Being an intellectual creates a lot of questions and no answers. Janis Joplin
We should not pretend to understand the world only by the intellect. The judgement of the intellect is only part of the truth. Carl Jung
We all agree that pessimism is a mark of superior intellect. John Kenneth Galbraith
There is no greater evidence of superior intelligence than to be surprised at nothing. Josh Billings
There is nobody so irritating as somebody with less intelligence and more sense than we have. Donn Herold
The acquisition of knowledge is always of use to the intellect, because it may thus drive out useless things and retain the good. For nothing can be loved or hated unless it is first known. Leonardo da Vinci
The very cornerstone of an education intended to form great minds, must be the recognition of the principle, that the object is to call forth the greatest possible quantity of intellectual power, and to inspire the intensest love of truth: and this without a particle of regard to the results to which the exercise of that power may lead, even though it should conduct the pupil to opinions diametrically opposite to those of his teachers. We say this, not because we think opinions unimportant, but because of the immense importance which we attach to them; for in proportion to the degree of intellectual power and love of truth which we succeed in creating, is the certainty that (whatever may happen in any one particular instance) in the aggregate of instances true opinions will be the result; and intellectual power and practical love of truth are alike impossible where the reasoner is shown his conclusions, and informed beforehand that he is expected to arrive at them. John Stuart Mill, Civilization
Intelligence plus character – that is the goal of true education. Martin Luther King
Philosophy is a battle against the bewitchment of our intelligence by means of language. Ludwig Wittgenstein, Philosophische Untersuchungen
He thought of himself as a prophet then. And also a thinker ... Letters: hundreds of them. Mostly to his brother Theo: you’ll see that intelligence bubbling away. Simon Schama’s Power of Art: Van Gogh, BBC 2006
Sculpture is the art of the intelligence. Pablo Picasso
A woman of your intellect is content to ask so little from life and herself. The Sopranos s2e4: Commendatori starring James Gandolfini & Lorriane Bracco & Edie Falco & Michael Imperioli & Dominic Chianese & Steven van Zandt & Tony Sirico & Robert Iler et al, Janice to Carmela, HBO 2000
When I’m dead I’m going to be really smart. The Godfather III 1990 starring Al Pacino & Andy Garcia & Diane Keaton & Talia Shire & Sofia Coppola & George Hamilton & Bridget Fonda et al, director Francis Ford Coppola, Michael to Kay
The few are those men of such intellectual and cultural superiority that they are above the traditional moral concepts. Rope 1948 starring James Stewart & John Dall & Farley Granger & John Chandler & Cedric Hardwicke & Constance Collier & Douglas Dick & Edith Evanson et al, director Alfred Hitchcock, Brandon
Nothing has caused the human race so much trouble as intelligence. Rear Window 1954 starring James Stewart & Grace Kelly & Wendell Corey & Thelma Ritter & Raymond Burr & Judith Evelyn & Ross Bagdasarian & Georgine Darcy & Sara Berner & Frank Cady et al, director Alfred Hitchcock, Stella
If the presence of electricity can be made visible in any part of the circuit, I see no reason why intelligence may not be transmitted instantaneously by electricity. Samuel Morse
Anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that ‘my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge’. Isaac Asimov
The more unintelligent a man is, the less mysterious existence seems to him. Arthur Schopenhauer
Disinterested intellectual curiosity is the life-blood of real civilization. G M Trevelyan
It was an age of intense intellectual activity. Kenneth Clark 2/13: Civilisation: The Great Thaw, BBC 1969
I’m intelligent. Some people would say I’m very very very intelligent. Donald Trump
In 1960s and ’70s Britain hundreds of black children were caught up in an extraordinary scandal. They were labelled as educationally subnormal by the state and wrongly sent to schools for children with low intelligence. A decision that would have a devastating impact on their lives. Subnormal: A British Scandal, BBC 2021
This is a story that exposed assumptions at the heart of the British’ schools system that has an enduring legacy today. ibid.
