Why You Should Pretend to Be Less Intelligent than You Are
Academy of Ideas
Academy of Ideas
4.8 • 641 Ratings
🗓️ 25 May 2026
⏱️ 12 minutes
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Summary
“Know how to appear the fool. The wisest sometimes play this card, and there are times when the greatest knowledge consists in appearing to lack knowledge. You mustn’t be ignorant, just feign ignorance.” Baltasar Gracian, How to Use Your Enemies While many people openly flaunt possessions such as wealth, status, beauty, and power, when it comes to the greatest human good, […]
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| 0:13.0 | In his book How to Use Your Enemies, the Spanish philosopher Balticor Grassian wrote, |
| 0:19.0 | Know How to Appear the Fool. The wisest sometimes play this card, and there are times when the greatest knowledge consists in appearing to lack knowledge. |
| 0:27.6 | You mustn't be ignorant, just feign ignorance. |
| 0:31.6 | While many people openly flaunt possessions such as wealth, status, beauty, and power, |
| 0:36.6 | when it comes to the greatest human good, |
| 0:38.8 | wisdom, those who possess the most of it are careful to conceal it. In his book Beyond Good and |
| 0:44.1 | Evil, the great 19th century philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche wrote, every profound spirit needs a mask. |
| 0:50.6 | Moreover, around every profound spirit a mask is continually growing, thanks to the constantly false, that is, shallow interpretation of every word, every step, every sign of life he gives. |
| 1:01.0 | Now and then, even foolishness is a mask. |
| 1:04.0 | In this video, we examined some of the benefits of concealing wisdom beneath the appearance of foolishness. |
| 1:11.1 | The philosophers who advocated for this strategy did not mean that we should behave stupidly, |
| 1:16.1 | but rather that we should appear less intelligent, insightful, or wise than we are. |
| 1:20.9 | Or as Montesquieu, the 18th century French judge and philosopher wrote, |
| 1:25.2 | I have always observed that to succeed in the world one should appear like a fool, |
| 1:30.2 | but be wise. |
| 1:32.1 | The first reason for concealing our wisdom is that many people are uncomfortable around |
| 1:36.2 | those who can see through the illusions, deceptions, and distractions that capture others. |
| 1:41.7 | In the work of fiction, flowers for Algernon, a novel scientific experiment |
| 1:46.0 | transforms an intellectually handicapped man into a genius, and this leads him to the following |
| 1:51.3 | observation. I'm beginning to think that with intelligence you don't just see more, you see |
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