My favorite definition of an intellectual: 'Someone who has been educated beyond his/her intelligence'.
Interpretation
The quote humorously suggests that being highly educated doesn't necessarily equate to being wise or intelligent.
Arthur C. Clarke's quote plays on the idea that formal education and intelligence are not always aligned. It implies that one can acquire a lot of knowledge through education but may still lack the common sense or insight that represents true intelligence. This points to the potential absurdity of valuing academic qualifications over practical wisdom.
In practice
In a discussion about the value of formal education vs. practical experience.
Nowhere in space will we rest our eyes upon the familiar shapes of trees and plants, or any of the animals that share our world. Whatsoever life we meet will be as strange and alien as the nightmare creatures of the ocean abyss, or of the insect empire whose horrors are normally hidden from us by their microscopic scale.
As our own species is in the process of proving, one cannot have superior science and inferior morals. The combination is unstable and self-destroying.
It has yet to be proven that intelligence has any survival value.
The best measure of a man's honesty isn't his income tax return. It's the zero adjust on his bathroom scale.
It was the mark of a barbarian to destroy something one could not understand.
Never attribute to malevolence what is merely due to incompetence
Self-worth is an understanding on the intellectual level, trusting at the heart level, and accepting at the soul level that you are worthy just because you believe that you are. Your worthiness is proven by your existence. Your breathing. The beating of your heart. Your mere presence is all that is needed to establish your worth.
And when you try too hard, it doesn't work. Try grabbing something quickly and precisely with a tensed-up arm; then relax and try it again. Try doing something with a tense mind. The surest way to become Tense, Awkward, and Confused is to develop a mind that tries too hard-one that thinks too much.
Authenticity is the daily practice of letting go of who we think we're supposed to be and embracing who we are.
Gratitude creates the most wonderful feeling. It can resolve disputes. It can strengthen friendships. And it makes us better men and women.
Playing the game I have learned the meaning of humility. It has given me an understanding of futility of the human effort.
paranoia is just a heightened sense of awareness
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