An intellectual is a man who says a simple thing in a difficult way; an artist is a man who says a difficult thing is a simple way.

The saying contrasts two kinds of communication: one that obscures by overcomplication and one that clarifies by distillation. “Intellectual” here is used pejoratively, suggesting a tendency to inflate the simple with jargon or complexity to signal status. “Artist,” by contrast, is praised for making the complex graspable—rendering difficult experience, emotion, or insight in plain, direct language. The line also reflects a broader modern suspicion of pretension and a preference for craft that looks effortless. As a critical aphorism, it argues that genuine mastery is measured less by complexity than by the ability to compress and illuminate.

“An intellectual is a person who can say a simple thing in a complicated way; an artist is a person who can say a complicated thing in a simple way.”