---
title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: The intelligent, like the unintelligent…"
description: "\"The intelligent, like the unintelligent, are responsive to propaganda.\" — H. L. Mencken"
image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f45/h-l-mencken-245_intelligent_the-intelligent-like-the-unintelligent-a_2023950.png"
---

#  The intelligent, like the unintelligent, are responsive to…

![“The intelligent, like the unintelligent, are responsive to propaganda.” quote by H. L. Mencken](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f45/h-l-mencken-245_intelligent_the-intelligent-like-the-unintelligent-a_2023950.png)   [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f45/h-l-mencken-245_intelligent_the-intelligent-like-the-unintelligent-a_2023950.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f45/h-l-mencken-245_intelligent_the-intelligent-like-the-unintelligent-a_2023950.png)

> “The intelligent, like the unintelligent, are responsive to propaganda.”

[H. L. Mencken](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/h-l-mencken/)

## About This Quote

This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation.

Both intelligent and unintelligent individuals are vulnerable to propaganda's influence.

**In simple terms:** Everyone can be swayed by propaganda.

Key Takeaway

Cultivate critical thinking, verify information.

Themes

propaganda critical thinking media literacy psychology influence

Mood

analytical skeptical educational

Type

media political

When to use this quote

- news consumption
- social media
- political discourse
- teaching

Key Concepts

cognitive bias information warfare education

Questions to Reflect On

- What strategies protect against manipulation?
- How does education reduce susceptibility?

A Different Perspective

Propaganda's subtlety can be hard to detect.

★ ★ ★ ★ ★   No ratings yet

[Propaganda](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/propaganda/)

## Related quotes

> [The chakras are very intelligent – they are like the software of the whole computer body.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dharma-mittra/the-chakras-are-very-intelligent-they-are-like-the-software-of-the/)

[Dharma Mittra](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dharma-mittra/)

> [Most people that you talk to, they's intelligent. Like I said, "Most people."](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-pryor/most-people-that-you-talk-to-they-s-intelligent-like-i-said-most/)

[Richard Pryor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-pryor/)

> [“To be a good at something you have to be intelligent like an elephant, sly like a fox and patient like a camel.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/m-z-riffi/to-be-a-good-at-something-you-have-to-be-intelligent-like-an-elephant/)

[M.Z.Riffi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/m-z-riffi/)

> [Nandita Das is intelligent and I like that quality about her.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rahul-vaidya/nandita-das-is-intelligent-and-i-like-that-quality-about-her/)

[Rahul Vaidya](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rahul-vaidya/)

> [My mom was in education, and I remember reading in one of her books about multiple intelligences - this whole theory about how there…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lynn-shelton/my-mom-was-in-education-and-i-remember-reading-in-one-of-her-books/)

[Lynn Shelton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lynn-shelton/)

> [Goverment is actually the worst failure of civilized man. There has never been a really good one, and even those that are the most…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/h-l-mencken/goverment-is-actually-the-worst-failure-of-civilized-man-there-has/)

[H. L. Mencken](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/h-l-mencken/)

> [I'm just a weird mix of immature and intelligent and I like to share my point of view and who I am.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ari-shaffir/i-m-just-a-weird-mix-of-immature-and-intelligent-and-i-like-to-share/)

[Ari Shaffir](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ari-shaffir/)

> [If you really want to succeed, you'll have to go for it every day like I do. The big time isn't for slackers. Keep…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/donald-trump/if-you-really-want-to-succeed-you-ll-have-to-go-for-it-every-day-like/)

[Donald Trump](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/donald-trump/)

> [When the political columnists say 'Every thinking man' they mean themselves, and when candidates appeal to 'Every intelligent voter' they mean everybody who is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/franklin-p-adams/when-the-political-columnists-say-every-thinking-man-they-mean/)

[Franklin P. Adams](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/franklin-p-adams/)

> [We actually need intelligent doubt and skepticism; they protect us against mistaken views and propaganda.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dzogchen-ponlop-rinpoche/we-actually-need-intelligent-doubt-and-skepticism-they-protect-us/)

[Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dzogchen-ponlop-rinpoche/)

> [All propaganda has to be popular and has to accommodate itself to the comprehension of the least intelligent of those whom it seeks to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adolf-hitler/all-propaganda-has-to-be-popular-and-has-to-accommodate-itself-to-the/)

[Adolf Hitler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/adolf-hitler/)

> [Camels are snobbish and sheep, unintelligent; water buffaloes, neurasthenic-- even murderous. Reindeer seem over-serious.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marianne-moore/camels-are-snobbish-and-sheep-unintelligent-water-buffaloes/)

[Marianne Moore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marianne-moore/)

> [“Your realm is an insane place. In Volaria, no-one goes hungry, slaves are no use when they starve. Those freeborn too lazy or lacking…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anthony-ryan/your-realm-is-an-insane-place-in-volaria-no-one-goes-hungry-slaves/)

[Anthony Ryan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anthony-ryan/)

> [Money is not a problem, but unintelligent attachment to it is.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mata-amritanandamayi/money-is-not-a-problem-but-unintelligent-attachment-to-it-is/)

