A smart man knows when to apply which of his ideals, how to communicate them, and what and how to advocate for at the correct moment. Because a smart man would know that there does not exist a single instance in this human world where his most wild and learned opinions, regardless of intention, are fated to be brutally and irreversibly misinterpreted. History has proven this fact true a hundred out of a hundred times, and shall continue to do so. And that is why I only say about half of what I know. And only 10% of what I really think and believe to be true. And about 1% of why and just how deeply I believe it to be true. If you heard my most unfiltered takes - you'd probably want me jailed or worse, or think me at least some variation of mad. Not you in the individual sense, of course, but in general. That's just how society works. Your greatest truths must live (and often die) with you, and maybe with your very few trusted friends. Because the greatest truths tend to do more harm than not when communicated to the mindless masses - this is both the curse and gravity of complex knowledge, and the weight that comes with developing inner sophistication. By this metric, all the "smartest men in the world" are, in fact, definitively not that smart at all. In fact, they might just have been silly. Think of all the books and manuscripts written painstakingly over the ages that carefully formed and shaped the political ideals of today. The damage these ideologies have wrought and continue to bring forth is absolutely immeasurable. The sheer destructive effect of the ideas of a few imperfect individuals - reverberating across decades and centuries of history in war, and pain, and blood. Regardless of intention. The bend and sway of history, and of man, belongs then to the imperfect idealist. One foolish enough to give in to utopian sentiments. And weak enough to be unable to contain his own ego. It is easy to enter into the list of "the men who changed the world". But nigh-impossible to enter into the list of "the men who changed the world for the better." That is why the former is so neatly advertised. And the latter is shunned and talked about in whispers.