuals solve problems, geniuses prevent them. 105 other quotes from Albert Einstein

It's not that I'm so smart, it's just that I stay with problems longer. 105 quotes from Albert Einstein

The difference between stupidity and genius is that genius has its limits. 105 quotes from Albert Einstein

The intellect of the wise is like glass it admits the light of heaven and reflects it. 5 more quotes from Augustus Hare

The true sign of intelligence is not knowledge but imagination. 105 sayings from Albert Einstein

We should take care not to make the intellect our god it has, of course, powerful muscles, but no personality. 105 more sayings from Albert Einstein

A year spent in artificial intelligence is enough to make one believe in God. 7 more sayings from Alan Perlis

Anyone who conducts an argument by appealing to authority is not using his intelligence he is just using his memory. 27 more quotes from Leonardo da Vinci

Dissents are appeals to the brooding spirit of the law, to the intelligence of another day. 4 quotes from Charles Evans Hughes

Genius ain't anything more than elegant common sense. 42 other views from Josh Billings

God is another name for human intelligence raised above all error and imperfection, and extended to all possible truth. 11 quotes from William Ellery Channing

Ignorance is the curse of God knowledge is the wing wherewith we fly to heaven. 81 views from William Shakespeare

Immaturity is the incapacity to use one's intelligence without the guidance of another. 13 quotes from Immanuel Kant

Intelligence flourishes only in the ages when belief withers. 18 more thoughts from Emile M. Cioran

Man has made use of his intelligence, he invented stupidity. 2 sayings from Remy de Gourmont

Philosophy is a battle against the bewitchment of our intelligence by means of language. 9 quotes from Ludwig Wittgenstein

Poets are the sense, philosophers the intelligence of humanity. 4 wisdom & wit from Samuel Beckett

There is no greater evidence of superior intelligence than to be surprised at nothing. 42 thoughts from Josh Billings

To be able to fill leisure intelligently is the last product of civilization. 7 more quotes from Arnold J. Toynbee

We live less and less, and we learn more and more. Sensibility is surrendering to intelligence. 2 other quotes from Remy de Gourmont

A woman uses her intelligence to find reasons to support her intuition. 52 wisdom & wit from Gilbert K. Chesterton

Character is higher than intellect. A great soul will be strong to live as well as think. 135 sayings from Ralph Waldo Emerson

Common sense is genius dressed in its working clothes. 135 thoughts from Ralph Waldo Emerson

Genius always finds itself a century too early. 135 sayings from Ralph Waldo Emerson

I don't even call it violence when it's in self defense I call it intelligence. 21 more wisdom & wit from Malcolm X

I don't think the intelligence reports are all that hot. Some days I get more out of the New York Times. 46 other quotes from John F. Kennedy

Intelligence without ambition is a bird without wings. 11 other quotes from Salvador Dali

Quality in a classical Greek sense is how to live with grace and intelligence, with bravery and mercy. 5 sayings from Theodore White

Religion is something left over from the infancy of our intelligence, it will fade away as we adopt reason and science as our guidelines. 45 thoughts from Bertrand Russell

So far as I can remember, there is not one word in the Gospels in praise of intelligence. 45 views from Bertrand Russell

The bookful blockhead, ignorantly read With loads of learned lumber in his head. 43 quotes from Alexander Pope

The first method for estimating the intelligence of a ruler is to look at the men he has around him. 23 other views from Niccolo Machiavelli

The voice of the intellect is a soft one, but it does not rest until it has gained a hearing. 26 quotes from Sigmund Freud

We are faced with the paradoxical fact that education has become one of the chief obstacles to intelligence and freedom of thought. 45 thoughts from Bertrand Russell

What a distressing contrast there is between the radiant intelligence of the child and the feeble mentality of the average adult. 26 more quotes from Sigmund Freud

Wisdom and deep intelligence require an honest appreciation of mystery. 7 other views from Thomas Moore

Intelligence recognizes what has happened. Genius recognizes what will happen. 6 more quotes from John Ciardi

Knowledge is love and light and vision. 31 wisdom & wit from Helen Keller

Men create real miracles when they use their God-given courage and intelligence. 14 quotes from Jean Anouilh

No sooner does man discover intelligence than he tries to involve it in his own stupidity. 6 quotes from Jacques Yves Cousteau

Small minds are concerned with the extraordinary, great minds with the ordinary. 57 wisdom & wit from Blaise Pascal

There are some ideas so wrong that only a very intelligent person could believe in them. 47 more quotes from George Orwell

We have now sunk to a depth at which restatement of the obvious is the first duty of intelligent men. 47 thoughts from George Orwell

An intelligent man is sometimes forced to be drunk to spend time with his fools. 35 thoughts from Ernest Hemingway

Chess is as elaborate a waste of human intelligence as you can find outside an advertising agency. 8 quotes from Raymond Chandler

Chess is the most elaborate waste of human intelligence outside of an advertising agency. 8 other wisdom & wit from Raymond Chandler

Failure is simply the opportunity to begin again, this time more intelligently. 32 quotes from Henry Ford

Genius is more often found in a cracked pot than in a whole one. 19 other quotes from E. B. White

