Quotes about stupidity

A collection of quotes on the topic of wisdom, stupidity, people, doing.

Best quotes about stupidity

„Never underestimate the power of stupid people in large groups.“

— George Carlin American stand-up comedian 1937 - 2008

„It's no shame to be born stupid. Only to die stupid.“

— Erich Maria Remarque, book Three Comrades

Source: Three Comrades

„Real stupidity beats artificial intelligence every time.“

— Terry Pratchett, book Hogfather

Source: Hogfather

„Two things are infinite: the universe and the human stupidity.“

— Albert Einstein German-born physicist and founder of the theory of relativity 1879 - 1955

As discussed in this entry from The Quote Investigator http://quoteinvestigator.com/2010/05/04/universe-einstein/#more-173, the earliest published attribution of a similar quote to Einstein seems to have been in Gestalt therapist Frederick S. Perls' 1969 book Gestalt Theory Verbatim, where he wrote on p. 33: "As Albert Einstein once said to me: 'Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity.' But what is much more widespread than the actual stupidity is the playing stupid, turning off your ear, not listening, not seeing." Perls also offered another variant in his 1972 book In and Out the Garbage Pail, where he mentioned a meeting with Einstein and on p. 52 http://books.google.com/books?id=HuxFAAAAYAAJ&q=human+stupidity#search_anchor quoted him saying: "Two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I am not yet completely sure about the universe." However, Perls had given yet another variant of this quote in an earlier book, Ego, Hunger, and Aggression: a Revision of Freud’s Theory and Method (originally published 1942, although the Quote Investigator only checked that the quote appeared in the 1947 edition), where he attributed it not to Einstein but to a "great astronomer", writing: "As modern times promote hasty eating to a large extent, it is not surprising to learn that a great astronomer said: 'Two things are infinite, as far as we know – the universe and human stupidity.' To-day we know that this statement is not quite correct. Einstein has proved that the universe is limited." So, the later attributions in 1969 and 1972 may have been a case of faulty memory, or of intentionally trying to increase the authority of the quote by attributing it to Einstein. The quote itself may be a variant of a similar quote attributed even earlier to the philosopher Ernest Renan, found for example in The Public: Volume 18 from 1915, which says on p. 1126 http://books.google.com/books?id=cTPmAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA1126#v=onepage&q&f=false: "He quotes the saying of Renan: it isn't the stars that give him an idea of infinity; it is man's stupidity." (Other examples of similar attributions to Renan can be found on this Google Books search http://www.google.com/search?q=renan+infinity+stupidity&btnG=Search+Books&tbm=bks&tbo=1.) Renan was French so this is presumably intended as a translation, but different sources give different versions of the supposed original French quote, such as "La bêtise humaine est la seule chose qui donne une idée de l'infini" (found for example in Réflexions sur la vie, 1895-1898 by Remy de Gourmont from 1903, p. 103 http://books.google.com/books?id=RtrtAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA103#v=onepage&q&f=false, along with several other early sources as seen in this search http://www.google.com/search?q=%22humaine+est+la+seule+chose+qui%22+renan&btnG=Search+Books&tbm=bks&tbo=1) and "Ce n'est pas l'immensité de la voûte étoilée qui peut donner le plus complétement l'idée de l'infini, mais bien la bêtise humaine!" (found in Broad views, Volume 2 from 1904, p. 465 http://books.google.com/books?id=9NEaAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA465#v=onepage&q&f=false). Since these variants have not been found in Renan's own writings, they may represent false attributions as well. They may also be variants of an even older saying; for example, the 1880 book Des vers by Guy de Maupassant includes on p. 9 http://books.google.com/books?id=cQUvAAAAMAAJ&pg=PP21#v=onepage&q&f=false a quote from a letter (dated February 19, 1880) by Gustave Flaubert where Flaubert writes "Cependant, qui sait? La terre a des limites, mais la bêtise humaine est infinie!" which translates to "But who knows? The earth has its boundaries, but human stupidity is infinite!" Similarly the 1887 book Melanges by Jules-Paul Tardivel includes on p. 273 http://books.google.com/books?id=n9cOAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA273#v=onepage&q&f=false a piece said to have been written in 1880 in which he writes "Aujourd'hui je sais qu'il n'y a pas de limites à la bêtise humaine, qu'elle est infinie" which translates to "today I know that there is no limit to human stupidity, it is infinite."
Disputed
Variant: "Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former." Earliest version located is in Technocracy digest: Issues 287–314 from 1988, p. 76 http://books.google.com/books?id=L7LnAAAAMAAJ&q=%22sure+about+the+former%22#search_anchor. Translated to German as: "Zwei Dinge sind unendlich: das Universum und die menschliche Dummheit. Aber beim Universum bin ich mir nicht ganz sicher." (Earliest version located is Arndt-Michael Meyer, Die Macht der Kürze, Books on Demand GmbH, 2004, p. 14 http://books.google.gr/books?id=12DW-RBKTW8C&pg=PA14&dq=%22Zwei+Dinge+sind+unendlich:+das+Universum+und+die+menschliche+%22+arnd&hl=en&sa=X&ei=gquJUsrYBomM7AapmYGgCQ&ved=0CC8Q6wEwAA#v=onepage&q=%22Zwei%20Dinge%20sind%20unendlich%3A%20das%20Universum%20und%20die%20menschliche%20%22%20arnd&f=false.)
Variant: Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former.

