Clever people will recognize and tolerate nothing but cleverness.
—Henri Frederic Amiel (1821–81) Swiss Moral Philosopher, Poet, Critic
I was taught that the human brain was the crowning glory of evolution so far, but I think it’s a very poor scheme for survival.
—Kurt Vonnegut (1922–2007) American Novelist, Short Story Writer
I think, therefore I am is the statement of an intellectual who underrates toothaches.
—Milan Kundera (b.1929) Czech Novelist
I hate intellectuals. They are from the top down. I am from the bottom up.
—Frank Lloyd Wright (1867–1959) American Architect
It has yet to be proven that intelligence has any survival value.
—Arthur C. Clarke (1917–2008) British Scientist, Science-fiction Writer
Intelligence, in diapers, is invisible. And when it matures, out the window it flies. We have to pounce on it earlier.
—Stanislaw Jerzy Lec (1909–1966) Polish Aphorist, Poet
Half of being smart is knowing what you are dumb about.
—Solomon Short
The woman who thinks she is intelligent demands equal rights with men. A woman who is intelligent does not.
—Colette (1873–1954) French Novelist, Performer
There is nobody so irritating as somebody with less intelligence and more sense than we have.
—Don Herold (1889–1966) American Humorist, Writer, Illustrator, Cartoonist
Man is an intelligence, not served by, but in servitude to his organs.
—Aldous Huxley (1894–1963) English Humanist, Pacifist, Essayist, Short Story Writer, Satirist
There’s always something suspect about an intellectual on the winning side.
—Vaclav Havel (1936–2011) Czech Dramatist, Statesman
Intellectuals solve problems; geniuses prevent them.
—Albert Einstein (1879–1955) German-born Physicist
I’ve been called many things, but never an intellectual.
—Tallulah Bankhead (1902–68) American Actor, TV Personality
The best intelligence test is what we do with our leisure.
—Laurence J. Peter (1919–90) Canadian-born American Educator, Author
Intellectuals can tell themselves anything, sell themselves any bill of goods, which is why they were so often patsies for the ruling classes in nineteenth-century France and England, or twentieth-century Russia and America.
—Lillian Hellman (1905–84) American Playwright, Dramatist, Memoirist
It is not clear that intelligence has any long-term survival value.
—Stephen Hawking (1942–2018) English Theoretical Physicist, Cosmologist, Academic