QuoteProject
Here's a good rule of thumb; too clever is dumb.
Ogden Nash
ShareWTF𝕏

Interpretation

What this quote means

Being overly clever can lead to impractical or foolish outcomes.

This quote by Ogden Nash suggests that while cleverness can be valuable, relying too heavily on it can result in foolishness or misunderstanding. It implies that sometimes simplicity and straightforwardness are more effective than trying to be overly intelligent or complicated.

Themes

ClevernessSimplicityFoolishnessHumorWisdom

In practice

Example use cases

In a speech about innovation, one might quote this to emphasize the importance of practicality over complexity.

More from Ogden Nash

Time is so old and love so brief, love is pure gold and time a thief. We're late, darling, we're late, The curtain descends, everything ends, too soon, too soon.
Ogden NashRead
I'm like a backward berry, Unripened on the vine, For all my friends are fifty, And I'm only forty-nine.
Ogden NashRead
I do not like to get the news, because there has never been an era when so many things were going so right for so many of the wrong persons.
Ogden NashRead
Middle-age is when you're sitting at home on a Saturday night and the telephone rings and you hope it isn't for you.
Ogden NashRead
Here's a toast to the roast that good fellowship lends, with the sparkle of beer and wine; May its sentiment always be deeper, my friends, than the foam at the top of the stein. Then here's to the heartening wassail, wherever good fellows are found; Be its master instead of its vassal, and order the glasses around.
Ogden NashRead
Your hair may be brushed, but your mind's untidy. _x000D_ You've had about seven hours of sleep since Friday. _x000D_ No wonder you feel that lost sensation. _x000D_ You're sunk from a riot of relaxation.
Ogden NashRead

Similar quotes

Harry witnessed Professor McGonagall walking right past Peeves who was determinedly loosening a crystal chandelier and could have sworn he heard her tell the poltergeist out of the corner of her mouth 'It unscrews the other way.
J. K. RowlingRead
Some marriages are made in heaven, Mine was made in Hong Kong, by the same people who make those little rubber pork chops they sell in the pet department at Kmart.
Tom RobbinsRead
One way to make sure crime doesn't pay would be to let the government run it.
Ronald ReaganRead
It is most gratifying," it said, "that your enthusiasm for our planet continues unabated, and so we would like to assure you that the guided missiles currently converging with your ship are part of a special service we extend to all of our most enthusiastic clients, and the fully armed nuclear warheads are of course merely a courtesy detail. We look forward to your custom in future lives ... thank you.
Douglas AdamsRead
There's nobody for me to attack in this matter even with soft and gentle ridicule-and I shouldn't ever think of using a grown up weapon in this kind of a nursery. Above all, I couldn't venture to attack the clergymen whom you mention, for I have their habits and live in the same glass house which they are occupying. I am always reading immoral books on the sly, and then selfishly trying to prevent other people from having the same wicked good time.
Mark TwainRead
You don't know what a rough crowd is. If all I have to do is go make people laugh, that's nothing. Let me tell you what a tough crowd is. A tough crowd is going to a morning service and you got six people there and you gotta pay your house payment. That's a tough crowd.
Sam KinisonRead

A little wisdom, now and then

Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.