--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Overt intelligent performances are not…" description: "\"Overt intelligent performances are not clues to the workings of minds; they are those workings. Boswell described Johnson's mind when he described how ..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ea3/gilbert-ryle-24471_babbling_overt-intelligent-performances-are-not-c_2903128.jpg" --- # Overt intelligent performances are not clues to the… ![“Overt intelligent performances are not clues to the workings of minds; they are those workings. Boswell described Johnson's mind when he described how he wrote, talked, ate, fidgeted and fumed. His description was, of course, incomplete, since there were notoriously some thoughts which Johnson…” quote by Gilbert Ryle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ea3/gilbert-ryle-24471_babbling_overt-intelligent-performances-are-not-c_2903128.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ea3/gilbert-ryle-24471_babbling_overt-intelligent-performances-are-not-c_2903128.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ea3/gilbert-ryle-24471_babbling_overt-intelligent-performances-are-not-c_2903128.jpg) > “Overt intelligent performances are not clues to the workings of minds; they are those workings. Boswell described Johnson's mind when he described how he wrote, talked, ate, fidgeted and fumed. His description was, of course, incomplete, since there were notoriously some thoughts which Johnson kept carefully to himself and there must have been many dreams, daydreams and silent babblings which only Johnson could have recorded and only a James Joyce would wish him to have recorded.” [Gilbert Ryle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gilbert-ryle/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Intelligent behavior reveals the mind's workings directly; internal thoughts remain private. **In simple terms:** Actions show mind, thoughts stay hidden. Key Takeaway Observe behavior, respect inner privacy. Themes mind behavior privacy interpretation philosophy Mood analytical thoughtful Type philosophical academic When to use this quote - psychology research - teaching - interpersonal communication Key Concepts cognitive science phenomenology ethical observation Questions to Reflect On - How do you balance observation with respect for privacy? - When might internal thoughts be more informative than actions? A Different Perspective Assuming behavior fully reveals mind can mislead. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Babbling](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/babbling/) [Clue](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/clue/) [Courses](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/courses/) [Daydreaming](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/daydreaming/) [Description](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/description/) [Dream](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/dream/) [Has beens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/has-beens/) [Incomplete](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/incomplete/) [Intelligence](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/intelligence/) [Intelligent](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/intelligent/) [James Joyce](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/james-joyce/) [Johnson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/johnson/) [Johnson Mind](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/johnson-mind-4138442/) [Joyce](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/joyce/) [Mind](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/mind/) [Mind Described](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/mind-described-3837575/) [Minds](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/minds/) [Minds Workings](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/minds-workings-4138444/) [Performances](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/performances/) [Philosophy of Mind](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/philosophy-of-mind/) [Psychology](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/psychology/) [Silent](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/silent/) [Thinking](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/thinking/) [Thoughtful](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/thoughtful/) [Thoughts Johnson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/thoughts-johnson-4138443/) [Wish](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/wish/) ## Related quotes > [In my mind I'm like, "No, Katherine Johnson it was you. 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We are a sort…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gore-vidal/we-should-stop-going-around-babbling-about-how-we-re-the-greatest/) [Gore Vidal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gore-vidal/) > [Thanks to Reagan, the insane now walk among us babbling about Starbucks and sodomite semen in this zombie apocalypse we call the 21st century.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/st-sukie-de-la-croix/thanks-to-reagan-the-insane-now-walk-among-us-babbling-about/) [St. Sukie de la Croix](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/st-sukie-de-la-croix/) > [Come, follow me, and leave the world to its babblings.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dante-alighieri/come-follow-me-and-leave-the-world-to-its-babblings/) [Dante Alighieri](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dante-alighieri/) > [The world is forever babbling of originality; but there never yet was an original man, in the sense intended by the world; the first…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/herman-melville/the-world-is-forever-babbling-of-originality-but-there-never-yet-was/) [Herman Melville](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/herman-melville/) > [“When you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans.” MATTHEW 6:7 NIV”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/billy-graham/when-you-pray-do-not-keep-on-babbling-like-pagans-matthew-6-7-niv/) [Billy Graham](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/billy-graham/) > [In Lullabies, I wanted to capture what I remembered of the drunken babbling of unfortunate twelve-year-olds: their illusions, their ludicrously bad choices, their lack…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/heather-o-neill/in-lullabies-i-wanted-to-capture-what-i-remembered-of-the-drunken/) [Heather O'Neill](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/heather-o-neill/) > [There’s always time for babbling.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eoin-colfer/there-s-always-time-for-babbling/) [Eoin Colfer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eoin-colfer/) ## More by Gilbert Ryle > [Absolute solitude is on this showing the ineluctable destiny of the soul. Only our bodies can meet.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gilbert-ryle/absolute-solitude-is-on-this-showing-the-ineluctable-destiny-of-the/) [Gilbert Ryle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gilbert-ryle/) > [Man need not be degraded to a machine by being denied to be a ghost in a machine. He might, after all, be a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gilbert-ryle/man-need-not-be-degraded-to-a-machine-by-being-denied-to-be-a-ghost/) [Gilbert Ryle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gilbert-ryle/) > [In searching for the self, one cannot simultaneously be the hunter and the hunted.