„You will do foolish things, but do them with enthusiasm.“

— Colette 1873-1954 French novelist: wrote Gigi 1873 - 1954

New York World-Telegram and Sun (1961)

„Which of all my important nothings shall I tell you first?“

— Jane Austen English novelist 1775 - 1817

„There is no sin except stupidity.“

— Oscar Wilde Irish writer and poet 1854 - 1900

Source: The Critic as Artist (1891), Part II

„You have attributed conditions to villainy that simply result from stupidity.“

— Robert A. Heinlein, book The Green Hills of Earth

Logic of Empire (p. 335); this is one of the earliest known variants of an idea which has become known as Hanlon's razor.
Short fiction, The Past Through Tomorrow (1967)
Source: The Green Hills of Earth

„Be silly. Be honest. Be kind.“

— Ralph Waldo Emerson American philosopher, essayist, and poet 1803 - 1882

„Stupidity in a woman is unfeminine.“

— Friedrich Nietzsche, book Human, All Too Human

Source: Human, All Too Human

All quotes about stupidity

Total 1627 quotes stupidity, filter:

„And so being young and dipped in folly, I fell in love with melancholy.“

— Edgar Allan Poe American author, poet, editor and literary critic 1809 - 1849

Love

„The problem with the world is that the intelligent people are full of doubts while the stupid one are full of confidence.“

— Charles Bukowski American writer 1920 - 1994

Variant: The problem with the world is that the intelligent people are full of doubts, while the stupid ones are full of confidence.

People, Confidence, Problem, World

„The problem is that everybody treats teenagers like they're stupid.“

— Johnny Depp American actor, film producer, and musician 1963

Problem

„It's too bad that stupidity isn't painful.“

— Anton LaVey Founder of the Church of Satan, author of the Satanic Bible 1930 - 1997

The Nine Satanic Sins (1987)

Pain

„I think I'm dumb
or maybe just happy
think I'm just happy…“

— Kurt Cobain American musician and artist 1967 - 1994

Variant: I think I'm dumb or maybe just happy.

Thinking, Happiness

„Correct." Kekrops sounded bitter, like he regretted his decision. "My people were the original Athenians--the gemini."
"Like your zodiac sign?" Percy asked. "I'm a Leo."
"No, stupid," Leo said. "I'm a Leo. You're a Percy.“

— Rick Riordan, book The Blood of Olympus

Variant: Correct." Kekrops sounded bitter, like he regretted his decision. "My people were the original Athenians--the gemini."
"Like your zodiac sign?" Percy asked. "I'm a Leo."
"No, stupid. "I'm a Leo. You're a Percy.
Source: The Blood of Olympus

People, Decision

„Give a man a fish and feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and feed him for a lifetime. Teach a man to cycle and he will realize fishing is stupid and boring.“

— Desmond Tutu South African churchman, politician, archbishop, Nobel Prize winner 1931

Fish

„Humanitarianism is the expression of stupidity and cowardice.“

— Adolf Hitler Führer and Reich Chancellor of Germany, Leader of the Nazi Party 1889 - 1945

„Youth ages, immaturity is outgrown, ignorance can be educated, drunkenness sobered, but stupid lasts forever.“

— Aristophanés Athenian playwright of Old Comedy -448 - -386 BC

Fictional attribution in the movie The Emperor's Club (2002), given by Kevin Kline (as William Hundert); also attributed to Diogenes, without sources; no published occurrences of this statement prior to the movie have been located in any of the Aristophanes Plays or Fragments.
Misattributed
Source: IMDb, "Memorable quotes for The Emperor's Club" http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0283530/quotes, Internet Movie Database, www.imdb.com
Source: Two pages attributing it to Diogenes: http://www.prohibitionists.org/Background/Party_Platform/quickquotes/QQ-education.htm http://www.ryanbalton.com/funstuff/forb_seniorquotes.htm

Youth, Age, Education

„Any girl can be glamorous. All you have to do is stand still and look stupid.“

— Hedy Lamarr Austrian-American actress and co-inventor of an early technique for spread spectrum communications and frequency hopping 1914 - 2000

