"It is impossible to underrate human intelligence - beginning with one's own"
About this Quote
Aphorisms this neat usually flatter the speaker. Adams’ doesn’t. It offers a clean little paradox that lands like a slap: you can’t possibly underestimate human intelligence, because it will always find a way to go lower - and the first exhibit is yourself. The wit works because it denies the reader the easiest escape route, the smug thought that “people” are stupid but I’m the exception. Adams rigs the joke so self-awareness becomes the entry fee.
The subtext is less misanthropy than prophylaxis. As a historian, Adams watched institutions and publics behave with alarming confidence while making catastrophically shortsighted choices. The line reads like a vaccination against the modern faith that education, progress, or expertise automatically produce wisdom. He’s not arguing that humans can’t be brilliant; he’s arguing that our baseline operating system - pride, habit, groupthink, the hunger for simple stories - makes foolishness endlessly renewable. “Impossible to underrate” is an attack on the comforting belief that there’s a floor to how irrational we can get.
The “beginning with one’s own” clause matters most. It turns a general indictment into a method: start by assuming you’re the easiest person to fool. That reflex is historically literate. Adams lived through the Gilded Age’s boom of technology and bureaucracy, when complexity increased faster than anyone’s ability to grasp consequences. In that world, humility isn’t virtue-signaling; it’s survival gear.
The subtext is less misanthropy than prophylaxis. As a historian, Adams watched institutions and publics behave with alarming confidence while making catastrophically shortsighted choices. The line reads like a vaccination against the modern faith that education, progress, or expertise automatically produce wisdom. He’s not arguing that humans can’t be brilliant; he’s arguing that our baseline operating system - pride, habit, groupthink, the hunger for simple stories - makes foolishness endlessly renewable. “Impossible to underrate” is an attack on the comforting belief that there’s a floor to how irrational we can get.
The “beginning with one’s own” clause matters most. It turns a general indictment into a method: start by assuming you’re the easiest person to fool. That reflex is historically literate. Adams lived through the Gilded Age’s boom of technology and bureaucracy, when complexity increased faster than anyone’s ability to grasp consequences. In that world, humility isn’t virtue-signaling; it’s survival gear.
Quote Details
| Topic | Witty One-Liners |
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