But how did these ideas about race and intelligence find their way into the British schools system? ibid.
The leaked report from the ILEA contained a multitude of damning admissions: it revealed that the education authority was well aware that Caribbean children were being wrongly placed in ESN schools at much higher rates than their white peers. ibid.
It has always been my private conviction that any man who puts his intelligence up against a fish and loses had it coming. John Steinbeck
What is so unnerving about the candidacy of Sarah Palin is the degree to which she represents – and her supporters celebrate – the joyful marriage of confidence and ignorance. Ask yourself: how has ‘elitism’ become a bad word in American politics? There is simply no other walk of life in which extraordinary talent and rigorous training are denigrated. We want elite pilots to fly our planes, elite troops to undertake our most critical missions, elite athletes to represent us in competition and elite scientists to devote the most productive years of their lives to curing our diseases. And yet, when it comes time to vest people with even greater responsibilities, we consider it a virtue to shun any and all standards of excellence. When it comes to choosing the people whose thoughts and actions will decide the fates of millions, then we suddenly want someone just like us, someone fit to have a beer with, someone down-to-earth – in fact, almost anyone, provided that he or she doesn’t seem too intelligent or well educated. Sam Harris
I am Holly, the ship’s computer, with an IQ of 6,000. The same IQ as 6,000 PE teachers. Red Dwarf: Future Echoes s1e2, BBC 1988
You notice things others don’t. You question what others blindly accept. And slowly, people begin to drift away. Psyphos podcast: Schopenhauer: Smart = Alone: Why Society Rejects the Trully Intelligent, Youtube 2025
Deep down you feel a stranger among your own kind. ibid.
What if society just is not built for people like you? ibid.
The more deeply you think, you more alienated you become. ibid.
Your loneliness might be the highest proof of your mind. ibid.
It’s social exile. Because when you can see through the game, you stop playing it. ibid.
Schopenhauer: He believed that life at core was suffering, and that the more conscious you are, the more you feel it. ibid.
A man can be himself only so long as he is alone. ibid.
You see the world for what it is: A dance of illusions powered by unconscious craving. ibid.
You are not broken. You are just awake. ibid.
Because their minds crave depth, muance, ideas, not gossip, repetition or emotional noise. ibid.
This sensitivity is not a super-power, it is a burden. ibid.
Solitude is not just an escape, it’s a reclamation of your mind, of your time, of your energy. ibid.
[Michel de Montaigne]: ‘The greatest thing in the world is to know how to belong to yourself.’ Psyphoria podcasts: The Art of Not Caring: When You Embrace Uncertainty, Life Becomes Easier, Youtube 2025
Have you ever stopped to think about how much of your anguish comes from your obsession with control? … Internal control: the suffocating need for certainties, to know what will happen tomorrow. ibid.
No more certainties, but a new relationship with what cannot be controlled. ibid.
Montaigne was not an ordinary philosopher … He wrote from within his own skin. ibid.
Montaigne embraced the opposite: he did not know. ibid.
In a time when everyone shouts, he whispers. ibid.
Anxiety is the fear of the unpredictable. ibid.
It’s the desire for life to be different from what it is. ibid.
[Carl Jung]: ‘Until you make the unconscious conscious, it will direct your life and you will call it fate.’ Psyphoria podcasts: You Must Let Go: Who to Let Go From Someone Who Hurts You
You say that you want to forget, to move on. But tell me, why do you still think about that person every day? ibid.
You miss what you projected on to them: the illusion of love. ibid.
Often what we call love is just our shadow clinging to someone. ibid.
As long as you continue to seek outside what is missing inside, you will be enternally imprisoned by the gaze of the other. ibid.
The unconscious search for validation and the price paid for betraying oneself. ibid.
If deep down you feel like you are living a lie, you will continue to feel empty. ibid.