I would like to take you seriously, but to do so would be an affront to your intelligence. 115 sayings from George Bernard Shaw

It is the mark of a truly intelligent person to be moved by statistics. 115 more wisdom & wit from George Bernard Shaw

It takes a lot of things to prove you are smart, but only one thing to prove you are ignorant. 3 wisdom & wit from Don Herold

Like many intellectuals, he was incapable of saying a simple thing in a simple way. 18 quotes from Marcel Proust

Man is an intelligence in servitude to his organs. 45 other quotes from Aldous Huxley

Often the hands will solve a mystery that the intellect has struggled with in vain. 19 quotes from Carl Jung

Shall I not have intelligence with the earth? Am I not partly leaves and vegetable mould myself. 117 quotes from Henry David Thoreau

Smartness runs in my family. When I went to school I was so smart my teacher was in my class for five years. 3 views from Gracie Allen

There is no worse screen to block out the Spirit than confidence in our own intelligence. 7 quotes from John Calvin

There is nobody so irritating as somebody with less intelligence and more sense than we have. 3 quotes from Don Herold

We should not pretend to understand the world only by the intellect. The judgement of the intellect is only part of the truth. 19 more wisdom & wit from Carl Jung

A person must have a certain amount of intelligent ignorance to get anywhere. 11 other quotes from Charles Kettering

From the lowest animals of which we can affirm intelligence up to man this type of intellect is found. 4 views from Edward Thorndike

Give me a smart idiot over a stupid genius any day. 16 other quotes from Samuel Goldwyn

Human folk are as a matter of fact eager to find intelligence in animals. 4 thoughts from Edward Thorndike

If a cat does something, we call it instinct if we do the same thing, for the same reason, we call it intelligence. 5 other quotes from Will Cuppy

If an animal does something, we call it instinct if we do the same thing for the same reason, we call it intelligence. 5 other thoughts from Will Cuppy

One of the indictments of civilizations is that happiness and intelligence are so rarely found in the same person. 22 quotes from William Feather

An intelligence test sometimes shows a man how smart he would have been not to have taken it. 21 other sayings from Laurence J. Peter

Intelligence is a moral category. 26 more quotes from Theodor Adorno

Love is the triumph of imagination over intelligence. 60 other quotes from H. L. Mencken

Man becomes man only by his intelligence, but he is man only by his heart. 24 wisdom & wit from Henri Frederic Amiel

That which the Fascists hate above all else, is intelligence. 12 more wisdom & wit from Miguel de Unamuno

The best intelligence test is what we do with our leisure. 21 more quotes from Laurence J. Peter

There is no method but to be very intelligent. 23 quotes from T. S. Eliot

Action is the real measure of intelligence. 28 wisdom & wit from Napoleon Hill

An intellectual is a man who takes more words than necessary to tell more than he knows. 33 thoughts from Dwight D. Eisenhower

Do you not see how necessary a world of pains and troubles is to school an intelligence and make it a soul? 19 thoughts from John Keats

Elia Kazan understood my problems. He was able to bring out the very best in me. He gave me credit for my intelligence. 4 more wisdom & wit from Ethel Waters

Humanity I love you because when you're hard up you pawn your intelligence to buy a drink. 13 other thoughts from e. e. cummings

Intelligence is the faculty of making artificial objects, especially tools to make tools. 3 thoughts from Henri Bergson

Military intelligence is a contradiction in terms. 29 other quotes from Groucho Marx

One of the functions of intelligence is to take account of the dangers that come from trusting solely to the intelligence. 8 more quotes from Lewis Mumford

Sculpture is the art of the intelligence. 29 other views from Pablo Picasso

The universe is an intelligence test. 6 more sayings from Timothy Leary

There is nothing wrong with America that faith, love of freedom, intelligence, and energy of her citizens cannot cure. 33 more sayings from Dwight D. Eisenhower

To expect the unexpected shows a thoroughly modern intellect. 100 more wisdom & wit from Oscar Wilde

We are dealing with the best-educated generation in history. But they've got a brain dressed up with nowhere to go. 6 views from Timothy Leary

An intellectual is a man who doesn't know how to park a bike. 3 other wisdom & wit from Spiro T. Agnew

An intellectual is someone whose mind watches itself. 52 views from Albert Camus

Christianity taught men that love is worth more than intelligence. 4 quotes from Jacques Maritain

Common sense is not so common. 78 more thoughts from Voltaire

Continuous effort - not strength or intelligence - is the key to unlocking our potential. 74 other quotes from Winston Churchill

Every true genius is bound to be naive. 29 more sayings from Friedrich Schiller

I must have a prodigious quantity of mind it takes me as much as a week sometimes to make it up. 98 wisdom & wit from Mark Twain

In our society those who are in reality superior in intelligence can be accepted by their fellows only if they pretend they are not. 5 more views from Marya Mannes

It is difficult, if not impossible, to argue that laws written in the 1970s are adequate for today's intelligence challenges. 2 more quotes from Bob Barr

The brain is like a muscle. When it is in use we feel very good. Understanding is joyous. 9 quotes from Carl Sagan

When a true genius appears, you can know him by this sign: that all the dunces are in a confederacy against him. 19 wisdom & wit from Jonathan Swift