The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in mind at the same time and still retain the ability to function.

Without education we are in a horrible and deadly danger of taking educated people seriously.

A subtle thought that is in error may yet give rise to fruitful inquiry that can establish truths of great value.

Immaturity is the incapacity to use one’s intelligence without the guidance of another.

I love trying new things.

No problem can withstand the assault of sustained thinking.

Let the path be open to talent.

I’m a meathead. I can’t help it, man. You’ve got smart people and you’ve got dumb people.

I love argument, I love debate. I don’t expect anyone just to sit there and agree with me, that’s not their job.

Those who cannot understand how to put their thoughts on ice should not enter into the heat of debate.

I don’t easily fall for lies, I can see through things.

We can’t solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them.

It takes a smart man to play dumb.

It is a narrow mind which cannot look at a subject from various points of view.

Look, the American people are smart.

Too much of what is called ‚education‘ is little more than an expensive isolation from reality.

One who is too insistent on his own views, finds few to agree with him.

Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect.

A lot of times, I run a thought experiment: ‚If I were not at Facebook, what would I be doing to make the world more open?‘

I hate books; they only teach us to talk about things we know nothing about.

God gave you a brain. Do the best you can with it. And you don’t have to be Einstein, but Einstein was mentally tough. He believed what he believed. And he worked out things. And he argued with people who disagreed with him. But I’m sure he didn’t call everybody jerks.

I feel like the way I was raised was to be able to see through all the titles in this world – from religion to race.

I think a lot of things that are the norm, that are very systematic, don’t work.

I think people should be allowed to do anything they want. We haven’t tried that for a while. Maybe this time it’ll work.

There is always an easy solution to every problem – neat, plausible, and wrong.

Education is not merely neglected in many of our schools today, but is replaced to a great extent by ideological indoctrination.

It is always better to have no ideas than false ones; to believe nothing, than to believe what is wrong.

There is nothing so stupid as the educated man if you get him off the thing he was educated in.

Many people would sooner die than think; in fact, they do so.

Sometimes it seems as if there are more solutions than problems. On closer scrutiny, it turns out that many of today’s problems are a result of yesterday’s solutions.

Travel teaches toleration.

I know that I am intelligent, because I know that I know nothing.

The answers you get from literature depend on the questions you pose.

A woman uses her intelligence to find reasons to support her intuition.

As for my own views, they’ve of course evolved over the years. This conception of ‚renouncing beliefs‘ is very odd, as if we’re in some kind of religious cult. I ‚renounce beliefs‘ practically every time I think about the topics or find out what someone else is thinking.

Humanity I love you because when you’re hard up you pawn your intelligence to buy a drink.

Many people, including some conservatives, have been very impressed with how brainy the president and his advisers are. But that is not quite as reassuring as it might seem.

No one but a fool is always right.

The two worst strategic mistakes to make are acting prematurely and letting an opportunity slip; to avoid this, the warrior treats each situation as if it were unique and never resorts to formulae, recipes or other people’s opinions.

A great many people think they are thinking when they are merely rearranging their prejudices.

Even Gaddafi’s adversaries assure us that he stood out for his intelligence as a student; he was expelled from high-school for his anti-monarchic activities. He managed to enroll in another high-school and later graduated in law at the University of Benghazi at the age of 21.

Never trust anything that can think for itself if you can’t see where it keeps its brain.

Will minus intellect constitutes vulgarity.

I define nothing. Not beauty, not patriotism. I take each thing as it is, without prior rules about what it should be.

The most basic question is not what is best, but who shall decide what is best.

How is it possible for someone who believes that the world was created in six days to have a rational conversation with me, who doesn’t believe that, about other possibilities?

Things that I felt absolutely sure of but a few years ago, I do not believe now. This thought makes me see more clearly how foolish it would be to expect all men to agree with me.

Some minds remain open long enough for the truth not only to enter but to pass on through by way of a ready exit without pausing anywhere along the route.

I don’t consider myself to be that credulous.

All of the people in my life whom I consider to be close friends or colleagues are good thinkers.

If knowledge can create problems, it is not through ignorance that we can solve them.

I still think like a Marxist in many ways.

Many people think they are thinking when they are merely rearranging their prejudices.

We only have to look at ourselves to see how intelligent life might develop into something we wouldn’t want to meet.

One of the very important characteristics of a student is to question. Let the students ask questions.

Learning without thought is labor lost; thought without learning is perilous.

Where the senses fail us, reason must step in.

Convictions are more dangerous foes of truth than lies.

I never cut class. I loved getting A’s, I liked being smart. I liked being on time. I thought being smart is cooler than anything in the world.

It is the mark of a truly intelligent person to be moved by statistics.

The critic has to educate the public; the artist has to educate the critic.