Anna Deavere Smith Quotes

I've always felt that a person's intelligence is directly reflected by the number of conflicting points of view he can entertain simultaneously on the same topic.

My brain is open.

The ability to perceive or think differently is more important than the knowledge gained.

Well, the fact is that one imagination is critically important, and if you have had your imagination stimulated by what is basically a variety of subjects, you are much more amenable to accepting, to understanding and interacting with the realities of the world.

I think intelligence basically can be in a way defined by the possibility of having two opposite ideas living together and at the same time functioning. That's why I think a smart script has two things living in the same place, and they're absolutely contradictory.

It's a damn poor mind that can only think of one way to spell a word.

I reserve the right to think many different things and to change my mind and to even be wrong.

Whereas any political party, and nearly all voters, prize consistency as a sign of authentic, values-driven thinking, it is deeply alien to the hacker, who holds that changing your mind is simply intelligence in action.

Never accept the proposition that just because a solution satisfies a problem, that it must be the only solution.

The real basic power of an individual isn't what he or she knows; it's the ability to think and learn and face new challenges.

After years of having immersed myself in science, I do think that if you master several different ways of thinking, it makes your own thought processes more agile.

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.

I can easily hold two opposing beliefs at the same time without any problem, which I find - well, mind-expanding, really.

I do a great deal of work with young children, and if you give a child a problem, he may come up with a highly original solution, because he doesn't have the established route to it.

Think left and think right and think low and think high. Oh, the thinks you can think up if only you try!

I believe in an open mind, but not so open that your brains fall out.

I like to think that I have no single view nor any single situation that I think things arrive from. I try to give examples of what I think are interesting questions for me.

Simple ideas lie within the reach only of complex minds.

Ordinary readers, forgive my paradoxes: one must make them when one reflects; and whatever you may say, I prefer being a man with paradoxes than a man with prejudices.

Large skepticism leads to large understanding. Small skepticism leads to small understanding. No skepticism leads to no understanding.

To have a very strong opinion all the time is corrosive to a person's intellect. It becomes your default position.

A curious mind is the most important attribute any man or woman can possess.

Perspective is worth 80 IQ points.

Creative thinking - in terms of idea creativity - is not a mystical talent. It is a skill that can be practised and nurtured.

It is as deadly for a mind to have a system as to have none. Therefore it will have to decide to combine both.