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"I've always felt, in all my books, that there's a deep decency in the American people and a native intelligence - providing they have the facts, providing they have the information."
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"There can be no two opinions as to what a highbrow is. He is the man or woman of thoroughbred intelligence who rides his mind at a gallop across country in pursuit of an idea."

"Solving a problem is intelligence. Preventing a problem is wisdom."

"One might almost define intelligence as the level at which an aware organism demands, 'What's in it for me?"

"Were you born stupid, Heinrich, or did you have to study?"

"Once intelligent beings achieve technology and the capacity for self-destruction of their species, the selective advantage of intelligence becomes more uncertain."

"Every intelligent being, whether it breathes or not, coughs nervously at some time in its life."

"Dealing with one who feels smarter than you,let him assume that you ain't smarter than him."

"I don't think the intelligence reports are all that hot. Some days I get more out of the New York Times."

"A truly intelligent person does not cling to any ideology."

"Intelligence is dangerous. Intelligence means you will start thinking for yourself."
Explore more quotes by Studs Terkel


"That's what we're missing. We're missing argument. We're missing debate. We're missing colloquy. We're missing all sorts of things. Instead, we're accepting."


"When you become part of something, in some way you count. It could be a march; it could be a rally, even a brief one. You're part of something, and you suddenly realize you count. To count is very important."


"I want to praise activists through the years. I praise those of the past as well, to have them honored."


"Nonetheless, do I have respect for people who believe in the hereafter? Of course I do. I might add, perhaps even a touch of envy too, because of the solace."


"That's why I wrote this book: to show how these people can imbue us with hope. I read somewhere that when a person takes part in community action, his health improves. Something happens to him or to her biologically. It's like a tonic."


"We are the most powerful nation in the world, but we're not the only nation in the world. We are not the only people in the world. We are an important people, the wealthiest, the most powerful and, to a great extent, generous. But we are part of the world."


"I'm not up on the Internet, but I hear that is a democratic possibility. People can connect with each other. I think people are ready for something, but there is no leadership to offer it to them. People are ready to say, 'Yes, we are part of a world.'"
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