Clever Sayings and Quotes

Being clever or talented is something most people strive for. For some it comes naturally, while others may have to work a bit harder. Below you’ll find a collection of wise and insightful clever quotes.

If we only knew how many times our seemingly clever comment cut straight into the heart of the person with whom we have just spoken, it is we who would bleed. Guy Finley
You can tell whether a man is clever by his answers. You can tell whether a man is wise by his questions. Naguib Mahfouz
No one wants to know how clever you are. They don't want an insight into your mind, thrilling as it might be. They want an insight into their own. Mark Haddon
Men are only clever at shifting blame from their own shoulders to those of others. Livy
He who knows others is clever; He who knows himself has discernment. Thomas Carlyle
The greatest fools are ofttimes more clever than the men who laugh at them. George R.R. Martin
Never stay up on the barren heights of cleverness, but come down into the green valleys of silliness. Ludwig Wittgenstein
Beware the clever man that makes the wrong look right Lawrence Hill
I am neither especially clever nor especially gifted. I am only very, very curious. Albert Einstein
No man is clever enough to know all the evil he does. Francois de la Rochefoucauld
One of the lessons of history is that nothing is often a good thing to do and always a clever thing to say. Will Durant
Clever gimmicks of mass distraction yield a cheap soulcraft of addicted and self-medicated narcissists. Cornel West
The obstinacy of cleverness and reason is nothing to the obstinacy of folly and inanity. Harriet Beecher Stowe
Clever tyrants are never punished. Voltaire
Patience and tenacity are worth more than twice their weight of cleverness. Thomas Huxley
The cleverest of all, in my opinion, is the man who calls himself a fool at least once a month Fyodor Dostoevsky
A clever, ugly man every now and then is successful with the ladies, but a handsome fool is irresistible. William Makepeace Thackeray
Don't be too clever for an audience. Make it obvious. Make the subtleties obvious also. Henri Frederic Amiel
What clever man has ever needed to commit a crime? Crime is the last resort of political half-wits. Charles Maurice de Talleyrand
It's the people who try to be clever who never are; the people who are clever never think of trying to be. Gilbert Parker
Cleverness is serviceable for everything, sufficient for nothing. Henri Frederic Amiel
An inefficient virus kills its host. A clever virus stays with it. James Lovelock
A clever arrangement of bad eggs will never make a good omelet. C. S. Lewis
To be clever enough to get a great deal of money, one must be stupid enough to want it George Bernard Shaw
If you're not very clever you should be conciliatory. Benjamin Disraeli
A clever, imaginative, humorous request can open closed doors and closed minds Percy Ross
Cleverness isn't always true nor is the truth always clever Criss Jami
Education without values, as useful as it is, seems rather to make man a more clever devil C. S. Lewis
Clever and attractive women do not want to vote; they are willing to let men govern as long as they govern men George Bernard Shaw
Being clever was when you looked at how things were and used the evidence to work out something new. Mark Haddon
Be aware. Be Curious. Be Clever. Innovation is Something to be Reckoned with. Daniel C. Tomas
Behind every clever man is an even cleverer woman. Matshona Dhliwayo
The height of cleverness is in one's ability to be very clever without seeming clever at all. Criss Jami
There is a world of difference between being clever and being right. Ian Driscoll
Think of something clever, witty or profound, keep it short and people may quote you. Bobby Darnell
Justice fails because victims used to be too kind and criminals too clever. M.F. Moonzajer
Clever people will recognize and tolerate nothing but cleverness. Henri Frederic Amiel
Clever men are good, but they are not the best. Thomas Carlyle
The best way to destroy an enemy is to make him a friend. Abraham Lincoln
Don't worry about people stealing an idea. If it's original, you will have to ram it down their throats. Howard Aiken
Nothing is particularly hard if you divide it into small jobs. Henry Ford
Always forgive your enemies, but never forget their names. Robert Kennedy
When you're at the end of your rope, tie a knot and hold on Theodore Roosevelt
Against the beautiful and the clever and the successful, one can wage a pitiless war, but not against the unattractive: then the millstone weighs on the breast. Graham Greene
Arguing with a fool proves there are two. Doris M. Smith
To be heroic is to be courageous enough to die for something; to be inspirational is to be crazy enough to live a little. Criss Jami
This woman is beautiful and clever: but how much cleverer she would have become if she were not beautiful! Friedrich Nietzsche
What is sometimes thought to be clever is, significantly often, merely an advanced form of foolishness. Idries Shah
I am so clever that sometimes I don't understand a single word of what I am saying. Oscar Wilde
A clever man commits no minor blunders. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
The desire to seem clever often keeps us from being so. Francois de la Rochefoucauld
It is a great act of cleverness to be able to conceal one's being clever. Francois de la Rochefoucauld
Clever is as clever does. Tony DiTerlizzi
Sometimes you have to be clever. Jerry Garcia
Cleverness becomes a public nuisance. Oscar Wilde
Trade your cleverness for bewilderment. Rumi
Fools lie, clever men stick to the truth. Michael Scott
Cleverly designed experiments are the key. Carl Sagan
Cleverness is a gift, kindness is a choice. Jeff Bezos
Everybody is clever, just in their own ways. Matt Groening
If you aren't cute, you may as well be clever. David Sedaris
If they are just, they are better than clever. Sophocles
A clever girl always seem to know less than the man she happens to be talking to. Evan Esar
When a wife laughs at her husband's jokes, it's not because they are clever, but because she is. Evan Esar
Some women are so clever that you can't talk with them for ten minutes without beginning to realize how brilliant you are. Evan Esar
Many woman is so clever that she manages to let no one suspect her of being half as foolish as she really is. Evan Esar
It takes a clever girl to keep a man at arm's length without losing her grip on him. Evan Esar
By the time the person is old enough to know better, he thinks he's clever enough to get away with it. Evan Esar
Sometimes nothing is the cleverest thing you can say when you want to say something clever. Evan Esar
Of all the clever wives, the cleverest is the one who never lets her husband suspect how clever she is. Evan Esar
A clever girl flatters a man by asking the kind of questions he is able to answer. Evan Esar
Every executive wishes he were as clever as he thinks his secretary thinks he is. Evan Esar
Mere cleverness is not wisdom. Euripides
Clever's cunning Intelligent's intelligence. Ehsan Sehgal
I hate the word clever, it seeks to demean. Kurt Philip Behm
Shun the ways of clever men, when they prove that black is white. Alfred Noyes
Because you are good and a very clever man, and to gainsay it there's a few people can. William Topaz McGonagall
Wishes your guests to be clever, when he's asked to come and dine. Caroline Elizabeth Sarah Norton
Be good sweet maid, and let who will be clever; do noble things, not dream them all day long. Charles Kingsley
If you're proud because of fortune or the clever things you do, then i'll play no second fiddle; I'm a prouder man than you. Henry Lawson
She is not reach or clever, but her speechless thrill me ever. Arthur Henry Adams