Would You Rather Be Smart or Beautiful?

[iLander]

Piggy-backing off Kenny's threads, which would you rather be, smart or beautiful?

Smart, as in top 1% in all subjects, everything comes easy, and you're smart as a whip? Average, ordinary, looks.

Or beautiful, as in people stop and stare at your amazing face and body? Men want to do you, women want to be you. Average (100 IQ) intelligence.

Which is it and why?

Oh, and you can't change your beginnings. You are you, early in your life, but stunningly beautiful or amazingly smart. Do you think your life would have been different?

 

[Circe]

I vote smart, every time. A little effort can make ordinary looks extraordinary, and it's the basic intellect that's going to make you know it.

That said, there's definitely something to be said for unselfconscious, anxiety-free, quotidien happiness, and given that the world tends to look favorably on extraordinary beauty ... that's probably not to be sneezed at, either. The problem is that most of us are in the middle on both scales!

P.S. - I recommend the fairy tale of Riquet-with-the-Tuft for illustrative purposes concerning this very topic.

 

[missy]

While I don't care for either of these options (since I like it just the way I am) I also would choose smart over beautiful every single time. Looks fade usually much more quickly than the mind. And if one is gorgeous physically they might not have the desire to develop a good personality (just generalizing here folks) and I absolutely value personality over looks as well. For me who you are tells me if you are beautiful. Not what you are (physical appearance). But that was not the question so to answer you iLander I vote smart over beautiful.

But of course we pricescopers are both.


ETA: forgot to answer your last part. I don't know if my life would have been different but I really like my life just the way it is and I have always said if one is a genius in one aspect of one's life (be it intelligence or physical beauty) you can bet there will be some angst and unhappiness and perhaps some tragedy along with it. I would not want to be in the genius range of any characteristic because all the true genius's seem to lead tortured lives. Just my opinion on that matter though and I am sure there are people at the very top of IQ and/or looks wise that lead happy lives. I however prefer to lead my peaceful happy non genius life out of the spotlight. The spotlight that true genius is always sure to bring and cannot escape from.

 

[yennyfire]

Another vote for brains over beauty, for all of the reasons ppl stated, though like Missy, I would prefer neither and to be just like I am (reasonably smart and attractive). Would my life be different? Probably, though its hard to predict how....maybe of I were smarter, I'd be able to do so!

 

[dragonfly411]

Smart. Looks can't survive when technology crashes.

 

[Smith1942]

I think you can have too much of a good thing, so I wouldn't want to be either a genius or a stunning beauty. Both can bring serious problems. I've seen people close to me suffer a lot from being at the extreme end of both these spectrums.

I think at the day of reckoning, what matters is if you were happy in your life, and I think the greatest chance of that comes from having a good dose of brains and looks, but not extremes.

The poet W.B. Yeats said, in a poem entitled "A Prayer For My Daughter":

"May she be granted Beauty and yet not
Beauty to make a stranger's eye distraught
Or hers before a looking-glass..."

I'm afraid I don't have an equivalent quote for too much brain!

The question is impossible to answer because we don't know if the unchosen attribute would be in reverse proportion to the chosen attribute. For example, if I choose brains, will I have to look like the Elephant Man? And if I choose beauty, will I be almost totally devoid of intellectual capacity?

If we assume average looks then I'd choose brains.

 

[Smith1942]

I vote smart, every time. A little effort can make ordinary looks extraordinary, and it's the basic intellect that's going to make you know it.

That said, there's definitely something to be said for unselfconscious, anxiety-free, quotidien happiness, and given that the world tends to look favorably on extraordinary beauty ... that's probably not to be sneezed at, either. The problem is that most of us are in the middle on both scales!

P.S. - I recommend the fairy tale of Riquet-with-the-Tuft for illustrative purposes concerning this very topic.

See, Circe, that's what I mean - I have heard the opposite from the Truly Beautiful. To hear one or two of my stunner women friends talking, their lives can be a maelstrom of female jealousy, angry men, and difficulties at work.

