On intelligence:
If intelligence makes you win, its fine.
But if intelligence makes you isolated, a freak, awkward, unadapted, if intelligence makes you score high in IQ tests but low in social life and low in the world, then your intelligence is a pile of crap. In other words, intelligence on its own means nothing. Its how you use it in your own advantage, and in advantage of the people around you, what makes it valuable.
Or, as I would put it, intelligence is merely firepower. More specifically, it is your mental caliber. To effectively utilize intelligence, you still require the ammunition that is information, whether acquired via formal education or autodidacticism, as well as the wisdom to know where to direct it. A well-placed .22 round is more effective than a 152mm artillery barrage that is miles off target.
This is why the possession of high intelligence is little more meaningful than the possession of academic credentials. It’s all just potential, and potential should never be confused with actual accomplishment. This is why even a moderate amount of wisdom merits far more respect than very high intelligence.
Of course, this doesn’t change the fact that it is as foolish for the average individual to challenge the highly intelligent in an intellectual arena as it is for the average individual to challenge the extraordinarily strong in physical competition.