The difference between a ...

The difference between a simpleton and an intelligent man, according to the man who is convinced that he is of the latter category, is that the former wholeheartedly accepts all things that he sees and hears while the latter never admits anything except after a most searching scrutiny. He imagines his intelligence to be a sieve of closely woven mesh through which nothing but the finest can pass. 
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 R.K. Narayan

Quotes from the same author

If someone should ask, "how should an Opposition function?" the best answer would be, "in the manner of a traditional mother-in-law who watches the performance of household work by a daughter-in-law and follows her about with her comments.
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 R.K. Narayan
We come together only to go apart again. The law of life can't be avoided. The law comes into operation the moment we detach ourselves from our mother's womb. All struggle & misery in life is due to our attempt to arrest this law or get away from it or in allowing ourselves to be hurt by it. The fact must be recognized. A profound unmitigated loneliness is the only truth of life. All else is false. The law of life. No sense in battling against it.
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 R.K. Narayan
No one ever accepts criticism so cheerfully. Neither the man who utters it nor the man who invites it really means it.
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 R.K. Narayan
This is my child. I planted it. I saw it grow. I loved it. Don't cut it down.
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 R.K. Narayan