dull men are usually afraid of her cleverness and intellectual men are usually afraid of her beauty.
 F. Scott Fitzgerald, This Side of Paradise (1920). copy citation

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Author F. Scott Fitzgerald
Source This Side of Paradise
Topic cleverness beauty
Date 1920
Language English
Reference
Note
Weblink http://www.gutenberg.org/files/805/805-h/805-h.htm

Context

“Mother's gone down. (And now ROSALIND enters. ROSALIND is—utterly ROSALIND. She is one of those girls who need never make the slightest effort to have men fall in love with them. Two types of men seldom do: dull men are usually afraid of her cleverness and intellectual men are usually afraid of her beauty. All others are hers by natural prerogative. If ROSALIND could be spoiled the process would have been complete by this time, and as a matter of fact, her disposition is not all it should be; she wants what she wants when she wants it and she is prone to make every one around her pretty miserable when she doesn't get it—but in the true sense she is not spoiled.” source