Quotes on Intelligence

Henry Adams

"There is no such thing as an underestimate of average intelligence."

"One of the surest signs that intelligent life exists in outer space is that none of it has tried to contact us yet."

"It is not enough to have a good mind; the main thing is to use it well."

"Minds are like parachutes. They only function when they are open."

"Common sense is the collection of prejudices acquired by age eighteen."

"The brain is like a TV set; when it goes blank, it's a good idea to turn off the sound."

"A closed mind is a dying mind."

"There are more fools in the world than there are people."

"Common Sense isn't what it used to be."

"It is a capital mistake to theorize before one has data. Insensibly, one begins to twist facts to suit theories, instead of theories to suit facts."

"An intelligence test sometimes shows a man how smart he would have been not to have taken it."

"What a waste it is to lose one's mind. Or not to have a mind is being very wasteful. How true that is."

"Everyone is born with genius, but most people only keep it a few minutes."

"Strange as it may seem, no amount of learning can cure stupidity, and formal education positively fortifies it."

"Genius is the ability to reduce the complicated to the simple."

"An intellectual is someone who has found something more interesting than sex."

"I am not young enough to know everything."