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Intelligence Quotes

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Intelligence Quotes

“with rare exceptions (chiefly the social insects), mammals and birds are the only organisms to devote substantial attention to the care of their young; an evolutionary development that, through the long period of plasticity which it permits, takes advantage of the large information-processing capability of the mammalian and primate brains. Love seems to be an invention of the mammals.”

“Think what characterises the really intelligent person. They can think for themselves. They love abstract ideas. They can look dispassionately at the facts. Humbug is their enemy. Dissent comes easily to them, as does complexity. These are traits that are not only unnecessary for most business jobs, they are actually a handicap when it comes to rising through the ranks of large companies.”

“Page 85: Results for the military stand apart from all civilian work settings and occupations. One relevant factor for explaining the military’s success is presumably that each branch has its own minimum score on the Armed Forces Qualification Test required of all recruits. The Army requires a score at the 31st percentile or higher, equivalent to an IQ of 92.6 or more, which is roughly the top half of the African and Latin distributions.”

“Organization and mutual aid are essential aspects in many animal cultures, including elephants, gorillas, and chimpanzees. Zoos, however, are places wherein that culture is restricted, altered, or even destroyed. This is done, whether intentionally or not, through the removal of autonomy, the break up of the family unit, restrictions on corporeal movement, continuous transfer of animals from one facility to next, and in the alteration of other living patterns. Psychologists call this a process of alienation and institutionalization. Hence, within these species, what we tend to see in zoos is a much more individualistic-based community.”

“We ought to regard the present state of the universe as the effect of its antecedent state and as the cause of the state that is to follow. An intelligence knowing all the forces acting in nature at a given instant, as well as the momentary positions of all things in the universe, would be able to comprehend in one single formula the motions of the largest bodies as well as the lightest atoms in the world, provided that its intellect were sufficiently powerful to subject all data to analysis; to it nothing would be uncertain, the future as well as the past would be present to its eyes. The perfection that the human mind has been able to give to astronomy affords but a feeble outline of such an intelligence.”

“La beauté, la vraie beauté, s'achève là où l'air intellectuel commence. L'intellectuel est en soi une façon d'exagérer et il détruit l'harmonie de n'importe quel visage. Dès qu'on s'assied pour réfléchir, on ne devient plus qu'un nez, ou qu'un front, ou quelque chose d'horrible. Regarde les gens qui ont du succès dans toutes les professions savantes : ils sont tous parfaitement hideux ! Sauf bien sûr, dans l'Église, mais c'est que, dans l'Église, ils ne réfléchissent pas.”

“A person acquainted with the true principles of this science, who preserves his Dharma (virtue or religious merit), his Artha (worldly wealth) and his Kama (pleasure or sensual gratification), and who has regard to the customs of the people, is sure to obtain the mastery over his senses. In short, an intelligent and knowing person attending to Dharma and Artha and also to Kama, without becoming the slave of his passions, will obtain success in everything that he may do.”

“And the intelligence, or the mind, loses its uniqueness and becomes absorbed in social games, which diminish it even as the opposite illusion is created. It's this raw material that's truly divine because it's in harmony with the universe. No one cuts the stars. No one designs the forms of the rivers; they flow by themselves. The tantrika is like a river that never stops flowing in the divine because the divine never stops flowing in it."In making these offerings, in receiving this initiation, you gain access to the knowledge of your own divine substance, and you open yourself to the Tantric experience of time no longer passing. Your meditation will be easier. The illusion of believing that time can be parceled out will appear to you in all its absurdity, and you will taste the nectar of undivided time."Initiation also involves a rupture with the myths of the specific society in which you live, establishing a profound and unconditional tie with all human beings and with all that has previously seemed inanimate to you. Initiation releases you from taboos and social, dietary, and sexual prohibitions, and more importantly, the prohibitions linked to ideas and thought. I”

“One of the major difficulties Trillian experienced in her relationship with Zaphod was learning to distinguish between him pretending to be stupid just to get people off their guard, pretending to be stupid because he couldn't be bothered to think and wanted someone else to do it for him, pretending to be outrageously stupid to hide the fact that he actually didn’t understand what was going on, and really being genuinely stupid. He was renowned for being amazingly clever and quite clearly was so—but not all the time, which obviously worried him, hence, the act. He preferred people to be puzzled rather than contemptuous.”

“Life is a solvent. Be someone who dispels or weakens attitudes and situations. Have assets in excess to protect your liabilities. Solving it by shutting away differences in intelligence means you fail at the ultimate test. How we recognize words, how one uses words to communicate, and the ability to receive and contemplate outcomes. This is a feature (as far as we know) unique to our sort of intelligence.”

“I don't think science is hard to teach because humans aren't ready for it, or because it arose only through a fluke, or because, by and large, we don't have the brainpower to grapple with it. Instead, the enormous zest for science that I see in first-graders and the lesson from the remnant hunter-gatherers both speak eloquently: A proclivity for science is embedded deeply within us, in all times, places, and cultures. It has been the means for our survival. It is our birthright. When, through indifference, inattention, incompetence, or fear of skepticism, we discourage children from science, we are disenfranchising them, taking from them the tools needed to manage their future.”

“Blaming yourself makes you feel in control of a situation. It makes you feel safe. If it’s Eton’s fault for this, then your brain tells you that he has the power. That’s scary. If he has the power, he could do it again, and it’s out of your control. So your brain twists things so you don’t feel so vulnerable. If you did this, then you could’ve stopped it. You can control whether it happens again. But you know that’s not true.”

“The dust on his face now turning to mild streaks of mud, where his tears fell, made him seem like an operatic clown character in Pagliacci when he looked at the inscription for the first time. To Alexander, my son, you are our brightest star. Always remember the only future you are ever guaranteed is the one you make for yourself. Willpower, Wisdom and intelligence are the keys—Love Dad Upon reading the words in the ring Alex realized that when he lost in his mental battle. He had given into fate, in all its entropic nonsense. He let it dictate his world. He had surrendered in what he thought was a victory and left himself at the whimsical and incidental forces of chance.”

“His intuition was luminous from the instant you met him. So was his intelligence. A lot of actors act intelligent, but Philip was the real thing: a shining, artistic polymath with an intelligence that came at you like a pair of headlights and enveloped you from the moment he grabbed your hand, put a huge arm round your neck and shoved a cheek against yours; or if the mood took him, hugged you to him like a big, pudgy schoolboy, then stood and beamed at you while he took stock of the effect. (About Philip Seymour Hoffman)”