More often than not, we notice the not-so-bright people walking around us, blaring their extreme opinions while being completely uninformed on the subject. It’s one of life’s great mysteries—those of lesser intelligence tend to overestimate how clever they are, while smart people do the exact opposite.
So when user blissfulhavoc posted “What is a subtle sign that someone is intelligent/sharp?” on r/AskReddit, fellow members quickly rolled up their sleeves. It seems that clever people might not advertise the fact that they’re smart but others sure do notice it. Hundreds started sharing their opinions about the tell-tale traits that prove someone is bright and sharp.
Find the best answers Bored Panda has collected from this viral thread right below, and share your thoughts with us in the comments. Psst! After you’re done, be sure to check out our previous post on even more signs that might prove you’re smarter than you think.
#1
When they don’t know something they look it up immediatly. They can’t stand not knowing because they are curious about it and want to know more.
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#2
I think there are so many different types of intelligence that it’s hard to narrow down one defining trait. Social intelligence, spatial intelligence, problem solving, etc.
I’m from a very rural area with a high poverty rate. I grew up working on a cattle ranch. One of the guys I worked with had to drop out of school in 4th grade to work full time doing agricultural work for his family. He had to work really hard as an adult to reach even a 6th grade reading level. He doesn’t read for pleasure, and by the standards of an educated, urban person, he’d be considered pretty ignorant. However, he can build anything. Fences, mechanical things, buildings, sprinkler systems, you name it. He’s funny as hell, and as a kid working around him I had no idea he was barely literate until his 30s.
One of my brothers is absolutely brilliant. Well read, follows world politics, works in IT at a high level. He’s the smartest person I know, easily, in terms of processing complicated information and retaining it in a useful way. He could absolutely build a computer, but put him on a horse and ask him to go get cattle off the back forty or repair a fence and… no way. He’s also good company, but not always the most socially adept, in that he has almost no street smarts and doesn’t understand concepts like flattery, or other mostly harmless ways that people manipulate those around them as a social lubricant.
Which one of them is smarter? Depends on what you need them to accomplish.
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#3
They ask questions. Smart people don’t get smart by acting like they know everything.
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#4
They’re willing to consider different viewpoints when presented with compelling evidence, and accept when they make a mistake.
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#5
A willingness to learn
Dumb ppl think they know everything so they don’t bother.
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#6
The ability to change their mind when presented with new information. Intelligence is, at its core, a constant reassessment of your own knowledge and the ability to acquire and apply more.
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#7
They quite frequently explain things or answer questions with “it depends”. Intelligent people tend to have a hard time explaining something they know a lot about because it’s hard to boil any particular topic or object down to one portion of it or another rather than the way in which the whole interacts.
When they do provide a straightforward answer that only singles out one component as the explanation, it will be prefaced with a pretty non-committal phrase like “I could be wrong, but…” or “generally,”. This is less reliable than an “it depends” though.
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#8
They are aware of their limitations and just how much they still don’t know. As a consequence they also tend to underestimate themselves.
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#9
They have a look. Their eyes look AT things/people, not THROUGH things/people. And that doesn’t necessarily mean direct eye contact (because a lot of people with ASD for example struggle with eye contact), but you can tell they are constantly observing, consciously looking at the world, not just witnessing it passively.
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#10
I mean at this point, just believing the earth is a sphere is good enough for me.
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#11
They don’t immediately attack you for having an unpopular view that’s different.
Intelligence is being able to entertain an idea while not being convinced by it.
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#12
They listen first and then speak or ask questions after understanding.
The bright/intelligent people I know have an unusual ability to digest a situation and then posit a question or frame a position that cuts through the noise and advances everyone’s thought process.
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#13
A very smart person once told me “if you walk away from any new challenge and didn’t learn anything, you weren’t paying attention”. Best advice I’ve ever heard.
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#14
Quick wit and humor
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#15
They listen instead of talk. A former CIA agent was asked this question and his answer was this because he said the quietest person in the room is listening to everything that’s being said which makes them the smartest and most dangerous.
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#16
I’m an industrial technician troubleshooter supervisor, And sometimes I have to work with the electrical engineers. The head engineer is highly intelligent, and the way and the order that he asks questions so he can come to an understanding of the Issue forces me to think in a process that hurts my brain. I don’t know how they can handle it Day In and Day out.
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#17
They read. A lot. I’m sorry, but I’ve never met a truly intelligent person who wasn’t an avid reader.
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#18
One of the most common is they stumble over words and/or have bad handwriting. Because their mouth and hand have trouble keeping up.
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#19
They don’t partake in debates with loud ignorant people.
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#20
They can explain difficult matter in an easy way
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#21
They ask GOOD questions. Questions that indicate that while they don’t know the answer they have a damn good idea how to start finding it. They will ask fewer but better questions, confirm the answer by restating it first morning clarity, and often seek extra information or ask you too before making a decision.
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#22
Mate at work is able to explain things perfectly. He does away with all the complicated jargon and explains things as if you’re a simpleton without making you feel like one.
Asked him to have a look at my digital calipers a while back and, while he couldn’t fix it, he explained in detail what was wrong with it, how to fix it, and how the mechanism in question makes the calipers work.
He’s an invaluable friend and a much better mentor.
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#23
Waiting a few seconds to ponder a question before answering instead of blurting out the first thing that comes to mind.
#24
Two ways: – When it comes to a subject matter they know they can deconstruct in a way to explain it and use analogies to help it make sense to others. – With subject matter they don’t understand they will ask questions for their own comprehension and ask you for examples/analogies so they can frame the concept in their mind.
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#25
Curiosity.
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#26
when they drop an interesting “factoid” and you respond with “cool, i wonder if _______”, they have an answer for it, or at least a couple of different ideas, because they actually looked into it instead of just regurgitating it.
the smart people i know are not comfortable having “shallow knowledge” about anything. if they do, then they don’t bring it up confidently. if they bring it up at all, it’s usually to ask questions from someone who knows more about it.
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#27
They listen to every word you say and ask a follow-up question that you never even thought of, but ends up completely changing your way of thinking.
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#28
One of my favorite Shakespearean lines is “brevity is the soul of wit”
I think a measure of intelligence is to take in complex information and convey it in simple terms for others to understand.
Conversely, I don’t think much of people who do the opposite to make themselves appear smarter than they are.
Image source: DJteejay04
#29
Depends on the living arrangements. It’s hard to know from the outside. Intelligence is the ability to learn, retain, recall, apply, and abstract. Knowledge and Wisdom are not good indicators of actual intelligence.
Intelligent individuals can be anything. They could be apathetic, or impassioned. They could speak like a thesaurus, or fumble simple sentences. They could seek tertiary education, or lack both a High School Degree, and a GED.
Living situations dictate an individuals intellectual display more than personality quirks, so it’ll be complicated.
Image source: PorvaniaAmussa
#30
In my experience, it’s the people that are always open to a constructive argument (or conversation, depending on their knowledge on the topic), regardless of the topic. One big condition: this only counts when they’re able to admit they don’t know everything on the topic, or ask people who know more about it to inform them.
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