“What Is an Intellectual?”

The Wall Street Journal has published an interview with British historian Paul Johnson. It’s the type of piece you want to frame and hang on your wall: it’s that witty, true, didactic and funny. In it, Mr. Johnson gives his opinion among other things on Sarah Palin, the Middle East uprisings and Socrates. Here is a very short excerpt — short because you will have to read the entire piece anyway:

“People say, ‘Oh, you’re an intellectual,’ and I say, ‘No!’ What is an intellectual? An intellectual is somebody who thinks ideas are more important than people.”