As quoted in The Stars (1962) by Richard Schickel

Girl, Funny

„With the lights out, it's less dangerous
Here we are now, entertain us
I feel stupid, and contagious
Here we are now, entertain us.“

— Kurt Cobain American musician and artist 1967 - 1994

Song lyrics, Nevermind (1991)

Feeling, Light

„A stupid man's report of what a clever man says is never accurate, because he unconsciously translates what he hears into something that he can understand.“

— Bertrand Russell, book A History of Western Philosophy

Source: 1940s, A History of Western Philosophy (1945)

Understanding

„Stupidity cannot be cured. Stupidity is the only universal capital crime; the sentence is death. There is no appeal, and execution is carried out automatically and without pity.“

— Robert A. Heinlein American science fiction author 1907 - 1988

Death, Universe

„Nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.“

— Martin Luther King, Jr. American clergyman, activist, and leader in the American Civil Rights Movement 1929 - 1968

Source: 1960s, Strength to Love (1963), Ch. 4 : Love in action, Sct. 3

World, Sincerity

„We are in danger of destroying ourselves by our greed and stupidity. We cannot remain looking inwards at ourselves on a small and increasingly polluted and overcrowded planet.“

— Stephen Hawking British theoretical physicist, cosmologist, and author 1942 - 2018

„Wise men speak when they have something to say, fools speak because they have to say something“

— Aristotle Classical Greek philosopher, student of Plato and founder of Western philosophy -384 - -321 BC

Men, Fools

„If you think your boss is stupid, remember: you wouldn't have a job if he was any smarter. “

— John Gotti American crime boss 1940 - 2002

Thinking, Back To Work

„Turtles don't feel, stupid," said Jem.

"Were you ever a turtle, huh?“

— Harper Lee, book To Kill a Mockingbird

Source: To Kill a Mockingbird

Feeling

„Our greatest stupidities may be very wise.“

— Ludwig Wittgenstein Austrian-British philosopher 1889 - 1951

Source: Culture and Value (1980), p. 39e

„The stupid neither forgive nor forget; the naïve forgive and forget; the wise forgive but do not forget.“

— Thomas Szasz Hungarian psychiatrist 1920 - 2012

"Personal Conduct" http://books.google.com/books?id=IYOcAQAAQBAJ&q=%22The+stupid+neither+forgive+nor+forget+the+na%C3%AFve+forgive+and+forget+the+wise+forgive+but+do+not+forget%22&pg=PA177#v=onepage, p. 51. http://openlibrary.org/works/OL15151528W/The_Second_Sin
The Second Sin (1973)

Forgiveness, Forgetting, Wise, Life

„Education is the ability to listen to almost anything without losing your temper or your self-confidence.“

— Robert Frost American poet 1874 - 1963

Variant: You are educated when you have the ability to hear almost anything without losing your temper, or your self-confidence.

Education, Self-confidence, Confidence

„I've always believed that a person is smart. It's people that are stupid.“

— Marilyn Manson American rock musician and actor 1969

Source: The Long Hard Road Out of Hell

People, Personality

„I'm not offended by all the dumb blonde jokes because I know I'm not dumb - and I'm not blonde either.“

— Dolly Parton American singer-songwriter and actress 1946

„Very often in everyday life one sees that by losing one's temper with someone who has already lost his, one does not gain anything but only sets out upon the path of stupidity. He who has enough self-control to stand firm at the moment when the other person is in a temper, wins in the end. It is not he who has spoken a hundred words aloud who has won; it is he who has perhaps spoken only one word.“

— Hazrat Inayat Khan Indian Sufi 1882 - 1927

Source: Mastery through Accomplishment

Life, Personality

„Love… no such thing.

Whatever it is that binds families and married couples together, that's not love. That's stupidity or selfishness or fear. Love doesn't exist.

Self interest exists, attachment based on personal gain exists, complacency exists. But not love. Love has to be reinvented, that’s certain.“

— Arthur Rimbaud French Decadent and Symbolist poet 1854 - 1891

Source: A Season in Hell/The Drunken Boat

Love, Fear, Family, Personality

„Never argue with stupid people, they will drag you down to their level and then beat you with experience.“

— Mark Twain American author and humorist 1835 - 1910

Variant: Never argue with an idiot. They will drag you down to their level and beat you with experience.

