But many intelligent people have a sort of bug: they think intelligence is an end in itself. They have one idea in mind: to be intelligent, which is really stupid. And when intelligence takes itself for its own goal, it operates very strangely: the proof that it exists is not to be found in the ingenuity or simplicity of what it produces, but in how obscurely it is expressed.
Muriel BarberyWhen illness enters a home, not only does it take hold of a body. It also weaves a dark web between hearts, a web where hope is trapped.
Muriel BarberyTo beauty, all is forgiven, even vulgarity. Intelligence no longer seems an adequate compensation for things.
Muriel BarberyWhat is an aristocrat? A woman who is never sullied by vulgarity, although she may be surrounded by it.
Muriel Barbery