--- title: "11 Smart person Quotes By Eric Maisel" description: "11 Smart person quotes by Eric Maisel. Plus more from Eric Maisel and more Smart person sayings from other authors." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e26/eric-maisel-3062_knowing_but-at-heart-what-we-are-talking-about-i_1374704.png" --- > [“But at heart what we are talking about is not pathology but an intense conflictual knowing, a knowing that we are worthy…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eric-maisel/but-at-heart-what-we-are-talking-about-is-not-pathology-but-an/) [Eric Maisel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eric-maisel/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e26/eric-maisel-3062_knowing_but-at-heart-what-we-are-talking-about-i_1374704.png) > [“That as a smart person, whose brain races faster and harder than the next person's, you can't accomplish something like stopping your…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eric-maisel/that-as-a-smart-person-whose-brain-races-faster-and-harder-than-the/) [Eric Maisel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eric-maisel/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3fc/eric-maisel-3062_failure_that-as-a-smart-person-whose-brain-races_1967153.png) > [“A smart person is even more likely to suppose that his brain is equal to the challenges he faces, even such frankly…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eric-maisel/a-smart-person-is-even-more-likely-to-suppose-that-his-brain-is-equal/) [Eric Maisel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eric-maisel/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/aca/eric-maisel-3062_intelligence_a-smart-person-is-even-more-likely-to-su_3050296.png) > [“Except under dire circumstances or as a day job to support creative endeavors, a smart person is not so likely to want…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eric-maisel/except-under-dire-circumstances-or-as-a-day-job-to-support-creative/) [Eric Maisel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eric-maisel/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/74c/eric-maisel-3062_assembly-line_except-under-dire-circumstances-or-as-a_2662163.jpg) > [“We see how boredom arises as a special, terrible problem for smart people. A smart person has a lively brain; that brain…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eric-maisel/we-see-how-boredom-arises-as-a-special-terrible-problem-for-smart/) [Eric Maisel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eric-maisel/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f69/eric-maisel-3062_boredom_we-see-how-boredom-arises-as-a-special-t_2610246.png) > [“Meaning is primarily a subjective psychological experience. A smart person is more likely than the next person to be aware of its…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eric-maisel/meaning-is-primarily-a-subjective-psychological-experience-a-smart/) [Eric Maisel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eric-maisel/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a37/eric-maisel-3062_meaning_meaning-is-primarily-a-subjective-psycho_2230419.jpg) > [“We'll learn more about how the brain operates, how matter works, and what fills up empty space. But even if we evolve…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eric-maisel/we-ll-learn-more-about-how-the-brain-operates-how-matter-works-and/) [Eric Maisel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eric-maisel/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e41/eric-maisel-3062_empty-space_we-ll-learn-more-about-how-the-brain-ope_3212274.jpg) > [“We have arrived at an interesting moment in the evolution of our species when a smart person in a first-world culture is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eric-maisel/we-have-arrived-at-an-interesting-moment-in-the-evolution-of-our/) [Eric Maisel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eric-maisel/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/8b3/eric-maisel-3062_dark-matter_we-have-arrived-at-an-interesting-moment_1387531.png) > [“That hundreds of millions of people believe that a man named Noah built an ark and put all of the world's species…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eric-maisel/that-hundreds-of-millions-of-people-believe-that-a-man-named-noah/) [Eric Maisel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eric-maisel/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/878/eric-maisel-3062_dinosaurs_that-hundreds-of-millions-of-people-beli_2403440.jpg) > [“The choices aren't between a false but soothing mysticism and an acceptance of an indifferent universe. Rather, the choice is between an…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eric-maisel/the-choices-aren-t-between-a-false-but-soothing-mysticism-and-an/) [Eric Maisel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eric-maisel/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/72a/eric-maisel-3062_brick-wall_the-choices-aren-t-between-a-false-but-s_1949790.png) > [“A smart person, one who perhaps had her mind filled with religious ideas as a child but who recognizes that genuine mysteries…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eric-maisel/a-smart-person-one-who-perhaps-had-her-mind-filled-with-religious/) [Eric Maisel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eric-maisel/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5fb/eric-maisel-3062_buddhism_a-smart-person-one-who-perhaps-had-her-m_3087213.png) ## Other authors on Smart person ## More by Eric Maisel > [Affirmations need to be used if they are to become incorporated into the fabric of your being.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eric-maisel/affirmations-need-to-be-used-if-they-are-to-become-incorporated-into/) [Eric Maisel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eric-maisel/) > [The wise artist makes peace with the fact that he will understand less than he had anticipated.