People

„Hitler decided that. I thought it was stupid because I believed that first we had to defeat England.“

— Hermann Göring German politician and military leader 1893 - 1946

To Leon Goldensohn, about attacking the Soviets (15 March 1946)
The Nuremberg Interviews (2004)

„But courage which goes against military expediency is stupidity, or, if it is insisted upon by a commander, irresponsibility.“

— Erwin Rommel German field marshal of World War II 1891 - 1944

Ch XVI : The Great Retreat, p. 347.
The Rommel Papers (1953)

Courage

„Here's all you have to know about men and women: women are crazy, men are stupid. And the main reason women are crazy is that men are stupid.“

— George Carlin American stand-up comedian 1937 - 2008

Books, When Will Jesus Bring the Pork Chops? (2004)
Source: When Will Jesus Bring The Pork Chops?

Women, Men, Funny, For women

„I shall not commit the fashionable stupidity of regarding everything I cannot explain as a fraud.“

— C.G. Jung Swiss psychiatrist and psychotherapist who founded analytical psychology 1875 - 1961

Fashion, Fraud

„Many wise words are spoken in jest, but they don't compare with the number of stupid words spoken in earnest.“

— Sam Levenson American journalist 1911 - 1980

„Make your mistakes, take your chances, look silly, but keep on going. Don’t freeze up.“

— Thomas Wolfe, book You Can't Go Home Again

Source: You Can't Go Home Again

Chance

„The thing about smart mother fuckers is that sometimes, they sound like crazy mother fuckers to stupid mother fuckers…“

— Robert Kirkman American comic book writer 1978

Source: The Walking Dead, Vol. 09: Here We Remain

„Never underestimate the power of human stupidity.“

— Robert A. Heinlein, Time Enough for Love

Source: Time Enough for Love (1973)

„The fundamental cause of the trouble is that in the modern world the stupid are cocksure while the intelligent are full of doubt.“

— Bertrand Russell logician, one of the first analytic philosophers and political activist 1872 - 1970

Often paraphrased as "The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, but wiser people so full of doubts."
Compare: "One of the painful things about our time is that those who feel certainty are stupid, and those with any imagination and understanding are filled with doubt and indecision." B. Russell, New Hopes for a Changing World (1951). Compare also: "The best lack all conviction, while the worst / Are full of passionate intensity." W. B. Yeats, The Second Coming (1919).
See also: Dunning-Kruger effect, Historical Antecedents https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning–Kruger_effect#Historical_antecedents.
1930s, Mortals and Others (1931-35)

World, Intelligence

„If freedom of speech is taken away, then dumb and silent we may be led, like sheep to the slaughter.“

— George Washington first President of the United States 1732 - 1799

Freedom

„Love is being stupid together.“

— Paul Valéry French poet, essayist, and philosopher 1871 - 1945

Love

„It is stupidity rather than courage to refuse to recognize danger when it is close upon you.“

— Arthur Conan Doyle, book The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes

Source: The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes

Courage

„Stupidity is the same as evil if you judge by the results.“

— Margaret Atwood, book Surfacing

Source: Surfacing

Evil

„Either I've turned stupid, or life's turned hard.“

— Tamora Pierce, Lioness Rampant

Source: Lioness Rampant

Life

„We should all start to live before we get too old. Fear is stupid. So are regrets.“

— Marilyn Monroe American actress, model, and singer 1926 - 1962

Fear

„If I had to tell you how humans made their way to Earth, it would go like this: In the beginning, there was nothing at all but the moon and the sun. And the moon wanted to come out during the day, but there was something so much brighter that seemed to fill up all those hours. The moon grew hungry, thinner and thinner, until she was just a slice of herself, and her tips were as sharp as a knife. By accident, because that is the way most things happen, she poked a hole in the night and out spilled a million stars, like a fountain of tears.

Horrified, the moon tried to swallow them up. And sometimes this worked, because she got fatter and rounder.. But mostly it didn't, because there were just so many. The stars kept coming, until they made the sky so bright that the sun got jealous. He invited the stars to his side of the world, where it was always bright. What he didn't tell them, though, was that in the daytime, they'd never be seen. So the stupid ones leaped from the sky to the ground, and they froze under the weight of their own foolishness.

The moon did her best. She carved each of these blocks of sorrow into a man or a woman. She spent the rest of her time watching out so that her other stars wouldn't fall. She spent the rest of her time holding onto whatever scraps she had left.“

— Jodi Picoult Author 1966

World, Way, Star, Tear

„In 1919 I woke up famous. I'd never guessed it. If I'd known I was famous, I'd have stolen away and wept. I was stupid. I was supposed to be intelligent. I was sensitive and very dumb.“

— Coco Chanel French fashion designer 1883 - 1971

As quoted in Coco Chanel : Her Life, Her Secrets (1971), p. 95
In 1919 I woke up famous and with a new friend who was to give its full meaning to my success.
Statement to Salvador Dalí, about herself and her friendship with Misia Sert, as quoted in The Persistence of Memory : A Biography of Dali (1992) by Meredith Etherington-Smith

