“Stupidity is more harmful than evil. It is easier to fight against the second (because it acts with a certain logic) than against the first (which lacks it). If we could suppress evil, the world would be better. But if we could eliminate stupidity, the world would be much better.”

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“…Firstly, the cultivated and sensible person knows that these certainties, no matter how obvious they may seem to us, have not been discovered by us, but rather that someone has taught them to us. They are the fruit of long years of thought, and for a long time many very intelligent men did not consider them so incontestable. The majority of us consider them to be such not thanks to our mental clairvoyance, but rather because we were born in the time and place in which we were born. For this reason, the wise man gives his opinion on historical figures and events of the past with more prudence and reserve than do the ignorant… And, secondly, he knows that no matter how sure we are of some truths, as soon as they become reality and become social conquests, they are extremely fragile…That is why intelligent people, when they fight to improve something in the world in which they live, try to aim for very specific goals, so that the fight against bad things does not also take away the good things.”

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“In reality, idiots have been in the overwhelming majority since the world began. What happens is that stupid people now have more means and more free time to carry out the foolish things of their nature.”

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“No one who has an adarme of common sense, hobbies that brighten their existence, and the ability to make friends can feel like they are out of the world. Because between being a complete idiot and being Cervantes or Voltaire there is an intermediate possibility that is enough to make anyone’s life worthy and that is within the reach of all ordinary and half-dumb beings who wander the world: reading Cervantes and Voltaire.”

Source: Ricardo Moreno Castillo (2018), Breve tratado sobre la estupidez humana. Fórcola. 110 p.