Quotable Quotes: Intelligence, Smarts and Wisdom
by Miki Saxon
Several of the links yesterday related to intelligence, smarts and wisdom, so I thought that would be a good topic today, too.
Einstein is considered a genius, but it seems that he had a different view, “It’s not that I’m so smart, it’s just that I stay with problems longer.”
According to Ralph Waldo Emerson being intelligent or smart isn’t everything, “Character is higher than intellect. A great soul will be strong to live as well as think.”
Alan Alda adds a dimension to that with his observation regarding being smart, “Be as smart as you can, but remember that it is always better to be wise than to be smart.”
Voltaire said,”Common sense is not so common;” actually, I think it’s rarer than intelligence.
Some people equate intelligence to education and believe that filling one’s mind with book learning is a valid goal, but I tend to align with Plutarch words, “The mind is not a vessel to be filled but a fire to be kindled.”
Perhaps it’s the fire that leads E. B. White to believe that “Genius is more often found in a cracked pot than in a whole one.”
Throughout history there has been much debate and varying opinions regarding intelligence in the different races, but John Fowles thinking seems to offer the final word, “There are only two races on this planet – the intelligent and the stupid.”
Stock.xchng image credit: http://www.sxc.hu/photo/1254880