Intelligence

„Gambling is a kind of tax: a tax on stupidity. A tax on greed. Some money changes hands at random, but the net cash flow always goes one way - to the Government, to the casino operators, to the bookies, to the crime syndicates. If you ever do win, you won't have won against them. They'll still be getting their share. You'll have won against all the penniless losers, that's all.“

— Greg Egan, book Eugene

Eugene
Fiction, Axiomatic (1995)

Money, Way, Change

„We keep falling into the same ditches, you know? I mean, we learn more and more about the physical universe, more about our own bodies, more technology, but somehow, down through history, we go on building empires of one kind or another, then destroying them in one way or another. We go on having stupid wars that we justify and get passionate about, but in the end, all they do is kill huge numbers of people, maim others, impoverish still more, spread disease and hunger, and set the stage for the next war. And when we look at all of that in history, we just shrug our shoulders and say, well, that’s the way things are. That’s the way things always have been.“

— Octavia E. Butler, book Parable of the Talents

Source: Parable of the Talents (1998), Chapter 20 (p. 392)

Hunger, War, People, Disease

„Balthasar of Waldshit has fallen into prison here - a man not merely irreverent and unlearned, but even empty. Learn the sum of the matter. When he came to Zurich our Council fearing lest he should cause a commotion ordered him to be taken into custody. Since, however, he had once in freakishness of disposition and fatuity, lurked out in Waldshut against our Council, of which place he, by the gods, was a guardian [i. e., he has pastor there], until the stupid fellow disunited and destroyed everything, it was determined that I should discuss with him in a friendly manner the baptising of infants and Catabaptists, as he earnestly begged first from prison and afterwards from custody. I met the fellow and rendered him mute as a fish. The next day he recited a recantation in the presence of certain Councillors appointed for the purpose [which recantation when repeated to the Two Hundred it was ordered should be publicly made Therefore having started to write it in the city, he gave it to the Council with his own hand, with all its silliness, as he promised. At length he denied that he had changed his opinion, although he had done so before a Swiss tribunal, which with us is a capital offence, affirming that his signature had been extorted from him by terror, which was most untrue].
The council was so unwilling that force should be used on him that when the Emperor or Ferdinand twice asked that the fellow be given to him it refused the request. Indeed he was not taken prisoner that he might suffer the penalty of his boldness in the baptismal matter, but to prevent his causing in secret some confusion, a thing he delighted to do. Then he angered the Council; for there were present most upright Councillors who had witnessed his most explicit and unconstrained withdrawal, and had refused to hand to him over to the cruelty of the Emperor, helping themselves with my aid. The next day he was thrust back into prison and tortured. It is clear that the man had become a sport for demons, so he recanted not frankly as he had promised, nay he said that he entertained no other opinions than those taught by me, execrated the error and obstinacy of the Catabaptists, repeated this three times when stretched on the racks, and bewailed his misery and the wrath of God which in this affair was so unkind. Behold what wantonness! Than these men there is nothing more foolhardy, deceptive infamous - for I cannot tell you what they devise in Abtzell - and shameless. Tomorrow or next day the case will come up.“

— Huldrych Zwingli leader of the Protestant Reformation in Switzerland, and founder of the Swiss Reformed Churches 1484 - 1531

Letter to Capito, January 1, 1526 (Staehelin, Briefe ausder Reformationseit, p. 20), ibid, p. 249-250

Men, God, Secret, Fear

„Question is, are you bozos smart enough to feel stupid?“

— Eminem American rapper and actor 1972

"Berzerk"
2010s, The Marshall Mathers LP 2 (2013)

Feeling, Question

„If we let fashion, love of innovation, and an alleged scientific spirit tempt us to surrender the native quality of our own art, the free natural certainty of our work and perception, our bright golden light, then we are simply being stupid and senseless.“

— Giuseppe Verdi Italian composer 1813 - 1901

Si rinunci per moda, per smania di novità, per affettazione di scienza, si rinneghi l'arte nostra, il nostro istinto, quel nostro fare sicuro spontaneo naturale sensibile abbagliante di luce, è assurdo e stupido.
Letter to Clarina Maffei, April 20, 1878, cited from Franco Abbiati Giuseppe Verdi (Milano: Ricordi, 1959) vol. 4, p. 79; translation from Franz Werfel and Paul Stefan (eds.), Edward Downes (trans.) Verdi: The Man in His Letters (New York: L. B. Fischer, 1942) p. 345.