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eric-maisel/the-wise-artist-makes-peace-with-the-fact-that-he-will-understand/) [Eric Maisel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eric-maisel/) > [Creativity requires introspection, self-examination, and a willingness to take risks. Because of this, artists are perhaps more susceptible to self-doubt and despair than those…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eric-maisel/creativity-requires-introspection-self-examination-and-a-willingness/) [Eric Maisel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eric-maisel/) > [You can't plan in advance for everything - every mood swing, every mistake you might make in execution, every shift in your circumstances. But…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eric-maisel/you-can-t-plan-in-advance-for-everything-every-mood-swing-every/) [Eric Maisel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eric-maisel/) > [It is in an artist's real interest to congratulate herself more often: not out of narcissism, but in her role as her own dear…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eric-maisel/it-is-in-an-artist-s-real-interest-to-congratulate-herself-more-often/) [Eric Maisel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eric-maisel/) > [“What if you can't help but judge life negatively? What if yesterday felt awful, today feels awful, and tomorrow is likely to feel awful…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eric-maisel/what-if-you-can-t-help-but-judge-life-negatively-what-if-yesterday/) [Eric Maisel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eric-maisel/) > [The artist's personality, built upon strong desires and compassionate vision, is by its nature prone to depression.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eric-maisel/the-artist-s-personality-built-upon-strong-desires-and-compassionate/) [Eric Maisel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eric-maisel/) > [“The song you write may be beautiful, the research you conceive may be beautiful, but you are the real beauty in life.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eric-maisel/the-song-you-write-may-be-beautiful-the-research-you-conceive-may-be/) [Eric Maisel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eric-maisel/) > [“How you conceptualize meaning matters. If you hold that it is outside of yourself and must be tracked down, you have one idea of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eric-maisel/how-you-conceptualize-meaning-matters-if-you-hold-that-it-is-outside/) [Eric Maisel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eric-maisel/) > [Artists have wild desires and a terrible hunger to achieve... Without it they haven't the juice for striving or loving. But desire also can…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eric-maisel/artists-have-wild-desires-and-a-terrible-hunger-to-achieve-without-it/) [Eric Maisel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eric-maisel/) > [If you bring your sexual impulses to your creative work... you'll be working from deep in the genetic code, down where life wants to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eric-maisel/if-you-bring-your-sexual-impulses-to-your-creative-work-you-ll-be/) [Eric Maisel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eric-maisel/) > [The artist is a god, but he is also an idiot. That is the human way.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eric-maisel/the-artist-is-a-god-but-he-is-also-an-idiot-that-is-the-human-way/) [Eric Maisel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eric-maisel/) > [It goes against an artist's grain to retire. But whether he retires or not, he will age... What work will get done in the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eric-maisel/it-goes-against-an-artist-s-grain-to-retire-but-whether-he-retires-or/) [Eric Maisel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eric-maisel/) > [Boredom is the thing that regularly arrives between excitements and episodes of meaning: it is as natural as the tides, and in it an…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eric-maisel/boredom-is-the-thing-that-regularly-arrives-between-excitements-and/) [Eric Maisel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eric-maisel/) > [The middle way cannot be achieved by dividing two extremes in half.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eric-maisel/the-middle-way-cannot-be-achieved-by-dividing-two-extremes-in-half/) [Eric Maisel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eric-maisel/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "ItemList", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/smart-person/eric-maisel/#itemlist", "name": "11 Smart person Quotes By Eric Maisel", "numberOfItems": 11, "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“But at heart what we are talking about is not pathology but an intense conflictual knowing, a knowing that we are worthy smacking up against a knowing that we are just passing through: a knowing, that is, that we matter and that we do not matter. 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It isn't that he disparages these lines of work as beneath his dignity; rather, it is that he can see clearly how his days would be experienced as meaningless if he had to spend his time not thinking.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Eric Maisel" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eric-maisel/except-under-dire-circumstances-or-as-a-day-job-to-support-creative/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/74c/eric-maisel-3062_assembly-line_except-under-dire-circumstances-or-as-a_2662163.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/74c/eric-maisel-3062_assembly-line_except-under-dire-circumstances-or-as-a_2662163.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/74c/eric-maisel-3062_assembly-line_except-under-dire-circumstances-or-as-a_2662163.