Why Intelligent People Like to Read About Intelligent People being Miserable

“Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know.”
Ernest Hemingway

Isn’t that Hemingway quote just brilliant? Don’t we all love reading something like that, feeling that flash of recognition when we discover that such a noble reason is hiding behind the difficulties we face in our daily lives?

I came upon this article on the miseries of highly intelligent people yesterday (which is already at impressive 19k claps after a week), and naturally, vaguely thinking of myself as intelligent and unhappy, I clicked.

It was an instantly gratifying experience: satisfaction washed over me when I was welcomed by a quote from the one and only Albert Einstein. Oh yes, I thought, finally someone who understands my troubles, the difficulties of being one of the most brilliant people in the history of our species!

Someone who I could have been there for had I only been born a century ago. Someone who would have (I assume) understood the “huge handicaps” (actual quote) I have to deal with every day: not fitting in with my friends because I did not have to study as much in school, getting better grades, suffering from being equipped with mental capacities that allowed me to find a job that is constantly interesting, pays well and that I am…