Love, Art, Fashion, Nature

„Here's a song I made up while I was watching Xena the Warrior Princess with the sound off. It's a fact. I had a secret crush on Xena. It was a secret to me too. I wouldn't admit it. She's pretty fuckin' tough. She has a good yell… she kills the stupid gladiators with the log-trap. Release the log-trap! She releases the log-trap and they all get… crushed. They'd all wanna be with her if they could, but unfortunately they're not on her side. It's a lot better with the sound off. Really, it is. And the song didn't have anything to do with Xena… but… I was about half a bottle through Jameson's… if that makes any sense.“

— Elliott Smith American singer-songwriter 1969 - 2003

before playing "Between the Bars" at a concert in 1996. http://www.archive.org/details/esmith2006-09-25..flacf.

Secret, Sense, Princess

„Translated: Human stupidity is international.“

— Kurt Tucholský German-Jewish journalist, satirist and writer 1890 - 1935

Die menschliche Dummheit ist international.
"Hégésippe Simon" http://www.zeno.org/Literatur/M/Tucholsky,+Kurt/Werke/1931/H%C3%A9g%C3%A9sippe+Simon (1931); also in Schnipsel, published 1973, p. 102.

„I concluded that women are flawed. There is something mentally wrong with the way their brains are wired, as if they haven’t evolved from animal-like thinking. They are incapable of reason or thinking rationally. They are like animals, completely controlled by their primal, depraved emotions and impulses. That is why they are attracted to barbaric, wild, beast-like men. They are beasts themselves. Beasts should not be able to have any rights in a civilized society. If their wickedness is not contained, the whole of humanity will be held back from advancement to a more civilized state. Women should not have the right to choose who to mate with. That choice should be made for them by civilized men of intelligence. If women had the freedom to choose which men to mate with, like they do today, they would breed with stupid, degenerate men, which would only produce stupid, degenerate offspring. This in turn would hinder the advancement of humanity. Not only hinder it, but devolve humanity completely. Women are like a plague that must be quarantined. When I came to this brilliant, pefect revelation, I felt like everything was now clear to me, in a bitter, twisted way. I am one of the few people on this world who has the intelligence to see this. I am like a god, and my purpose is to exact ultimate Retribution on all of the impurities I see in the world.“

— Elliot Rodger American spree killer 1991 - 2014

My Twisted World (2014), 19-22, UC Santa Barbara, Building to Violence

God, Freedom, Intelligence, People

„The good news is that no one can sincerely admit to be stupid in life.“

— Mwanandeke Kindembo 1996

Sincerity, Life

„I can't live where I want to, I can't go where I want to go, I can't do what I want to, I can't even say what I want to. I decided I was a very stupid fool not to at least paint as I wanted to.“

— Georgia O'Keeffe American artist 1887 - 1986

Fools, Painting

„Already, he was dreaming of a refined solitude, a comfortable desert, a motionless ark in which to seek refuge from the unending deluge of human stupidity.“

— Joris-Karl Huysmans French novelist and art critic 1848 - 1907

Source: Against Nature

Dreams, Solitude

„In a closed society where everybody's guilty, the only crime is getting caught. In a world of thieves, the only final sin is stupidity.“

— Hunter S. Thompson, book Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas

Source: Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas

World

„I have sought you out to cure me.'
'To cure you of what?'
'Of this cursed affliction.'
'I cannot cure stupidity.'
Scapegrace frowned.“

— Derek Landy Irish children's writer 1974

Source: Death Bringer

Affliction

„If you're gonna be stupid you gotta be tough.“

— John Grisham, book The Testament

Source: The Testament

„He was stupid. If I killed everyone who was stupid, I wouldn't have time to sleep.“

— Tamora Pierce, In the Hand of the Goddess

Source: In the Hand of the Goddess

Sleep, Time

„It is better to keep your mouth shut and appear stupid than to open it and remove all doubt.“

— Mark Twain American author and humorist 1835 - 1910

Cited as an example of "What Mark Twain Didn't Say" in Mark Twain by Geoffrey C. Ward, et al.
Misattributed
Variant: It is better to keep your mouth closed and let people think you are a fool than to open it and remove all doubt.

Appearance

„It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that if you tell kids they're stupid--directly or indirectly--sooner or later they start to believe it.“

— Erin Gruwell, book The Freedom Writers Diary

Source: The Freedom Writers Diary

„If there are no stupid questions, then what kind of questions do stupid people ask? Do they get smart just in time to ask questions?“

— Scott Adams cartoonist, writer 1957

People, Question, Time, Funny

„I like nonsense, it wakes up the brain cells. Fantasy is a necessary ingredient in living.“

— Dr. Seuss American children's writer and illustrator, co-founder of Beginner Books 1904 - 1991

Variant: I like nonsense, it wakes up the brain cells.