[Mata Amritanandamayi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mata-amritanandamayi/)

> [Having been a 'Page 3' model I know what is it like to be singled out as one thing, to be dismissed as unintelligent…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/keeley-hazell/having-been-a-page-3-model-i-know-what-is-it-like-to-be-singled-out/)

[Keeley Hazell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/keeley-hazell/)

## More by H. L. Mencken

> [Alimony - the ransom that the happy pay to the devil.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/h-l-mencken/alimony-the-ransom-that-the-happy-pay-to-the-devil/)

[H. L. Mencken](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/h-l-mencken/)

> [A bad artist almost always tries to conceal his incompetence by whooping up a new formula.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/h-l-mencken/a-bad-artist-almost-always-tries-to-conceal-his-incompetence-by/)

[H. L. Mencken](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/h-l-mencken/)

> [ By profession a biologist, \[Thomas Henry Huxley\] covered in fact the whole field of the exact sciences, and then bulged through its four fences.… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/h-l-mencken/by-profession-a-biologist-thomas-henry-huxley-covered-in-fact-the/)

[H. L. Mencken](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/h-l-mencken/)

> [So few men are really worth knowing, that it seems a shameful waste to let an anthropoid prejudice stand in the way of free…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/h-l-mencken/so-few-men-are-really-worth-knowing-that-it-seems-a-shameful-waste-to/)

[H. L. Mencken](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/h-l-mencken/)

> [Man's objection to love is that it dies hard; woman's, that when it is dead, it stays dead.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/h-l-mencken/man-s-objection-to-love-is-that-it-dies-hard-woman-s-that-when-it-is/)

[H. L. Mencken](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/h-l-mencken/)

> [The lunatic fringe wags the underdog.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/h-l-mencken/the-lunatic-fringe-wags-the-underdog/)

[H. L. Mencken](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/h-l-mencken/)

> [For it is an absurdity to call a country civilized in which a decent and industrious man, laboriously mastering a trade which is valuble…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/h-l-mencken/for-it-is-an-absurdity-to-call-a-country-civilized-in-which-a-decent/)

[H. L. Mencken](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/h-l-mencken/)

> [Women have simple tastes. They get pleasure out of the conversation of children in arms and men in love.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/h-l-mencken/women-have-simple-tastes-they-get-pleasure-out-of-the-conversation-of/)

[H. L. Mencken](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/h-l-mencken/)

> [The critic, to interpret his artist, even to understand his artist, must be able to get into the mind of his artist; he must…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/h-l-mencken/the-critic-to-interpret-his-artist-even-to-understand-his-artist-must/)

[H. L. Mencken](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/h-l-mencken/)

> [There is, in fact, nothing about religious opinions that entitles them to any more respect than other opinions get. On the contrary, they tend…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/h-l-mencken/there-is-in-fact-nothing-about-religious-opinions-that-entitles-them/)

[H. L. Mencken](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/h-l-mencken/)

> [Don't overestimate the decency of the human race.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/h-l-mencken/don-t-overestimate-the-decency-of-the-human-race/)

[H. L. Mencken](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/h-l-mencken/)

> [Liberty ... was a two-headed boon. There was first, the liberty of the people as a whole to determine the forms of their own…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/h-l-mencken/liberty-was-a-two-headed-boon-there-was-first-the-liberty-of-the/)

[H. L. Mencken](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/h-l-mencken/)

> [To the extent that I am genuinely educated, I am suspicious of all the things that the average citizen believes and the average pedagogue…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/h-l-mencken/to-the-extent-that-i-am-genuinely-educated-i-am-suspicious-of-all-the/)

[H. L. Mencken](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/h-l-mencken/)

> [Philosophy first constructs a scheme of happiness and then tries to fit the world to it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/h-l-mencken/philosophy-first-constructs-a-scheme-of-happiness-and-then-tries-to/)

[H. L. Mencken](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/h-l-mencken/)

> [For it is the natural tendency of the ignorant to believe what is not true. In order to overcome that tendency it is not…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/h-l-mencken/for-it-is-the-natural-tendency-of-the-ignorant-to-believe-what-is-not/)

[H. L. Mencken](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/h-l-mencken/)

[Explore all 827 H. L. Mencken quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/h-l-mencken/)

## More Intelligent quotes

> [And you can't complain about kissing Emma Watson. Isn't that what everyone in the world wants to do? I've known Emma for a few…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eddie-redmayne/and-you-can-t-complain-about-kissing-emma-watson-isn-t-that-what/)

[Eddie Redmayne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eddie-redmayne/)

> [If we accept being talked to any kind of a way, then we are telling ourselves we are not quite worth the best. And…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/maya-angelou/if-we-accept-being-talked-to-any-kind-of-a-way-then-we-are-telling/)

[Maya Angelou](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/maya-angelou/)

> [Critics are biased, and so are readers. (Indeed, a critic is a bundle of biases held loosely together by a sense of taste.) But…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/whitney-balliett/critics-are-biased-and-so-are-readers-indeed-a-critic-is-a-bundle-of/)

Whitney Balliett

> [Perhaps no order of mammals presents us with so extraordinary a series of gradations as this \[step by step, from humans to apes to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-huxley/perhaps-no-order-of-mammals-presents-us-with-so-extraordinary-a/)