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Except under dire circumstances or as a day job to support creative endeavors, a smart person is not so…” — Eric Maisel", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 5, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“We see how boredom arises as a special, terrible problem for smart people. 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Meaning is a smart person's most difficult challenge.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Eric Maisel" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eric-maisel/meaning-is-primarily-a-subjective-psychological-experience-a-smart/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a37/eric-maisel-3062_meaning_meaning-is-primarily-a-subjective-psycho_2230419.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a37/eric-maisel-3062_meaning_meaning-is-primarily-a-subjective-psycho_2230419.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a37/eric-maisel-3062_meaning_meaning-is-primarily-a-subjective-psycho_2230419.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Meaning is primarily a subjective psychological experience. A smart person is more likely than the next…” — Eric Maisel", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 7, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“We'll learn more about how the brain operates, how matter works, and what fills up empty space. But even if we evolve into a smarter, wiser species in possession of a truckload of new scientific knowledge, we will still have no access to ultimate answers. When a smart person finally admits that some mysteries can't be solved, she can relax and rejoice. When you honor what you know to be true, that nobody knows the ultimate answers, that there is a difference between what is not yet known and what can't be known, that guesses don't really count, and that easy answers like sitting on a mat or walking in nature may soothe you but answer nothing, then you can leave mysticism behind. Then you are ready for the answer: that you are obliged to take charge of the project of your life.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Eric Maisel" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eric-maisel/we-ll-learn-more-about-how-the-brain-operates-how-matter-works-and/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e41/eric-maisel-3062_empty-space_we-ll-learn-more-about-how-the-brain-ope_3212274.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e41/eric-maisel-3062_empty-space_we-ll-learn-more-about-how-the-brain-ope_3212274.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e41/eric-maisel-3062_empty-space_we-ll-learn-more-about-how-the-brain-ope_3212274.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“We'll learn more about how the brain operates, how matter works, and what fills up empty space. But even if…” — Eric Maisel", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 8, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“We have arrived at an interesting moment in the evolution of our species when a smart person in a first-world culture is pestered by two contradictory feelings: first that he is as special a creature as nature has yet produced and second that he's not very special at all, just excited matter here for a while and off again into universal dark matter. This first feeling inflates him and makes him want to puff out his chest and preen a bit. This second feeling makes him want to crawl in a hole, act carelessly, or sit inert on the sofa. How unfortunate for a creature to be buffeted in such contradictory ways! These twin feelings lead a person to the following pair of conclusions: that while he is perhaps quite smart, he is nevertheless rather like a cockroach, trapped with a brain that really isn't big enough for his purposes, perhaps trapped in a corner of an academic discipline, a research field, a literary genre, or in some other small place, trapped by his creatureliness, and trapped by life's very smallness. I would like to dub this the god-bug syndrome: the prevalent and perhaps epidemic feeling of greatness walking hand-in-hand with smallness that plagues so many people today.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Eric Maisel" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eric-maisel/we-have-arrived-at-an-interesting-moment-in-the-evolution-of-our/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/8b3/eric-maisel-3062_dark-matter_we-have-arrived-at-an-interesting-moment_1387531.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/8b3/eric-maisel-3062_dark-matter_we-have-arrived-at-an-interesting-moment_1387531.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/8b3/eric-maisel-3062_dark-matter_we-have-arrived-at-an-interesting-moment_1387531.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“We have arrived at an interesting moment in the evolution of our species when a smart person in a…” — Eric Maisel", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 9, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“That hundreds of millions of people believe that a man named Noah built an ark and put all of the world's species onto it two-by-two, that those species included dinosaurs—even though dinosaurs and man are separated by millions of years—that these people want this taught as science, that they want to get onto every school board and into every legislature to ensure that their view prevails, and that the mainstream media of a modern society continues to take this seriously, may only mildly annoy one smart person, perhaps one who grew up in religion and is tempted to give religion a pass. But it will seriously outrage—and almost derange—another smart person who is convinced that these views always come with an authoritarian edge and a coercive public agenda. It will likewise strike a smart person as a ludicrous claim that the collectivist farms in her country are working beautifully when there is no food to be found on the shelves of any grocery store anywhere or to claim that a certain corporation is a mighty source for good and innovation when it is paying its employees peanuts and freely polluting. Misrepresentations of this sort affect our brain and our nervous system. They are an assault on our senses as well as our sense of right and wrong, and they bring pain and distress.