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[eska]

An intellectual is usually someone who isn't exactly distinguished by his intellect. He claims that label to compensate for his own inadequacies. It's as old as that saying: tell me what you boast of and I'll tell you what you lack. Our daily bread. The incompetent always resent themselves as experts, the cruel as pious, sinners as excessively devout, usurers as benefactors, the small-minded as patriots, the arrogant as humble, the vulgar as elegant and the feeble-minded as intellectual.

CARLOS RUIZ ZAFON "The Angel's Game"