R. K. Narayan’s voice is gentle, wry and quietly ruthless in this observation — and it cuts straight into one of the most common traps people fall into on the road to success: mistaking skepticism for wisdom. At first read, the quote celebrates critical thinking. Read more closely, though, and it becomes a mirror: Narayan isn’t only contrasting two types of people; he’s warning the self-declared “intelligent” against the hubris of believing their own scrutiny is infallible. That has powerful implications for anyone trying to grow, lead, or build something meaningful.