The female jealousy is self-explanatory.

When they are not interested in certain men, they have had the men assume the rejection is because she thinks too highly of herself, and not because she genuinely doesn't feel a connection between their personalities. They tell me that the men feel they must be stuck-up, etc, and even that some men feel they should be taken down a peg or two. This is despite my friends being sweet, kind, and non-confrontational.

They also feel they are not taken as seriously at work as the more matronly types. One of them was so upset one day that she researched the topic and found that psychologists have uncovered something they called the Pretty Penalty, I think it was. Basically that the super-beautiful are made to pay for it, quite often!

I guess if you were super-beautiful you could make lots of money as a model, but not every beautiful woman can be a model either.

I think extreme looks or extreme brains can cause problems.

As in most things, balance is the key!

 

[AGBF]

The poet W.B. Yeats said, in a poem entitled "A Prayer For My Daughter":

"May she be granted Beauty and yet not
Beauty to make a stranger's eye distraught
Or hers before a looking-glass..."

She Walks in Beauty

By Lord Byron (George Gordon) 1788–1824

She walks in beauty, like the night
Of cloudless climes and starry skies;
And all that’s best of dark and bright
Meet in her aspect and her eyes;
Thus mellowed to that tender light
Which heaven to gaudy day denies.


One shade the more, one ray the less,
Had half impaired the nameless grace
Which waves in every raven tress,
Or softly lightens o’er her face;
Where thoughts serenely sweet express,
How pure, how dear their dwelling-place.


And on that cheek, and o’er that brow,
So soft, so calm, yet eloquent,
The smiles that win, the tints that glow,
But tell of days in goodness spent,
A mind at peace with all below,
A heart whose love is innocent!

AGBF

 

[Smith1942]

Yes, that's a lovely poem, isn't it AGBF? Pity I can't find an ode to a woman's brains anywhere in eighteenth/nineteenth-century poetry! Not that I've searched the entire canon, mind you.

 

[kenny]

Smart and ugly.

It's worked so far.

 

[sonnyjane]

These polls/questions are making me realize I'm pretty lucky. As far as the IQ bell curve goes, I'm in the top 2%, and as far as looks, I do think I'm a solid 7, 8 on a really good day, so I honestly wouldn't change my life as it is currently.

That said, one of my favorite quotes has always been by William Feather, "One of the indictments of civilizations is that happiness and intelligence are so rarely found in the same person."

I wouldn't trade being smart, but I do think that those that can breeze through life with looks or luck seem to be kind of blissfully ignorant to some of the other issues going on in the world, or even in their own lives.

 

[iheartscience]

I'd rather be both, WHICH I AM. Now Imma post my SAT scores and a glamour shot to prove it. HATERS GONNA HATE

But seriously, I'd rather just be comfortable with myself, which I am. There will always be someone smarter/prettier/richer/skinnier than you, so just do you.

 

[AGBF]

Yes, that's a lovely poem, isn't it AGBF? Pity I can't find an ode to a woman's brains anywhere in eighteenth/nineteenth-century poetry! Not that I've searched the entire canon, mind you.

Now, Smith, I know you are young...but you have been around the block. Surely you didnt expect men to write odes to women's brains? That has to be an inside job, my friend. We have to write those odes ourselves. And we can. As the saying goes:

Whatever women must do they must do twice as well as men
to be thought half as good.
Luckily, this is not difficult.​

Deb

 

[princesss]

I'd rather be both, WHICH I AM. Now Imma post my SAT scores and a glamour shot to prove it. HATERS GONNA HATE

But seriously, I'd rather just be comfortable with myself, which I am. There will always be someone smarter/prettier/richer/skinnier than you, so just do you.

HAHAHA, YESSSSSS! Love it, Thing.

 

[iheartscience]

I'd rather be both, WHICH I AM. Now Imma post my SAT scores and a glamour shot to prove it. HATERS GONNA HATE

But seriously, I'd rather just be comfortable with myself, which I am. There will always be someone smarter/prettier/richer/skinnier than you, so just do you.

