I used to blog at [Albert Camus’] definition of an intellectual, written when he was twenty-two would do credit to a sage:
An intellectual is someone whose mind watches itself. I like this, because I am happy to be both halves, the watcher and the watched. ’Can they be brought together?’ This is a practical question. We must get down to it. ’I despise intelligence’ really means: ‘I cannot bear my doubts.’
Stanley Kauffmann on Camus’ notebooks.