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gilbert-ryle/in-searching-for-the-self-one-cannot-simultaneously-be-the-hunter-and/) [Gilbert Ryle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gilbert-ryle/) > [A myth is, of course, not a fairy story. 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As thus represented, minds are not merely ghosts harnessed to machines, they…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gilbert-ryle/minds-are-not-bits-of-clockwork-they-are-just-bits-of-not-clockwork/) [Gilbert Ryle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gilbert-ryle/) > [Only through the medium of the public physical world can the mind of one person make a difference to the mind of another. The…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gilbert-ryle/only-through-the-medium-of-the-public-physical-world-can-the-mind-of/) [Gilbert Ryle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gilbert-ryle/) > [When two terms belong to the same category, it is proper to construct conjunctive propositions embodying them. Thus a purchaser may say that he…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gilbert-ryle/when-two-terms-belong-to-the-same-category-it-is-proper-to-construct/) [Gilbert Ryle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gilbert-ryle/) > [So too Plato was, in my view, a very unreliable Platonist. He was too much of a philosopher to think that anything he had…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gilbert-ryle/so-too-plato-was-in-my-view-a-very-unreliable-platonist-he-was-too/) [Gilbert Ryle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gilbert-ryle/) > [To see is one thing; to picture or visualise is another. A person can see things, only when his eyes are open, and when…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gilbert-ryle/to-see-is-one-thing-to-picture-or-visualise-is-another-a-person-can/) [Gilbert Ryle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gilbert-ryle/) > [Contemporary philosophers have exercised themselves with the problem of our knowledge of other minds. Enmeshed in the dogma of the ghost in the machine,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gilbert-ryle/contemporary-philosophers-have-exercised-themselves-with-the-problem/) [Gilbert Ryle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gilbert-ryle/) > [“A person who has a good nose for arguments or jokes may have a bad head for facts.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gilbert-ryle/a-person-who-has-a-good-nose-for-arguments-or-jokes-may-have-a-bad/) [Gilbert Ryle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gilbert-ryle/) > [To explode a myth is accordingly not to deny the facts but to re-allocate them.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gilbert-ryle/to-explode-a-myth-is-accordingly-not-to-deny-the-facts-but-to-re/) [Gilbert Ryle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gilbert-ryle/) > [When the epistemologists' concept of consciousness first became popular, it seems to have been in part a transformed application of the Protestant notion of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gilbert-ryle/when-the-epistemologists-concept-of-consciousness-first-became/) [Gilbert Ryle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gilbert-ryle/) [Explore all 24 Gilbert Ryle quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gilbert-ryle/) ## More Babbling quotes > [There’s always time for babbling.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eoin-colfer/there-s-always-time-for-babbling/) [Eoin Colfer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eoin-colfer/) > [In Lullabies, I wanted to capture what I remembered of the drunken babbling of unfortunate twelve-year-olds: their illusions, their ludicrously bad choices, their lack…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/heather-o-neill/in-lullabies-i-wanted-to-capture-what-i-remembered-of-the-drunken/) [Heather O'Neill](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/heather-o-neill/) > [“When you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans.” MATTHEW 6:7 NIV”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/billy-graham/when-you-pray-do-not-keep-on-babbling-like-pagans-matthew-6-7-niv/) [Billy Graham](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/billy-graham/) > [The world is forever babbling of originality; but there never yet was an original man, in the sense intended by the world; the first…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/herman-melville/the-world-is-forever-babbling-of-originality-but-there-never-yet-was/) [Herman Melville](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/herman-melville/) > [Come, follow me, and leave the world to its babblings.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dante-alighieri/come-follow-me-and-leave-the-world-to-its-babblings/) [Dante Alighieri](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dante-alighieri/) > [Thanks to Reagan, the insane now walk among us babbling about Starbucks and sodomite semen in this zombie apocalypse we call the 21st century.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/st-sukie-de-la-croix/thanks-to-reagan-the-insane-now-walk-among-us-babbling-about/) [St. Sukie de la Croix](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/st-sukie-de-la-croix/) > [We should stop going around babbling about how we're the greatest democracy on earth, when we're not even a democracy. We are a sort…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gore-vidal/we-should-stop-going-around-babbling-about-how-we-re-the-greatest/) [Gore Vidal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gore-vidal/) > [“I wondered if having conversations with your dog was less crazy than babbling to yourself when no one else was around. I guess it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/deb-baker/i-wondered-if-having-conversations-with-your-dog-was-less-crazy-than/) [Deb Baker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/deb-baker/) > [I know at times I come across like a Neanderthal or a babbling idiot, but I like that person.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mike-tyson/i-know-at-times-i-come-across-like-a-neanderthal-or-a-babbling-idiot/) [Mike Tyson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mike-tyson/) > [Music is of two kinds: one petty, poor, second-rate, never varying, its base the hundred or so phrasings which all musicians understand, a babbling…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/honor-de-balzac/music-is-of-two-kinds-one-petty-poor-second-rate-never-varying-its/) [Honore de Balzac](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/honor-de-balzac/) > [Too many individuals are like Shakespeare's definition of "echo,"--babbling gossips of the air.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/josh-billings/too-many-individuals-are-like-shakespeare-s-definition-of-echo/) [Josh Billings](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/josh-billings/) > [Usually I play people who just keep babbling on and on and on.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-cusack/usually-i-play-people-who-just-keep-babbling-on-and-on-and-on/) [John Cusack](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-cusack/) > [“Hallo, Bertie." 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