„No intelligent idea can gain general acceptance unless some stupidity is mixed in with it.“

— Fernando Pessoa Portuguese poet, writer, literary critic, translator, publisher and philosopher 1888 - 1935

Não há nenhuma ideia inteligente que possa ganhar aceitação geral sem ser misturada antes com um pouco de estupidez.
The Book of Disquietude, trans. Richard Zenith, text 104

Intelligence, Idea

„Three great forces rule the world: stupidity, fear and greed.“

— Albert Einstein German-born physicist and founder of the theory of relativity 1879 - 1955

World, Fear

„Feelings are never stupid, they just make us feel stupid sometimes.“

— Laurell K. Hamilton, book Danse Macabre

Source: Danse Macabre

Feeling

„Because of the self-confidence with which he had spoken, no one could tell whether what he said was very clever or very stupid.“

— Leo Tolstoy, book War and Peace

Source: Война и мир

Confidence, Self-confidence

„I swear, talking to you is like talking to a really good-looking and mildly stupid brick wall.“

— Derek Landy Irish children's writer 1974

Source: Death Bringer

„There is nothing more horrifying than stupidity in action.“

— Jawaharlal Nehru Indian lawyer, statesman, and writer, first Prime Minister of India 1889 - 1964

„Evil isn’t the real threat to the world. Stupid is just as destructive as Evil, maybe more so, and it’s a hell of a lot more common. What we really need is a crusade against Stupid. That might actually make a difference.“

— Jim Butcher, book Vignette

Evil, Hell, World

„Great! I've written something stupid, but I haven't signed a contract with anyone to produce solely wise and perfect works. I gave vent to my stupidity… and here I am, reborn.“

— Witold Gombrowicz, book Ferdydurke

Source: Ferdydurke

Perfection

„Stupidity lies in wanting to draw conclusions.“

— Gustave Flaubert French writer (1821–1880) 1821 - 1880

Drawing, Deep

„I'm not stupid, stupid. Leave this whole thing in my extremely capable and well-manicured hands. I'll call you later with an update. Bye!“

— P. C. Cast, book Burned

Source: Burned

„You know, ogres only sound stupid. Most are pretty smart."

"And it's a shallow person who judges anyone by the way they sound. I'm so shallow I'm surprised I don't reflect myself.“

— Tamora Pierce, book First Test

Source: First Test

Way, Personality

„Laughter is good for you. Nine out of ten stand-up comedians recommend laughter in the face of intense stupidity.“

— Jim Butcher, Proven Guilty

Source: Proven Guilty

Laughter

„Anger is stupid, and stupidity will kill you more surely than your opponent's blade.“

— Patricia Briggs American writer 1965

Source: Dragon Bones

Anger

„Oh! I'm stupid as well as insane.“

— Tamora Pierce, In the Hand of the Goddess

Source: In the Hand of the Goddess

„Ignorance is curable, stupid is forever.“

— Robert A. Heinlein American science fiction author 1907 - 1988

„I'm not stupid. I know everybody thinks I am. I just don't like answering their questions.“

— Louis Sachar, book Holes

Source: Holes

Question, Thinking

„Cause when a guy does something stupid once, well that’s because he’s a guy. But if he does the same stupid thing twice, that’s usually to impress some girl.“

— Dr. Seuss American children's writer and illustrator, co-founder of Beginner Books 1904 - 1991

Guy, Girl

„If that isn't typical male stupidity! If something doesn't work, kick it or swear at it!“

— Nora Roberts American romance writer 1950

„I'm not very good at handling stupid people. I must admit.“

— John Lydon, book Rotten: No Irish, No Blacks, No Dogs

Source: Rotten: No Irish, No Blacks, No Dogs

People

„I wish to weep
but sorrow is
stupid.
I wish to believe
but belief is a
graveyard.“

— Charles Bukowski American writer 1920 - 1994

Source: What Matters Most is How Well You Walk Through the Fire

„A wise man can learn more from a foolish question than a fool can learn from a wise answer.“

— Bruce Lee Hong Kong-American actor, martial artist, philosopher and filmmaker 1940 - 1973

Fools, Question, Learning, Wise

„What if it lines up like it did in the Trojan War… Athena versus Poseidon?"
"I don't know. But I just know that I'll be fighting next to you."
"Why?"
"Because you're my friend, Seaweed Brain. Any more stupid questions?“

— Rick Riordan, book The Lightning Thief

Source: The Lightning Thief

War, Question, Fight

„Take a note: it usually works better if you wait until I do something stupid before getting mad at me.“

— Patricia Briggs, book River Marked

Source: River Marked

Waiting, Madness

„Sin lies only in hurting other people unnecessarily. All other "sins" are invented nonsense. (Hurting yourself is not sinful -- just stupid.)“

— Robert A. Heinlein, Time Enough for Love

Source: Time Enough for Love

People, Hurt

„Kayla Robinson, if you don't shut up I'll fly down there and suck every last bit of blood from your stupid cheating cow body!“

