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cleverness quotes

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“Sell your cleverness and buy bewilderment” Rumi, Masnavi
“A boy born with a deficient power of apprehending signs and abstractions must suffer the penalty of his congenital deficiency, just as if he had been born with one leg shorter than the other.” George Eliot, The Mill on the Floss
“You're a lad, you are, but you're as smart as paint.” Robert Louis Stevenson, Treasure Island
“Cleverness was silly. One must say simply what one felt.” Virginia Woolf, Mrs Dalloway
“She is very clever, too clever for a woman. She lacks the indefinable charm of weakness. It is the feet of clay that make the gold of the image precious.” Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray
“Half of seeming clever is keeping your mouth shut at the right times.” Patrick Rothfuss, The Wise Man's Fear
“Sometimes a man wants to be stupid if it lets him do a thing his cleverness forbids.” John Steinbeck, East of Eden
“Better a witty fool than a foolish wit.” William Shakespeare, Twelfth Night
“A boy who once wiped his ass with poison ivy probably doesn’t belong in a smart people’s club.” Stephen King, On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft
“A stupid man's report of what a clever man says is never accurate, because he unconsciously translates what he hears into something that he can understand.” Bertrand Russell, A History of Western Philosophy
“What the ancients called a clever fighter is one who not only wins, but excels in winning with ease.” Sun Tzu, The Art of War
“The greatest fools are ofttimes more clever than the men who laugh at them” George R. R. Martin, A Storm of Swords
“Nothing is so necessary for a young man as the society of clever women.” Leo Tolstoy, War and Peace
“My idea of good company, Mr Elliot, is the company of clever, well-informed people, who have a great deal of conversation; that is what I call good company.” Jane Austen, Persuasion
“Now goblins are cruel, wicked, and bad-hearted. They make no beautiful things, but they make many clever ones.” J. R. R. Tolkien, The Hobbit
“Therefore the clever combatant imposes his will on the enemy, but does not allow the enemy's will to be imposed on him.” Sun Tzu, The Art of War
“I am sick to death of cleverness. Everybody is clever nowadays. You can't go anywhere without meeting clever people. The thing has become an absolute public nuisance. I wish to goodness we had a few fools left.” Oscar Wilde, The Importance of Being Earnest
“They tried to be too clever—and that was their undoing.” Agatha Christie, The Mysterious Affair at Styles
“I don't have much in the way of money or worldly possessions, I'm not beautiful, intelligent or clever, but I'm happy, and I intend to stay that way! I was born happy, I love people, I have a trusting nature, and I'd like everyone else to be...” Anne Frank, The Diary of a Young Girl
“He uses his folly like a stalking-horse, and under the presentation of that he shoots his wit.” William Shakespeare, As You Like It
“He knew her to be clever, to have a quick apprehension as well as good sense, and a fondness for reading, which, properly directed, must be an education in itself.” Jane Austen, Mansfield Park
“I need you to think of solutions to problems we haven’t seen yet. I want you to try things that no one has ever tried because they’re absolutely stupid.” Orson Scott Card, Ender's Game

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Related topics

stupidity foolishness women excuse silence happiness men education understanding reading will weakness trust feeling cruelty charm winning enemies information laugh

Related authors

William Shakespeare (2)
Oscar Wilde (2)
Jane Austen (2)
Sun Tzu (2)
Rumi (1)
Patrick Rothfuss (1)
Virginia Woolf (1)
George Eliot (1)
J. R. R. Tolkien (1)
George R. R. Martin (1)
Robert Louis Stevenson (1)
Leo Tolstoy (1)
Stephen King (1)
Bertrand Russell (1)
John Steinbeck (1)
Anne Frank (1)
Agatha Christie (1)
Orson Scott Card (1)

Related sources

The Art of War (2)
A History of Western Philosophy (1)
East of Eden (1)
As You Like It (1)
Twelfth Night (1)
The Picture of Dorian Gray (1)
The Diary of a Young Girl (1)
The Importance of Being Earnest (1)
The Hobbit (1)
War and Peace (1)
A Storm of Swords (1)
Mrs Dalloway (1)
Treasure Island (1)
Mansfield Park (1)
The Mysterious Affair at Styles (1)
Persuasion (1)
On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft (1)
The Mill on the Floss (1)
Masnavi (1)
Ender's Game (1)