HAHAHA, YESSSSSS! Love it, Thing.

 

[Jennifer W]

I don't want to be anything other than what I am right now. I'm not sure beautiful is going to matter much in the future though - maybe we will all just sit at home and interact via the internet. I worked almost entirely from home for a couple of years, and I could go days without face to face interactions if it wasn't for my family. So, I suppose I'd only be judged on smart, at that point. I don't need to be beautiful, I'll just need to get a beautiful person to star in my avatar...

 

[Lady_Disdain]

I will take intelligence, hands down.

I enjoy making connections, figuring out causes and relationships, analyzing art, etc. That brings me much more joy than having a beautiful reflection in the mirror. Why should I give up my fun so other people have something nice to look at?

 

[canuk-gal]

I'd rather be both, WHICH I AM. Now Imma post my SAT scores and a glamour shot to prove it. HATERS GONNA HATE

But seriously, I'd rather just be comfortable with myself, which I am. There will always be someone smarter/prettier/richer/skinnier than you, so just do you.

Took the words out of my very beautiful mouth......

cheers--Sharon

 

[minousbijoux]

I'd rather be smart, beautiful and with a great singing voice

 

[partgypsy]

Other
I would like to be in the top 1% of emotional eq/emotional stability, psychological well being and resilience. It's more important than either intelligence or beauty imho.

Though I'm in the 1% of neither, I'm perfectly happy with both my looks and smarts, so I wouldn't change a thing!

to thin own self be true or some such.

 

[diamondringlover]

Always smart....

 

[missy]

iLander, what's your answer to your questions?

 

[Dancing Fire]

Smart and ugly.

It's worked so far.

Wife said...I'm dumb and ugly..

 

[rosetta]

Def smart. We're all getting older and uglier by minute.

Cheer up DF, you have a kick ass watch collection. What more do you need, eh?

 

[iLander]

iLander, what's your answer to your questions?

I would sure like to try beautiful out for a while, Missy.

But I wonder if I would just get a big ego, become superficial, marry a guy that likes me for superficial reasons, and then be unhappy when things start sagging and wrinkling. Or be unhappy when he starts sagging and wrinkling. And THEN where would I be? (please note, this is my idea of how I would be, not how all you lovely ladies are or would be)

But I would kinda like to try it for a while . . .

 

[iLander]

Smart and ugly.

It's worked so far.

I'll bet you're a lot cuter than you realize (or let on), Kenny.

 

[chrono]

Smart. Beauty is fleeting and there's always plastic surgery if things look pretty bad.

 

[Polished]

I think smart - although outstanding beauty might be fun to try - blonde, nordic, the same 217 bones as everyone else but more acutely arranged! I actually like the way it all becomes more complicated than this. The way if you like someone, they can become more attractive to you, or part of their looks is entwined with their wit, the way they articulate themselves, or the way they empathise and relate to others. Looks can be somewhat static and they need intelligence, character and personality in order to give them life.

I remember visiting Howarth, where the home of the Bronte sisters has been turned into a museum to them. While there I was very surprised to read that Charlotte had apparently said, she would have given up everything to have been pretty. Nooooooo Charlotte. Maybe it's part of the human condition to wonder and wish for something other than what you have.

 

[missy]

iLander, what's your answer to your questions?

I would sure like to try beautiful out for a while, Missy.

But I wonder if I would just get a big ego, become superficial, marry a guy that likes me for superficial reasons, and then be unhappy when things start sagging and wrinkling. Or be unhappy when he starts sagging and wrinkling. And THEN where would I be? (please note, this is my idea of how I would be, not how all you lovely ladies are or would be)

But I would kinda like to try it for a while . . .

I might have never met you in person iLander but I know you're beautiful where it counts.

 

[JewelFreak]

Well gosh, iLander, I'm both!

--- Laurie