The role of the shadow in repeating toxic patterns. ibid.
Carl Jung defined the shadow as ‘everything you do not want to be, but are’. ibid.
Burying is not eliminating. ibid.
You will have to face everything you have avoided. ibid.
[Schopenhauer]: ‘A high degree of intellect tends to make a man unsocial.’ Psyphoria podcasts: Pretend to be Dumb: You Will Never Want to be Smart Again: Schopenhauer
There is a price to intelligence … On the contrary, they suffer more. ibid.
The truth is not something people want to hear … because the truth is unsettling. ibid.
A brilliant mind is a curse because it destroys illusions. ibid.
Intelligence brings with it an increase in sensitivity. ibid.
[Dostoyevsky]: ‘The darker the night, the brighter the stars. The deeper the grief, the closer is God.’ Psyphoria podcasts: Stop Trying: The More You Try to be Happy, The More You’ll Suffer
You are tired, aren’t you? Tired of chasing a happiness that never arrives. You wake up and feel an emptiness. You go to sleep and it’s still there. ibid.
He [Dostoyevsky] knew that this modern obssession with being happy is a disease disguised as a solution. ibid.
‘Suffering is the only source of consciousness.’ ibid. Dostoyevsky
Being happy has become an obligation. ibid.
The false promise of positive thinking. ibid.
Dostoyevsky saw suffering as a path to true freedom. ibid.
What if you stopped trying to be happy? ibid.
[Carl Jung]: ‘I am not what happened to me, I am what I choose to become.’ Psyphoria podcasts: Stop Giving a Fuck: Nothing & Nobody Will Ever Hurt You Again: Carl Jung
Have you ever wished to be someone who is unshakable? Someone who doesn’t care about rejection, loss or betrayal? ibid.
The biggest lie that you’ve been told is that you are in control of your life. Wake up because you’re not. ibid.
But control is an illusion. ibid.
What you need is not more control but more awareness. ibid.
You have already gone through the fire. You have faced your monsters. ibid.
Nothing will shield you from external suffering. ibid.
[Carl Jung]: ‘Everything that irritates us about others can lead us to an understanding of ourselves.’ Psyphoria podcasts: Carl Jung: It’s Time To Say No More: You Have No Idea the Self-Love That Awakens Ater Saying No More
There comes a moment in every person’s life when without warning something inside breaks. It’s not sadness. It’s not anger. It’s something deeper. It feels as if the soul itself grows tired of carrying the weight of other people’s expectations, of holding on to relationships that only drain. ibid.
The beginning of a true process of individuation. ibid.
A silent scream that has been waiting years to be heard. ibid.
When you say no more, you are facing your shadow head-on. ibid.
You begin to reclaim your energy. ibid.
You can never go back to being the person you were before you woke up. ibid.
[Nietzsche]: ‘God is dead. God remains dead. And we have killed him. Psyphoria podcasts: God is Dead: And That’s the Root of Your Suffering, Youtube 2025
Nietzsche was not celebrating the death of God. It was not an attack on faith but a brutal diagnosis of the collapse of the certainties that sustained the human soul for centuries. ibid.
You feel that hole. That sensation of being outside of your own body. A disconnection from life. ibid.
We live in a world where the ancient gods have died. ibid.
What was promised to you does not fulfil. ibid.
Everything is noise. Everthing is speed. ibid.
Why do we feel so empty? … This fatigue that doesn’t go away with sleep. ibid.
What is missing is meaning. ibid.
We continue to search for meaning as if it was still there. Nietzsche calls this nihilism. ibid.
It was us with our scepticism, our quest for autonomy, our refusal to accept ready-made truths. It was us who tore up the old maps, and now we are lost in a dark sea. ibid.
Nihilism occurs when all the values that supported your worldview crumble. ibid.
The raw pain of facing the truth, the loneliness of having no answers, the anguish of having to build meaning with your own hands. ibid.
