Thinkers Thoughts on Thinking

Thinkers Thoughts on Thinking

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

Sometimes I think the surest sign that intelligent life exists elsewhere in the universe
is that none of it has tried to contact us.
Calvin from "Calvin and Hobbes" (Bill Watterson)

Belief is the death of intelligence.
Robert Anton Wilson

The test of a first-rate intelligence is
the ability to hold two opposed ideas in mind at the same time
and still retain the ability to function.
F. Scott Fitzgerald

Two things are infinite:
the universe and human stupidity;
and I'm not sure about the the universe.
Albert Einstein

My mother used to say to me, ...
"In this world, Elwood, you must be oh, so smart, or oh, so pleasant."
For years I was smart. I recommend pleasant. You may quote me.
Elwood P. Dowd in the play "Harvey" by Mary Chase (1907-1981)

Many highly intelligent people are poor thinkers.
Many people of average intelligence are skilled thinkers.
The power of a car is separate from the way the car is driven.
Edward de Bono

To me, being an intellectual doesn't mean knowing about intellectual issues;
it means taking pleasure in them.
Jacob Bronowski, American scientist, author, philosopher

People who are smart get into Mensa.
People who are really smart look around and leave.
James Randi

It has yet to be proven that intelligence has any survival value.
Arthur C. Clarke

The trouble with the world is that
the stupid are cocksure and the intelligent full of doubt.
Bertrand Russell, 1872-1970, British Philosopher, Mathematician, Essayist

It is not clear that intelligence has any long-term survival value.
Stephen Hawking, British Theoretical Physicist

The intelligent man finds almost everything ridiculous,
the sensible man hardly anything.
Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

Intellectual brilliance is no guarantee against being dead wrong.
David Fasold

The best intelligence test is what we do with our leisure.
Laurence J. Peter

Man had always assumed that he was more intelligent than dolphins
because he had achieved so much -- the wheel, New York, wars, and so on,
whilst all the dolphins had ever done was muck about in the water having a good time.
But conversely, the dolphins believed themselves to be more intelligent than man for precisely the same reasons.
(from "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy")

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