Theodor W. Adorno Quotes

Intelligence is not a moral category.

Intelligence is in the head, not in the age.

Intelligence is capital.

Grant, then, to Your servant an understanding mind to judge Your people, to distinguish between good and bad; for who can judge this vast people of yours?

Intelligence is not to be confused with intelligence.

Intellect is invisible to the man who has none.

No one, however smart, however well educated … is the suppository of all wisdom.

That which exercises reason is more excellent than that which does not exercise reason

Intelligence minus purpose equals stupidity.

In midlife, we're as dumb as we get.

The average citizen in this county has more intelligence and sense in his little finger than the editor of 'The New York Times' has in his whole head.

To equate IQ with human virtue or wisdom or character or a whole variety of other of the most important measures of a value of a person is ridiculous.

One thing I have seen over and over again in life is that there is virtually no correlation between intelligence and common sense. IQ doesn't seem to translate that way.

I knew that the most important thing a man has is in his head, and from a young age, I often studied the head structure of each person, hoping to crack his codes. I considered a high forehead a gift from God.

I used to be smart.

I'm pretty smart.

Intelligence is the ability to solve problems, whereas consciousness is the ability to feel things such as pain, joy, love, and anger. Throughout history, intelligence always went hand in hand with consciousness.

Intelligence is the sexiest thing in the world.

What's more valuable - intelligence or consciousness?

Intelligence is an extremely subtle concept. It's a kind of understanding that flourishes if it's combined with a good memory, but exists anyway even in the absence of good memory. It's the ability to draw consequences from causes, to make correct inferences, to foresee what might be the result, to work out logical problems, to be reasonable, rational, to have the ability to understand the solution from perhaps insufficient information. You know when a person is intelligent, but you can be easily fooled if you are not yourself intelligent.

In questions of law or of fact conscience is very often confounded with opinion. No man's conscience can tell him the rights of another man; they must be known by rational investigation or historical inquiry.

Other things being equal, it is better to be smart than to be stupid.

Ability to type on a computer terminal is no guarantee of sanity, intelligence, or common sense.

I'd rather be smart and poor than rich and dumb.

Docility is the observable half of reason.