— P. C. Cast, book Marked

Source: Marked

Cheating, Flying

„You didn't kill him. He would have killed you, but you didn't kill him."
"So? He was stupid. If I killed everyone who was stupid, I wouldn't have time to sleep.“

— Tamora Pierce, In the Hand of the Goddess

Source: In the Hand of the Goddess

Sleep, Time

„A word to the wise ain't necessary, it's the stupid ones who need advice.“

— Bill Cosby American actor, comedian, author, producer, musician, activist 1937

Funny

„She would have kissed him, if she kissed stupid men.“

— Tamora Pierce American writer of fantasy novels for children 1954

Source: Trickster's Queen

Men, Kiss

„You can never underestimate the stupidity of the general public“

— Scott Adams cartoonist, writer 1957

„I know what you want. It is very stupid of you, but you shall have your way, and it will bring you to sorrow, my pretty princess. - The sea witch.“

— Hans Christian Andersen, book The Little Mermaid

Source: The Little Mermaid

Way, Princess, Sea

„I can't listen to music too often. It affects your nerves, makes you want to say stupid nice things and stroke the heads of people who could create such beauty while living in this vile hell.“

— Vladimir Lenin Russian politician, led the October Revolution 1870 - 1924

From a personal conversation, quoted from memory by Maxim Gorky in "V.I. Lenin" (1924) http://www.marxists.org/archive/gorky-maxim/1924/01/x01.htm 
Attributions
Context: I know of nothing better than the Appassionata and could listen to it every day. What astonishing, superhuman music! It always makes me proud, perhaps with a childish naiveté, to think that people can work such miracles! … But I can’t listen to music very often, it affects my nerves. I want to say sweet, silly things, and pat the little heads of people who, living in a filthy hell, can create such beauty. These days, one can’t pat anyone on the head nowadays, they might bite your hand off. Hence, you have to beat people's little heads, beat mercilessly, although ideally we are against doing any violence to people. Hm — what a devillishly difficult job!

People, Beauty, Music, Hell

„… stupidity is one of the two things we see most clearly in retrospect. The other is missed chances.“

— Stephen King, book 11/22/63

Source: 11/22/63

Chance

„For a long while I have lived with the notion that I was the most normal being that ever existed. This notion gave me the taste, even the passion for being unproductive: what was the use of being prized in a world inhabited by madmen, a world mired in mania and stupidity? For whom was one to bother, and to what end? It remains to be seen if I have quite freed myself from this certitude, salvation in the absolute, ruin in the immediate.“

— Emil M. Cioran, book The Trouble With Being Born

The Trouble With Being Born (1973)

World, Passion

„If […] the ability to tell right from wrong should turn out to have anything to do with the ability to think, then we must be able to "demand" its exercise from every sane person, no matter how erudite or ignorant, intelligent or stupid, he may happen to be. Kant—in this respect almost alone among the philosophers—was much bothered by the common opinion that philosophy is only for the few, precisely because of its moral implications.“

— Hannah Arendt, book The Life of the Mind

Source: The Life of the Mind (1971/1978), p. 13.

Exercises, Intelligence, Thinking, Personality

„In general, "historical necessity" turns out to be merely a name for human stupidity.“

— Nicolás Gómez Dávila Colombian writer and philosopher 1913 - 1994

Sucesivos Escolios a un Texto Implícito (1992)

„The biggest thing has been realizing how much people really do love the early Sabbath music. People have said it in the past but I've never really believed them before. I remember years ago when Metallica opened up for me, I went backstage and they were playing old Black Sabbath albums and I thought they were taking the piss! They said, 'No, we really love Sabbath.' I couldn't see that at the time--because towards the end of my time with Sabbath 20 years ago I thought what we were doing was boring and stupid, because we were boring and stupid, totally sick of what we were doing and totally out of our brains with drink or drugs when we were playing it.“

— Ozzy Osbourne English heavy metal vocalist and songwriter 1948

Launch.com, November 2, 2000

Love, People, Music, Drink

„The world attributes its misfortunes to the schemes and plottings of the very evil and powerful. I think stupidity is underestimated.“

— Adolfo Bioy Casares Argentine novelist 1914 - 1999

"El mundo atribuye sus infortunios a las conspiraciones y maquinaciones de grandes malvados. Entiendo que se subestima la estupidez."
Breve diccionario del argentino exquisito, 1978.

World, Thinking, Evil

„“I didn’t want to scare you. We don’t want to scare anyone.”
“No? Well, sometimes it’s a good thing to scare people. Sometimes fear is all that will keep them from doing stupid things.”“

— Octavia E. Butler, book Adulthood Rites

Part II “Phoenix” chapter 15 (p. 381).
Adulthood Rites (1988)

People, Fear