Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Quote of the Day: George Orwell on Intellectuals


“There are some ideas so absurd that only an intellectual could believe them.” - George Orwell

Not sure if this quote is legitimate or not. You can find this Orwell quote all over the internet, in different forms, but it may be misattributed. From Wikiquote:
http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/George_Orwell
"Possibly a paraphrase of Bertrand Russell in My Philosophical Development (1959): 'This is one of those views which are so absurd that only very learned men could possibly adopt them.'"

I did find other versions of this quote. Not sure which one is correct, but they all say basically the same thing.
“Some ideas are so stupid that only intellectuals believe them.”
“There are some ideas so absurd that only an intellectual could believe them.”
“Some ideas are so stupid only intellectuals believe them.”

Regardless whether orwell said it, there is a lot of truth in that quote, whichever version you pick.

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