#cleverness

Rabbit's clever," said Pooh thoughtfully. "Yes," said Piglet, "Rabbit's clever." "And he has Brain." "Yes," said Piglet, "Rabbit has Brain." There was a long silence. "I suppose," said Pooh, "that that's why he never understands anything. ↗

— A.A. Milne

#cleverness #humor #piglet #understanding #winnie-the-pooh

We learned to be patient observers like the owl. We learned cleverness from the crow, and courage from the jay, who will attack an owl ten times its size to drive it off its territory. But above all of them ranked the chickadee because of its indomitable spirit. ↗

— Tom Brown, Jr.

#attack #be patient #because #cleverness #courage

The bold are helpless without cleverness. ↗

— Euripides

#cleverness #helpless #without

Limits have to be set on how far one can simply use the... cleverness that we have to make changes. ↗

— Leon Kass

#cleverness #far #how #how far #limits

Clever people will recognize and tolerate nothing but cleverness. ↗

— Henri Frederic Amiel

#clever people #cleverness #nothing #people #recognize

Cleverness is serviceable for everything, sufficient for nothing. ↗

— Henri Frederic Amiel

#everything #nothing #serviceable #sufficient

Can you be sure that others have not come before you and destroyed the pristine state of the native myth? Can you be sure that the natives are not humoring you or pulling your leg? Bronislaw Malinowski thought he had discovered a people in the Trobriant Islands who had not worked out the connection between sexual intercourse and childbirth. When asked how children were conceived, they supplied him with an elaborate mythic structure prominently featuring celestial intervention. Amazed, Malinowski objected that was not how it was done at all, and supplied them instead with the version so popular in the West today – including a nine-month gestation period. “Impossible,” replied the Melanesians. “Do you not see that woman over there with her six-month-old child? Her husband has been on an extended voyage to another island for two years.” Is it more likely that the Melanesians were ignorant of the begetting of children or that they were gently chiding Malinowski? If some peculiar-looking stranger came into my town and asked ME where babies came from, I’d certainly be tempted to tell him about storks and cabbages. Prescientific people are people. Individually they are as clever as we are. ↗

— Carl Sagan

#cleverness #myths #people #primitive #humor

The thing is, comedy's gone in a weird direction. People are really into ironic comedy and fakeness and cleverness. ↗

— Louis C. K.

#comedy #direction #gone #into #ironic

I am sick to death of cleverness. Everybody is clever nowadays. You can’t go anywhere without meeting clever people. The thing has become an absolute public nuisance. I wish to goodness we had a few fools left. ↗

— Oscar Wilde

#fools #nuisance #death

If put to the pinch, an ounce of loyalty is worth a pound of cleverness. (Get Out or Get in Line, 1928) ↗

— Elbert Hubbard

#loyalty #loyalty