Voltaire was an 18th-century French philosopher, writer, and one of the most important voices of the Enlightenment. His works challenged authoritarianism and championed freedom of religion and speech. His beliefs in civil liberties and individualism inspired American revolutionaries such as Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin, helping shape the ideals behind the Declaration of Independence. Julian de Medeiros, a popular TikToker who also writes about philosophy on Substack, recently shared how Voltaire could tell whether someone was highly intelligent. His observation suggests that sometimes those who don’t speak know far more than those who can’t keep their mouths shut. Signs that someone is highly intelligent, according to Voltaire “Here’s how you know that someone is smart, like highly intelligent, and this goes back to a simple maxim from the French thinker Voltaire, who wrote, ‘Judge a man not by his answers but by his questions,'” de Medeiros said in a TikTok video.  @julianphilosophy Simple sign of intelligence #intelligence #smart #wisdom #growth ♬ original sound – Julian de Medeiros “What he meant, and I think this is so important, is that the more intelligent someone is, the more they listen. The more they want to learn and grow each and every day. They have an innate curiosity,” he continued. “As Plato put it, ‘An intelligent person speaks when they have something to say, but an unintelligent person speaks because they have nothing to say.’” An intelligent person also knows how to ask the right questions to learn as much as possible from the person they are talking to. A teacher writing on the blackboard. Photo credit: Canva Studies show a deep connection between intelligence and curiosity Voltaire’s thoughts on intelligence make a lot of sense. Curious people seek out new information. They ask questions, read books, take things apart, and make connections between ideas that may not be apparent at first. Studies show it starts early: infants seen as curious were more likely to grow up to be intelligent adults. Albert Einstein was a true believer in curiosity. He once said, “I have no special talents. I am only passionately curious,” and was also famous for urging people to “never stop questioning.” Albert Einstein. Photo credit: Archivo General de la Nación/Wikimedia Commons Adam Bryant, a columnist for The New York Times, interviewed 525 CEOs and found that curiosity was the most important quality: “[Curiosity] means trying to understand how things work, and then trying to understand how they can be made to work better. It means being curious about people and their backstories. It means using insights to build deceptively simple frameworks and models in their minds to make sense of their industry—and all the other disruptive forces shaping our world—so they can explain it to others. Then they continue asking questions about those models, and it’s those questions that often lead to breakthrough ideas.” Ultimately, curiosity can be seen as a source of fuel and energy for the mind. You can have an incredible brain that’s great at storing and making sense of complex ideas, but without a constant stream of information and input, it’s like a sports car with no driver. The post The one sign that someone is highly intelligent, according to legendary philosopher Voltaire appeared first on Upworthy.