Marilyn vos Savant is an American magazine columnist and author who rose to fame through her listing in the Guinness Book of World Records under "Highest IQ". The following quotes are mostly from Ask Marilyn, her Sunday column in PARADE magazine. Where a question and answer are indicated, the question is a reader's and the answer is Marilyn's.

• "Being defeated is often a temporary condition. Giving up is what makes it permanent."

• "To acquire knowledge, one must study; but to acquire wisdom, one must observe."

• Question: "What is the essence of our America?"
  Answer: "The essence of our America is finding and maintaining that perfect, delicate balance between freedom 'to' and freedom 'from.' "

• "A good idea will keep you awake during the morning, but a great idea will keep you awake during the night."

• "A fool is someone whose pencil wears out before its eraser does."

• "The length of your education is less important than its breadth, and the length of your life is less important than its depth."

• "If your head tells you one thing and your heart tells you another, before you do anything, you should first decide whether you have a better head or a better heart."

• "…what women want is what men want. They want respect."

• Question: "What is the difference between a hypothesis and a theory?"
  Answer: "Think of a hypothesis as a card. A theory is a house made of hypotheses."