#intelligence

"Nobody in Colonial America, to be sure, believed that society owed every child the ultimate in education, but intelligence, industry, and thrift combined with ambition got many a poor man's son into the colonial colleges."

"A learned fool is more a fool than an ignorant fool."

"One does not have to be a philosopher to be a successful artist, but he does have to be an artist to be a successful philosopher. His nature is to view the world in an unpredictable albeit useful light."

"He had just about enough intelligence to open his mouth when he wanted to eat, but certainly no more."

"Wit seduces by signaling intelligence without nerdiness."

"We have now sunk to a depth at which restatement of the obvious is the first duty of intelligent men."

"Intelligence alone is not nearly enough when it comes to acting wisely."

"I am so clever that sometimes I don't understand a single word of what I am saying."

"In a general sense, I admit to valuing the worldviews of men under the age of 40 and women over the age of 30."

"Absurdity is the ecstasy of intellectualism."

"I expect that you must receive top marks at school, young lady."Madeleine smiled as she stirred her tea. "There are always rewards for those who state the obvious frequently and with conviction."

"The compassionate person does not require other people to be stupid, in order to be intelligent. Their intelligence is for everyone, so as to have a world in which there is less ignorance. (118)"

"The advancement and diffusion of knowledge is the only guardian of true liberty."

"Reason is a whore, the greatest enemy that faith has; it never comes to the aid of spiritual things, but more frequently than not struggles against the divine Word, treating with contempt all that emanates from God."

"Jasnah had once defined a fool as a person who ignored information because it disagreed with desired results."

"Ms. Wormwood: Calvin, can you tell us what Lewis and Clark did? Calvin: No, but I can recite the secret superhero origin of each member of Captain Napalm's Thermonuclear League of Liberty. Ms. Wormwood: See me after class, Calvin. Calvin: [retrospectively] I'm not dumb. I just have a command of thoroughly useless information."

"You never see animals going through the absurd and often horrible fooleries of magic and religion. . . . Only man behaves with such gratuitous folly. It is the price he has to pay for being intelligent but not, as yet, quite intelligent enough."

"But if one observes, one will see that the body has its own intelligence; it requires a great deal of intelligence to observe the intelligence of the body."

"I find the whole business of religion profoundly interesting. But it does mystify me that otherwise intelligent people take it seriously."

"Why do I do anything?' she says. 'I'm educated enough to talk myself out of any plan. To deconstruct any fantasy. Explain away any goal. I'm so smart I can negate any dream."