The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in the mind at the same time, and still retain the ability to function… - F. Scott Fitzgerald

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The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in the mind at the same time, and still retain the ability to function.
One should, for example, be able to see that things are hopeless and yet be determined to make them otherwise.

English
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About F. Scott Fitzgerald

Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald (24 September 1896 – 21 December 1940) was an Irish-American novelist and short story writer.

Biography information from Wikiquote

Also Known As

Native Name: Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald
Alternative Names: Francis Scott Fitzgerald • Scott Fitzgerald
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Shorter versions of this quote

One should . . . be able to see things as hopeless and yet be determined to make them otherwise.
hopelessness
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Originators like F. Scott Fitzgerald:
Thomas Hardy E. M. Forster Truman Capote Henry James Vladimir Nabokov

Additional quotes by F. Scott Fitzgerald

Americans, while occasionally willing to be serfs, have always been obstinate about being peasantry.
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and will I like being called a jazz baby? — You will love it.
The Beautiful and Damned
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"i'm in a muddle about a lot of things — i've just discovered that i've a mind, and i'm starting to read"
"read what?"
"everything. i have to pick and choose, of course, but mostly things that make me think."
This Side of Paradise
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