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cleverness quotes

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“Cleverness was silly. One must say simply what one felt.” Virginia Woolf, Mrs Dalloway
“Sell your cleverness and buy bewilderment” Rumi, Masnavi
“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
“The greatest fools are ofttimes more clever than the men who laugh at them” George R. R. Martin, A Storm of Swords
“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
“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
“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
“He uses his folly like a stalking-horse, and under the presentation of that he shoots his wit.” William Shakespeare, As You Like It
“Better a witty fool than a foolish wit.” William Shakespeare, Twelfth Night
“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
“Sometimes a man wants to be stupid if it lets him do a thing his cleverness forbids.” John Steinbeck, East of Eden
“Half of seeming clever is keeping your mouth shut at the right times.” Patrick Rothfuss, The Wise Man's Fear
“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
“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
“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
“You're a lad, you are, but you're as smart as paint.” Robert Louis Stevenson, Treasure Island
“Nothing is so necessary for a young man as the society of clever women.” Leo Tolstoy, War and Peace
“They tried to be too clever—and that was their undoing.” Agatha Christie, The Mysterious Affair at Styles
“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
“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
“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
“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

Related topics

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

Related authors

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

Related sources

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