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Eric Maisel" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eric-maisel/that-hundreds-of-millions-of-people-believe-that-a-man-named-noah/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/878/eric-maisel-3062_dinosaurs_that-hundreds-of-millions-of-people-beli_2403440.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/878/eric-maisel-3062_dinosaurs_that-hundreds-of-millions-of-people-beli_2403440.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/878/eric-maisel-3062_dinosaurs_that-hundreds-of-millions-of-people-beli_2403440.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“That hundreds of millions of people believe that a man named Noah built an ark and put all of the world's…” — Eric Maisel", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 10, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“The choices aren't between a false but soothing mysticism and an acceptance of an indifferent universe. Rather, the choice is between an easy mysticism and genuine mystery. This is a very different choice! It is one that a smart person can embrace and applaud—and even grow excited about. He never again has to bang his head against the brick wall of mystery. He can just let it be mysterious. The mystic has made a poor choice, one that a smart person with a mystical bent will never really feel completely comfortable embracing. The mystic, instead of acknowledging that she has absolutely no clue as to what created the universe or how the universe operates, prefers to act like she understands—and, more than that, that the answer is simple and straightforward. If she has a scientific bent, she turns metaphors from physics into proofs of the existence of gods or of a cosmic consciousness. If she has no scientific bent, she simply opts for whatever occult system or language she is born into or that speaks to her.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Eric Maisel" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eric-maisel/the-choices-aren-t-between-a-false-but-soothing-mysticism-and-an/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/72a/eric-maisel-3062_brick-wall_the-choices-aren-t-between-a-false-but-s_1949790.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/72a/eric-maisel-3062_brick-wall_the-choices-aren-t-between-a-false-but-s_1949790.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/72a/eric-maisel-3062_brick-wall_the-choices-aren-t-between-a-false-but-s_1949790.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“The choices aren't between a false but soothing mysticism and an acceptance of an indifferent universe…” — Eric Maisel", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 11, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“A smart person, one who perhaps had her mind filled with religious ideas as a child but who recognizes that genuine mysteries exist with respect to the origins of the universe, can experience real pain if she opts for an easy mysticism. By the same token, if she refuses to opt for that easy mysticism and announces that she doesn't know ultimate answers and can't know ultimate answers, then she falls prey to the coldness and sadness that come with suspecting that the universe is taking no interest in her. Pain is waiting for her in either case, whether she tries to maintain a mysticism that she can see right through or if she sheds that easy mysticism but then doesn't know how to handle the resultant meaninglessness. As it happens, natural psychology provides a complete, satisfying, and uplifting response to this conundrum, one based on the idea of living the paradigm shift from seeking meaning to making meaning. If, however, she happens not to land on this good idea, she can spend a lifetime mired simultaneously in both unhappy camps, drawn to one mystical or spiritual enthusiasm after another—one year a Catholic, then a Buddhist, then a pagan, then a Taoist, then something with no name but with New Age trappings, and so on—while at the same time paralyzed by the thought that the universe has no meaning.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Eric Maisel" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eric-maisel/a-smart-person-one-who-perhaps-had-her-mind-filled-with-religious/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5fb/eric-maisel-3062_buddhism_a-smart-person-one-who-perhaps-had-her-m_3087213.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5fb/eric-maisel-3062_buddhism_a-smart-person-one-who-perhaps-had-her-m_3087213.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5fb/eric-maisel-3062_buddhism_a-smart-person-one-who-perhaps-had-her-m_3087213.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“A smart person, one who perhaps had her mind filled with religious ideas as a child but who recognizes that…” — Eric Maisel", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } } ] }, { "@type": "CollectionPage", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/smart-person/eric-maisel/#webpage", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/smart-person/eric-maisel/", "name": "Smart person Quotes by Eric Maisel", "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "mainEntity": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/smart-person/eric-maisel/#itemlist" }, "primaryImageOfPage": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e26/eric-maisel-3062_knowing_but-at-heart-what-we-are-talking-about-i_1374704.png" }, "description": "11 Smart person quotes by Eric Maisel. 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