Nietzsche speaks of a suffering that purifies, that transforms. ibid.
You feel like you are always carrying an invisible weight. Psyphoria podcasts: Be Ruthless: Stop Trying to Be a Good Person: Lessons from Machiavelli
The world does not reward the nice guys. The world rewards the strategic ones. ibid.
The world is not governed by kindness but by utility. ibid.
Pleasing all the time is an emotional trap. ibid.
A mix of courage, intelligence, audacity and self-control. It is to act with coldness when necessary. ibid.
Replace the desire to be accepted with a commitment to authenticity. ibid.
It takes strength to be who you are without asking for permission. ibid.
When was the last time you said no without guilt? ibid.
All of this is a game. But you forgot that you are playing. The rush, the fears, the frustrations, the constant feeling of being behind, that something is missing, something is wrong with you. None of this is as real as it seems. And the most unsettling part is that on some deep level of your consciousness, you accepted being here. You chose this experience. Psyphoria podcasts: Exit the Illusion: Life is Just a Game: Here’s How to Hack It: Alan Watts
[Carl Jung]: ‘The persona is that which in reality one is not, but which oneself as well as others think one is.’ Psyphoria podcasts: Being Nice Kills You: Why Pleasing Others is Slowly Destroying You
There is a type of suffering that leaves no visible marks, a silent persistent pain hard to name. ibid.
You act as expected. Modulate your voice. ibid.
As if you were living someone else’s life. As if you were an actor on the stage where the play never ends. ibid.
[Niccolo Machiavelli]: ‘It is better to be feared than loved, if one cannot be both.’ Psyphoria podcasts: Stop Being Disrespected: How to Never by Disrespected Again: Machiavelli
Have you ever felt that the kinder you are, the less respect people have for you? ibid.
Those who don’t set boundaries are pushed to the abyss. ibid.
True psychological strength lies in self-control, in firm silence, in a gaze that does not need to justify its existence. ibid.
The dilemma of kindness. How to know when your kindness has turned into weakness, and what to do when you realise you are being exploited. ibid.
[Nietzsche]: You revere your virtue as the highest thing. But virtue is your poison. Psyphoria podcasts: Rule Yourself: Follow No-One, Learn to Rule Yourself: Nietzsche, Thus Spoke Zarathustra
The biggest lie you’ve been told is that being good makes you free. ibid.
The morality of the herd was not meant to free you. ibid.
The virtue that gives arises from excess … overflow of the spirit. ibid.
[Jung]: People will do anything, no matter how absurd, to avoid facing their own soul. Psyphoria podcasts: Leave & Watch: Walk Away, And You’ll See Who They Really Are: Carl Jung
In certain relationships your simple decision to withdraw is enough to provoke a deep crisis in the other. ibid.
You become what they need. ibid.
Carl Jung said that we are all born originals, but we die copies. ibid.
You relate to the image you have constructed of them. And the most unsettling part, the other does the same with you. ibid.
Where power reigns, love is absent. ibid. Jung
[Schopenhauer]: There is some wisdom in taking a gloomy view, in looking upon the world as a kind of Hell, and in confining one’s efforts to securing a little room that shall not be exposed to the fire. Academy of Ideas podcast: The Wisdom of a Pessimist: Arthur Schopenhauer
We explore Schopenhauer’s pessimistic view of the world and his thoughts on how to respond to the sufferings and evils of Life. ibid.
‘Everything presses and strives towards existence.’ ibid. Schopenhauer
‘This disposition of egoism is essential to everything in nature.’ ibid.
‘My experiences with human beings, too, had taught me anything rather than belief in man’s original goodness and decency.’ ibid. Jung
The will, wrote Schopenhaeur, is not divine but demonic. ibid.
‘All willing springs from lack, from deficiency, and thus from suffering. Fulfillment beings this to an end; yet for one with that is fulfilled there remain at least ten that is denied.’ ibid. Schopenhauer