Anyone who conducts an argument by appealing to authority is not using his intelligence; he is just using his memory.

The saying contrasts two ways of “knowing”: repeating what respected figures have said versus reasoning from observation and understanding. It aligns with an empirical, investigative ideal—knowledge should be tested and grasped, not merely inherited. The quote also critiques scholastic habits in which disputation can devolve into citation battles, where the winner is the one with the better repertoire of authorities rather than the clearer argument. Read this way, it champions intellectual autonomy: memory can store claims, but intelligence evaluates them, connects them to evidence, and revises them when warranted. Its enduring appeal comes from its relevance to science, education, and public debate, where authority can be informative but should not substitute for justification.