“The intellect longs for the delights of the non-intellect, that which is alive and beautiful dans sa stupidité.”

— Thomas Mann , book Confessions of Felix Krull

Madame Houpflé, Bk. 2, Ch. 9
Confessions of Felix Krull, Confidence Man (1954)

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update Oct. 1, 2023. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "The intellect longs for the delights of the non-intellect, that which is alive and beautiful dans sa stupidité." by Thomas Mann?

Thomas Mann photo

Thomas Mann 159

German novelist, and 1929 Nobel Prize laureate 1875–1955

Related quotes

“One side of the soul is carried away by the passionate part in man, and we are then captivated by the good things of this life, but the other side of the soul frequently delights in the activity of the intellect and, as a result, when we practice self-restraint, the intellect longs to pursue heavenly beauty.”

Diadochos of Photiki (400–486) Byzantine saint

§ 28
On Spiritual Knowledge and Discrimination (480 AD)

“O World, why do you wish to persecute me?
How do I offend you, when I intend
only to fix beauty in my intellect,
and never my intellect fix on beauty?”

Juana Inés de la Cruz (1651–1695) Nun, scholar and poet in New Spain

¿En perseguirme, mundo, qué interesas?
¿En qué te ofendo, cuando sólo intento
poner bellezas en mi entendimiento
y no mi entendimiento en las bellezas?
Sonnet 146, as translated by Edith Grossman in Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz: Selected Works (2014)

“And not only the pride of intellect, but the stupidity of intellect. And, above all, the dishonesty, yes, the dishonesty of intellect. Yes, indeed, the dishonesty and trickery of intellect.”

Leo Tolstoy book Anna Karenina

Source: Anna Karenina

“Love with delight discourses in my mind
Upon my lady's admirable gifts…
Beyond the range of human intellect.”

Dante Alighieri (1265–1321) Italian poet

Amor che ne la mente mi ragiona
de la mia donna disiosamente...
che lo 'ntelletto sovr'esse disvia.
Trattato Terzo, line 1.
Il Convivio (1304–1307)

“As long as we continue to be imprisoned within the corrupt and rancid norms of the intellect, it will be more than impossible to experience that which is not of the mind, that which is not of time, that which is real.”

Samael Aun Weor (1917–1977) Colombian writer

Treatise of Revolutionary Psychology

“Intellect is a part of a good faith. Intellect is the light, the heart is the direction.”

Tariq Ramadan (1962) Swiss muslim scholar

“But beauty, real beauty, ends where an intellectual expression begins. Intellect is in itself a mode of exaggeration, and destroys the harmony of any face.”

Oscar Wilde book The Picture of Dorian Gray

Source: The Picture of Dorian Gray

“Those with intellect suffer in bliss with their intellect, and the ignorant live blissfully in misery.”

Al-Mutanabbi (915–965) Arabic poet from the Abbasid era

Source: From the poem Li-Hawā An-Nufūsi http://www.almotanabbi.com/poemPage.do?poemId=248, Line 8

“If someone asks us which of these is more perfect, intellect or sense, the intelligible or the sensible, we shall promise to answer promptly, if he will first give us an answer to the following question. You know, my inquiring friend, that there is some power in you which has a notion of each of these things—a notion, I say, of intellect itself and of sense, of the intelligible and the sensible. This is evident, for the same power which compares these to each other must at that time in a certain manner see both. Tell me, then, whether a power of this kind belongs to intellect or sense? … Sense, as you yourself have shown, can perceive neither itself nor intellect and the objects of intellect; whereas intellect knows both. … Therefore, intellect is not only more perfect than sense but is also, after perfection itself, in the highest degree perfect.”

Marsilio Ficino (1433–1499) Italian philosopher

Source: Five Questions Concerning the Mind (1495), pp. 203-204

“Percepts and phenomena which precedes the logical use of the intellect is called appearance, while the reflex knowledge originating from several appearances compared by the intellect is called experience.”

Immanuel Kant (1724–1804) German philosopher

Kant's Inaugural Dissertation (1770), Section II On The Distinction Between The Sensible And The Intelligible Generally

Related topics