[Thomas Huxley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-huxley/)

> [I prefer rappers who have something intelligent to say.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jemele-hill/i-prefer-rappers-who-have-something-intelligent-to-say/)

[Jemele Hill](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jemele-hill/)

> [The majority is never right. Never, I tell you! That's one of these lies in society that no free and intelligent man can help…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henrik-ibsen/the-majority-is-never-right-never-i-tell-you-that-s-one-of-these-lies/)

[Henrik Ibsen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henrik-ibsen/)

> [If a Coach is determined to stay in the coaching profession, he will develop from year to year. This much is true, no coach…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adolph-rupp/if-a-coach-is-determined-to-stay-in-the-coaching-profession-he-will/)

[Adolph Rupp](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/adolph-rupp/)

> [ He \[an earnest young reporter\] seemed to share the view of many intelligent, well-educated, well-meaning people that, while adult literature may aim to be… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/katherine-paterson/he-an-earnest-young-reporter-seemed-to-share-the-view-of-many/)

[Katherine Paterson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/katherine-paterson/)

> [“It’s an intelligent woman who prepares in advance for any mishaps by ordering a drink the same color as her dress.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brenda-sloan/it-s-an-intelligent-woman-who-prepares-in-advance-for-any-mishaps-by/)

[Brenda Sloan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brenda-sloan/)

> [The creation lives as genesis beneath the visible surface of the work. All intelligent people see this after the fact, but only the creative…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-klee/the-creation-lives-as-genesis-beneath-the-visible-surface-of-the-work/)

[Paul Klee](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-klee/)

> [“One who sees inaction in action, and action in inaction, is intelligent among men.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bhagavad-gita/one-who-sees-inaction-in-action-and-action-in-inaction-is-intelligent/)

[Bhagavad Gita](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bhagavad-gita/)

> [Intelligence is a separate gift, for the benefit of students, so that they may think of themselves as intellectual and not very intelligent, or…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/maya-angelou/intelligence-is-a-separate-gift-for-the-benefit-of-students-so-that/)

[Maya Angelou](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/maya-angelou/)

> [If we blow ourselves up we will do it by misapplication of science; if we manage to keep from blowing ourselves up, it will…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-a-heinlein/if-we-blow-ourselves-up-we-will-do-it-by-misapplication-of-science-if/)

[Robert A. Heinlein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-a-heinlein/)

> [I am really interested in the idea that art can reach wider, can go further, can go beyond the art world, why not? People…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anish-kapoor/i-am-really-interested-in-the-idea-that-art-can-reach-wider-can-go/)

[Anish Kapoor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anish-kapoor/)

> [Man is so intelligent animal on earth that if he was empowered as much as God, he would start battling with him to get…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vikrant-parsai/man-is-so-intelligent-animal-on-earth-that-if-he-was-empowered-as/)

[Vikrant Parsai](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vikrant-parsai/)

Browse all 2,940 Intelligent quotes

```json
{
    "@context": "https://schema.org",
    "@graph": [
        {
            "@type": "Quotation",
            "text": "The intelligent, like the unintelligent, are responsive to propaganda.",
            "creator": {
                "@type": "Person",
                "name": "H. L. Mencken"
            },
            "isPartOf": {
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website"
            },
            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/h-l-mencken/the-intelligent-like-the-unintelligent-are-responsive-to-propaganda/",
            "about": {
                "@type": "Thing",
                "name": "Intelligent"
            },
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/h-l-mencken/the-intelligent-like-the-unintelligent-are-responsive-to-propaganda/#quotation",
            "image": {
                "@type": "ImageObject",
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f45/h-l-mencken-245_intelligent_the-intelligent-like-the-unintelligent-a_2023950.png",
                "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f45/h-l-mencken-245_intelligent_the-intelligent-like-the-unintelligent-a_2023950.png",
                "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f45/h-l-mencken-245_intelligent_the-intelligent-like-the-unintelligent-a_2023950.png",
                "width": 1080,
                "height": 1080,
                "caption": "“The intelligent, like the unintelligent, are responsive to propaganda.” — H. L. Mencken",
                "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
                "creator": {
                    "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization"
                }
            }
        },
        {
            "@type": "BreadcrumbList",
            "itemListElement": [
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 1,
                    "name": "Home",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/"
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 2,
                    "name": "Quotes",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/"
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 3,
                    "name": "H. L. Mencken",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/h-l-mencken/"
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 4,
                    "name": "The intelligent, like the unintelligent, are...",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/h-l-mencken/the-intelligent-like-the-unintelligent-are-responsive-to-propaganda/"
                }
            ],
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/h-l-mencken/the-intelligent-like-the-unintelligent-are-responsive-to-propaganda/#breadcrumb"
        },
        {
            "@type": "WebSite",
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website",
            "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/",
            "publisher": {
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization"
            }
        },
        {
            "@type": "Organization",
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization",
            "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/",
            "logo": {
                "@type": "ImageObject",
                "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png",
                "width": 512,
                "height": 512
            }
        }
    ]
}
```
