The task of a writer consists of being able to make something out of an idea.
Thomas MannRead
One always has the idea of a stupid man as perfectly healthy and ordinary, and of illness as making one refined and clever and unusual.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote suggests that society often views intelligence as a result of suffering, while normality is equated with ignorance.
In this reflection by Thomas Mann, he critiques the societal perceptions that associate intelligence and refinement with personal struggles and sickness, while depicting the 'ordinary' or 'healthy' person as lacking depth or insight. This perspective challenges the notion of what constitutes true intelligence and suggests that adversity may cultivate deeper understanding or wisdom that is often looked down upon by societal standards.
Themes
IntelligenceSufferingSocietyPerceptionsWisdom
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion on mental health, one might quote Mann to emphasize how society views brilliance through the lens of hardship.
More from Thomas Mann
All quotes βStupid β well, there are so many kinds of stupidity, and cleverness is one of the worst.
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It is a strange fact that freedom and equality, the two basic ideas of democracy, are to some extent contradictory. Logically considered, freedom and equality are mutually exclusive, just as society and the individual are mutually exclusive.
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I tell them that if they will occupy themselves with the study of mathematics they will find in it the best remedy against the lusts of the flesh.
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Literature... is the union of suffering with the instinct for form.
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The Freudian theory is one of the most important foundation stones for an edifice to be built by future generations, the dwelling of a freer and wiser humanity.
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